Fashion 'responsible for more carbon emissions than international flights'

© Thiti Tangjitsangiem

There are always two sides to every story, and while there’s no doubt that the transport and logistics industry is one of the major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, one its major customers may be as bad, if not worse. This is not just about the apparel and footwear supply chain – although the transport demands of fast fashion can be particularly wasteful – but the whole production process; marketing and sales cycles and the absence of a genuine industry-wide recycling process (second-hand charity shops lining the UK’s high streets notwithstanding). And it’s going to get worse: “Clothing production has doubled in the past 15 years, and will triple by 2050 should growth continue as expected. Less than one percent of material used to make clothing is recycled into new clothing. A truckload of clothing is wasted every second across the world.”