Milan is one of the most vital fashion capitals in the world along with London, New York and Paris but with the majority of all fashion brands coming out of Italy, Milan somewhat stands apart from the rest.
Italy sets to make around 20 billion pounds each year from exporting clothes and fashion brands continue to over produce the amount of clothes we actually need, subsequently driving home the capitalist-consumerist mindset which is destabilising the relationship between consumer, product and planet. Here's some stats that continue to paint that picture.
Over 92 million tonnes of textile waste is produced each year.
To put things in perspective, this means that the equivalent of a rubbish truck full of clothes ends up in landfill sites every second. If the trend continues, the number of fast fashion waste is expected to soar up to 134 million tonnes a year by the end of the decade.
The amount of times a garment is worn has decreased by around 36% in 15 years.
Throwaway culture has spiked in recent years with garments considered ‘old’ after being worn once or twice and finding their way into the bin after only 7-10 uses.
Fast fashion brands are producing twice the amount of clothes than they did in the year 2000.
With this dramatic increase in production there is a dramatic knock on effect of waste with 15% of fabrics being thrown away before garments even hit the stores and a further 60% of garments being discarded after a few years of production.
£420 billion is Lost Each Year (globally) Because of Under-wearing and Failure to Recycle Clothes.
The worst aspect of our reckless throw-away culture is that most of the garments thrown away each year are not recycled. Globally, just 12% of the material used for clothing ends up being recycled. Much of the problem comes down to the materials our clothes are made from and inadequate technologies to recycle them.
In order for real positive change we need representatives from the fashion industry to embrace climate leadership and start setting new green trends. Eyes look to Milan once again to reset the standards; green fashion shows and awards in Milan are being dubbed ‘The Oscars of fashion’. While Italian brands collaborate with tech companies to digitally track the production of garments and decrease waste.
We begin to see positive trends in manufacturer responsibility as a few brands switch to longer lasting raw materials and sustainable ethical production lines. But this change is being led by the consumer, especially the younger Italian generations of which 79% said they were more likely to support brands with a sustainable and ethical business model and were happy to pay up to 30% more for their clothes if they were responsibly sourced.