Can surplus be sustainable?

Why now? Why this?

The recent Victoria’s Secret scandal has brought back horrifying flashbacks of fashion waste over the years. For those of you who don’t know, Victoria Secret was slammed by activists, journalists and really the rest of the internet after a bin-full of bras was found abandoned in Colorado in February of this year. The new bras were found by a local resident that was shocked at the lack of heart of VS workers who could have easily recycled the bras, or better yet, donated them to a women’s homeless shelter. 

Alongside the sheer lack of empathy was the realisation that had this bin-full of bras not been found, the unwanted items would have been rushed to landfill and left to decompose. This process could take anything from 30 upwards years depending on their fabrics, and is the harsh, hidden reality of many unwanted retail items.

Roughly £140 million worth of clothing goes to landfill in the UK each year. Over the past two years, countless brands have been called out on their approach to product waste. And with Coronavirus halting trading in the UK, there’s even more expected waste than ever - crying for a call to action.

What are retailers doing with unwanted clothing?

In the past, the dismal destruction that is landfill has been the answer to disposing of any deadstock. It is therefore enlightening to see that a handful of retailers have begun opting for longevity in the discarding of unwanted stock; regardless of whether their actions were prompted by the eagle eyes of reporters and sustainable savvy journalists or not.

In March of this year, Meadhbh McGrath released a wonderful feature for the Belfast Telegraph. In this feature, McGrath called out brands that were exquisitely unethical, and revised the plans of current high-street stores. 

The feature found that H&M, who had around £3 billion worth of unsold clothes in 2019 and has been reported to have burned over 60 tonnes of clothing since 2013, now claims that unsold items are shipped off to markets, donated to charity, or given to re-use and/or recycling organisations.

Newlife is a charity for disabled and terminally-ill children that both Primark and Monsoon are known to donate their unsold stock to. Monsoon does so through a ‘Clothes for Life’ in-store initiative but also rids of unwanted items through trading in clearance stores such as TK Maxx. Monsoon also runs a sample sale multiple times per year, with proceeds going to its charity, the Monsoon Accessorise Trust.

Marks and Spencers was the only brand in McGrath’s feature that owned up to burning surplus stock when items are deemed to be unsafe, however, claim that they do not send waste to landfill. The only brand claiming to be aiming to reduce the number of stock in its stores is Zara, who also donate to charities including the Red Cross, Caritas and World Vision.

Why does it all matter?

As someone who was once a sucker for a shopping spree on the high street, I was eager to find out what people’s thoughts are on browsing the sale racks while on a sustainable mission. I took to Instagram to ask the Blue Chip community “would you splurge on a high street sale rack in an effort to be more sustainable?” 

Majority of our audience chose to say ‘no to mass production’ regardless, rather than ‘save unwanted items’ in an effort to be sustainable. If more people view purchasing from sale racks as a payment into mass production rather than a lifeline for unwanted items, it is important that they know exactly what these futures are; whether that’s being transferred to third party wholesalers, donated to charities, or sent to landfill.

Martha’s message

Martha Hayes is the founder of Made by Martha and a sustainable activist who learnt of the ethical and environmental impacts of the fashion industry through her fashion studies at Arts University Bournemouth. Horrified by what she learnt, Martha stopped buying fast fashion and instead bought second hand or from small businesses.

Made by Martha was founded during lockdown to provide a sustainable alternative to fast fashion. Martha wanted to create an affordable way to access ethical fashion as admittedly, it can be expensive. “I use my store as a platform to raise awareness about how bad fast fashion is for the environment and how it negatively impacts the people producing the clothes,” Martha said before answering the same question we posed over Instagram. 

As a sustainable activist and independent business owner, Martha strongly deems it better to save the "unwanted" garments than discard them. Martha is completely against mass production, but wanted to point out that these items will hopefully be worn well before being donated to charity or handed down just like the rest of the items we buy (and what would inevitably happen would we not buy the clothes ourselves) “If they are sold at a discounted price they are more accessible to people who can't afford to buy things full price,” she said. We can’t help but think this is a great option for those who can’t justify spending excess on sustainable clothing.

In our interview, Martha noted that she fully supports combatting fast fashion as a detrimental step towards the restoration of our planet. The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world and Martha has urged that consumers need to change their mindsets. “We expect an almost instant service and expect things straight away,” she said before adding, “since cutting out fast fashion I have become much less impatient.”

Martha is blessed to be able to become more patient in her sustainable journey, and ignore the negative need to want, want and want more from fast-fashion retailers. In the same breath, Martha agrees that sustainable fashion needs to become more accessible to others.

 “Sustainable fashion is considered a luxury as the prices are high,” she began before explaining that prices are high because fabrics cost more and workers usually get paid a fair working wage. “Sustainable items usually take more time to make as they are often made personally for buyer’s specific measurements which further requires a lot of skill and training in pattern cutting,” she said before adding, “The prices are higher as you are paying for craft, bespoke fit and sustainable fabrics.”

 There really are countless positives to the sustainable fashion industry to the extent to which it’s difficult to criticise. But what if it isn’t easily accessible to everyone? What are the alternatives and what proposals can we put in place? It’s a huge leap in a sustainable journey regardless of people’s backgrounds, but one you can’t argue against. Whether you’ve already got an eco-conscious and ethical collection at home or if you’re on the verge of transforming your habits or still doing your research, we have some proposals for you to bare in mind.

The proposals: