OUR LETTER TO COP26 ATTENDEES
On October 7, we held an online hackathon event titled 'Will We Buy Until We Drop ?,' which challenged attendees to address the damaging impact of the fashion industry on the planet by finding potential solutions. We have compiled a letter for COP26 attendees, encouraging them to change global policy on the textile and fashion industry.
The fashion industry currently accounts for 10% of the world's carbon emissions. Given the growth of this industry, the fashion industry is forecast to be responsible for 25% of all global emissions by 2050. This means that the fashion industry could be the industry that pushes humanity to extinction, when we literally shop till we drop.
The event was a huge success, and attendees compiled an incredible list of ready-to-use solutions for fashion industry impact. We had a variety of attendees, from fashion and textile experts to people who wear clothes for practical reasons only. This meant that we had a wide range of perspectives, which was very revealing. However, they all had the same end goal of reducing the environmental impact of the fashion industry, which is promising.
The attendees were divided into 3 groups, all fighting different problems. These were:
Fashion Action: How can we accelerate the circular and sustainable practice in garments and textiles?
Fashion Awareness: How do we accelerate awareness of the harmful effects of too much clothing?
Fashion People: How do we protect garment supply chain workers who are underpaid and often abused?
The event was held by Platform7, which allowed us to use a platform with virtual tables that promotes engaging group conversations. We use Google Jamboard to allow people to share their ideas anonymously without judgment or the influence of others. This was a really great way to quickly jot down ideas and keep things organized.
A vision of an assistant
“Participate in the campaign 'Will we buy until we drop? The event was a great opportunity to connect with others, both in the fashion industry and beyond, to discuss ways to establish circular systems and fairer work practices. Since I had never used Platform 7 or the jamboard method to collect ideas before, this was a really great way to share ideas in real time and easily jump to different discussions.
In our discussion of people and worker protection within the supply chain, we all agreed that maintaining local production was a good way for brands to participate in the audit and understand the working conditions within their supply chain. supply. The more consumers actively seek information about the labor practices of brands and choose to buy with those that disclose information related to working conditions and wages, the more changes we will see. However, we recognized that this was challenging as many brands may have sustainability claims but often do not include labor rights and due to outsourcing many brands do not even understand or choose to ignore issues in their supply chain. .
Education emerged as a really important way to `` break the cycle '' of excessive consumption, both since children started from small in schools, educating them about the problems caused by fast fashion for the environment and people , such as targeting existing consumers through awareness campaigns. involving brand collaborations to ensure maximum impact. Harnessing the power of social media and video could be really helpful in shedding light on the damaging effects of too much clothing, via viral video / documentary-style campaign excerpts. For these to have an effect, they will probably need the shock factor. Much needs to be done to engage the general public in these issues, so it will be interesting to see if COP26 engages with the textile and clothing industry on these issues to mobilize change. "
Now what?
One of the main initiatives of this event was to use the suggestions of the attendees to compile a letter to all attendees at COP26. COP26 is a conference where world leaders will meet to discuss climate change and create policies and legislation to change it. COP26 will take place in November and will be held in Glasgow. As hosts, this is a great opportunity for the UK to change the fashion industry forever. COP conferences happen every year, however due to COVID19, the 2020 conference was delayed until now; so a conference is long overdue. It has been described as "the world's best last chance to control runaway climate change."
We have written an open letter to COP26 attendees with a list of 4 key suggestions from our event. We will send this letter directly to COP26 attendees, as well as share it on social media and various platforms to reach as many people as possible.