A new inquiry launched by the House of Commons environmental audit committee will investigate the environmental impact of “fast fashion” in the UK.
The investigation was launched on Friday following concerns of the billion-dollar industry and its contributions to carbon impacts, resource use and water footprints.
Mary Creagh MP, chair of the committee, said: “Fashion shouldn’t cost the Earth. But the way we design, make and discard clothes has a huge environmental impact.”
“Producing clothes requires climate-changing emissions. Every time we put on a wash, thousands of plastic fibres wash down the drain into the oceans. We don’t know where or how to recycle end-of-life clothing.”
A report by campaigners Wrap said that an estimated 300,000 tonnes of clothing is binned in the UK every year. The same report said the clothing industry is the fourth most impactful to the environment after housing, transport and food.
The fast fashion industry is increasingly coming under fire. Last year, Stella McCartney condemned her industry as “incredibly wasteful and harmful to the environment.”
The government inquiry will focus on how consumers can be encouraged to buy fewer clothes and how best to dispose of unwanted clothing.
Despite attempts to reduce disposal of clothing, approximately 300,000 tonnes of clothing waste goes into landfills every year.
As well as disposal, MPs will also investigate ways to make clothing production more sustainable. Currently, making clothes requires land, water, fossil fuels, chemical dyes, finishes and toxic coatings.
Despite high street troubles, the fast fashion industry is a significant contributor to the UK GDP. According to the British Fashion Council, the fashion industry in the UK contributed £28.1 billion to national GDP in 2015. This is up from £21 billion in 2009.