Use your voice to slow down fast fashion

Using your voice and influence is one of the most impactful things you can do in a climate emergency.

We need to tread more lightly on the planet and making individual changes to our lives can make a difference BUT we need to do more if we're going to halt and reverse the damage we've already done to the environment.

We need to use our voices and influence. That means openly challenging the decision makers, the Government, industry, and the brands we buy from.

Here's our list of the top ways you can use your voice to help slow down fast fashion.

1. Email your local MP or the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Textiles and Fashion, Dr Lisa Cameron (lisa.cameron.mp@parliament.uk), to ask what’s being done at a national level to reward green brands, encourage progress and penalise those that are not doing enough through progressive tax and legislation.
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2. Ask the brand. If you've got a favourite brand then ask them publically on social media what they're doing in relation to carbon, water, ethical management in their supply chain, modern slavery. Ask if they've signed up to recognised initiatives such as Textiles 2030, Sustainable Apparel Coalition, the Better Cotton Initiative or the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP).
   
   How do you find out? Go on their corporate website and check what public declarations they’ve made about their targets. If they’re not making it public, then you have to assume they’re not doing it.
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3. Email the Chief Executive. If you find out that a brand isn't doing anything, then write directly to their Chief Executive or Director of Finance and say that you like their brand but are concerned about their lack of green credentials which means you won't be buying from them any more and choosing other brands.
4. Openly support green and ethical brands. Share all the great things that some brands are doing for the environment, publically on social media and in your friendship circles.
5. Tell your friends. If you are one the growing number of people who already make sustainable fashion choices which means - choosing second-hand or vintage clothes over new ones, only buying from brands that have committed to carbon reductions, buying fewer new clothes, wearing the clothes you have for longer, caring for them better and repairing or upcycling them to extend their life, and when you no longer want them donate or exchanging them instead of throwing them in the bin, then TELL YOUR FRIENDS. It might encourage them to do the same.
6. Follow Fashion Revolution. They do amazing work and have lots of tips for ways to contact brands including a sample letter you can send which focuses on working conditions of those making our clothes. Use the hashtag #WhoMadeMyClothes?

Doing one or all of these things will make a big difference!