It will all come out in the ‘wash’…
Interesting to note that some major fashion retailers have been taken to task regarding their green credentials. Fair enough if you’re producing fast fashion that is damaging the planet you must be made accountable. But how true are their claims? If environmentalists didn’t ‘force’ them into it would they even bother or care? Like causes or charities ‘proudly sponsored’ by a capitalist company it feels more like what they have to do to maintain good PR, rather than what they should be doing anyway. Call me a cynic but it’s all coming far too late, I appreciate that to produce clothing on this scale in a sustainable way has many challenges but what these retailers are ultimately interested in is profit hence them cutting corners and only nodding their heads to human rights and the planet in the past. Yes I admit on a recent shop I spotted quite a few items produced from recycled fabric which was great to see so it’s going in the right direction.
an investigation begins…but what’ll be the ‘result’?
But will it be fast enough to keep up with fast fashion’s hungry appetite which is now expected rather than demanded. I was looking for a photo I took in Rye museum years ago of a peddler doll dressed in many layers of rags like the above up cycled Alexander McQueen dress. Sadly I couldn’t find it much to my dismay, which is a shame as it neatly illustrates our current predicament. What I did find was a Whistler etching of a rag seller looking rather depressed (and probably worn out) slumped in a doorway. Yes ‘money for old rope’ or rather rags was a way of life for many, now it seems that they would be literally ‘drowning’ in rags. It’s sad, in the era I grew up in fast fashion didn’t really exist and I was not exposed to constant images of changing fashion, yes it was there but not to today’s level. People wore ‘hand me downs’ and patch clothing became a trend. I wore my cousin’s old dress when I was nine it was much too big but it was orange and I loved it. Though I’ll have to admit there was some feeling of embarrassment wearing hand-me-downs, which I soon forgot in the excitement. I’m now wondering with interest the outcome of this investigation into ‘green washing’ and whether it really will all come out in the ‘wash’? Or am I fooling myself if I expect an honest answer instead of platitudes and no real ‘evidence’?