London Fashion week launches SCAP.

 

by Alice C Doyle

Fast fashion Culture under change, the buzz words for London Fashion Week, with new signatories to the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP).

London fashion week saw a ministerial address, from Environment Minister Dan Norris announcing new signatories to industry roadmap, the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP).

By sharing share best practice and expertise between retailers, manufacturers and designers, SCAP’s aim is to make responsibly and ethically produced clothing the norm in the UK. With 90 per cent of UK clothes sourced from abroad, improvements within the supply chain will help tackle the environmental footprint and social inequalities that blight consumer fashion. Changes to industry practise will also help battle the environmental and ethical impacts of ‘throw away’ fashion.

Although garment production has provided many jobs in poorer countries, clothing manufacture has a significant environmental and ethical impact. This ranges from increased carbon emissions, waste, water usage and pollution to child labour and unfair trading conditions. DEFRA cites that the clothing and textiles sector in the UK alone produces around 3.1 million tonnes of CO2, 2 million tonnes of waste and 70 million tonnes of waste water per year - with 1.5 million tonnes of unwanted clothing ultimately ending up in landfill.

With 300 retailers, producers and designers as signatories, London Fashion Week 2010 saw names such as the British Retail Consortium, Ethical Fashion Forum, Forum for the Future, Levis Strauss, MADE-BY, Cotton Made in Africa, RSPCA, Society of Dyers and Colourists become signatories to SCAP.

This is great news, with some of the biggest names in fashion working to take action. Growng accountability within the supply chain is making the vision of a sustainable clothing industry a reality.

Images courtesy of DEFRA & Believe-You-Can.

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