***Embargoed for publication until 00.01am Tuesday 15th September 2020***
Cross-party MPs call for Government intervention to fix fast fashion APPG report sets out post-Covid road map for a greener fashion future Consumers back investment in recycling, clearer labelling and British jobs Major fashion brands support change Developing sustainable fabrics, boosting fabric recycling and bringing manufacturing jobs back to the UK are some of the key recommendations put forward to the Government today in a new report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, supported by environmental charity Hubbub. The report sets out how the sector could follow a more sustainable route and the role that government and consumers might play. Covid-19 has significantly hit the fashion industry. Supply chains have broken, sales have dropped, unsold stock has built, retail outlets have closed and companies have gone out of business. Consumer habits have shifted and so have attitudes – the public wants to see change. Before the virus struck, the environmental and social impact of the industry was increasingly under public scrutiny. Fast fashion resulted in £140 million worth of clothing being sent to landfill every year in the UK. Whilst charity shop donation rates are high, 300,000 tonnes of clothing still ends up in household bins every year with around 20% of this going to landfill and 80% incinerated (EAC, ‘Fixing Fashion’). The industry’s carbon dioxide emissions were expected to rise to nearly 2.8 billion tonnes by 2030. The 2019 House of Commons Environment Audit Select Committee report ‘Fixing Fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability’, found that textile production accounted for 2035% of microplastics in the oceans as well as toxicity in the land and particles in the air. The government rejected certain recommendations and felt that the rest were covered, to some degree, in the 2018 Resource and Waste Strategy published 2 months prior to the Fixing Fashion report. New research1 released today by Hubbub (goes live on 15 Sept at https://www.hubbub.org.uk/ our-polling-data) shows 65% of UK residents agree that the Government should urgently do more to reduce the impact of the fashion industry on the environment.