Sustainability must be considered not only in terms of the considerations relating to a fashion garment or a fashion business, but also to the changing scale of fashion consumption. The amount of fashion bought in the world, both in terms of its global quantity and the amount bought or acquired by each person has dramatically increased.
We know that Clothing production worldwide has doubled since 2000 and yet the average British or European person keeps their clothing items for about half as long. Globally the vast majority of discarded clothing ends up in landfills or is incinerated, currently only 20% is collected for reuse or recycling.
‘The average person buys 60 percent more items of clothing and keeps them for about half as long as 15 years ago.’ Greenpeace 2017
To further build on this data, The Pulse Report states that if GDP continues to rise as predicted in both developed and developing worlds, “the overall apparel consumption will rise by 63%, from 62 million tons today to 102 million tons in 2030 - an equivalent of more than 500 billion T-shirts.”
If we position this alongside the knowledge that the average piece of clothing in the UK lasts for 3.3 years before being discarded (Wrap 2017), we can acknowledge that this is an enormous burden for the planet to bear. Design to reduce consumption is needed to reimagine ways in which fashion success might shift from quantity sold, to value gained.