When you purchase a T shirt for a price as little as two pounds, you wouldn’t complain. However, the workers who make your clothes for less than the minimum wage might. We all need clothes but do we really need ones that are made poorly with materials that damage our planet? It is unlikely that you know the journey that your items of clothing will take before they end up in your basket. As well as this, you may not be able to recognise how sustainable a brand truly is; sustainable and unsustainable clothing both have their benefits but it’s up to you to decide if the negatives outweigh the positives. An insight into sustainability Despite the fact that sustainable fashion brands take action to save the environment, they don’t get as much recognition as fast fashion brands. Is this due to our society being focussed on how many deals they can get? Personally, I hadn’t considered that I should educate myself on all the steps that are taken to make my clothing. Therefore, I decided it was time to discover the secrets that my clothing may hold. I interviewed a man called Iggi , who owns a company called Workhouse England, which is in Bury St Edmunds and used to be a slaughter house! Iggi informed me all about what he does and how to achieve being sustainable. A way that he contributes to helping the planet is by making clothes with material like linen and hemp. He says “they’re really quite beneficial for the planet whereas cotton probably not so much as it needs so much water and pesticides.” . The phrase ‘Garments for life’ is something that Iggi believes in as his aim is to make clothes that last a lifetime. This means that you are saving more money-at the time it doesn’t seem like it due to the original price. However, one coat that lasts a lifetime will cost less than several that only last a small period of time. Also, your clothes aren't being thrown into landfills as often; whereas fast fashion promotes overconsumption so people get rid of clothes a lot quicker and you can’t even recycle them! Iggi sources his materials from places that are ethical and he states that at one place “all of their power comes from the sun” so from the very start of the clothes journey, they are being sourced in a place that is better for the environment. As well as this he says a friend of his “ bought it from Lubeko as an end of line and I bought it from his market stall” when talking about some fabric he had used on a jacket so he doesn’t let materials go to waste.

Do you ever become excited when you know your precious parcel is on its way? If you knew it’s entire journey you might change your mind… Fast fashion has grown more and more popular as the years go by; especially since shopping online had given people something to look forward to during the covid-19 lockdowns. Despite the fast fashion industry becoming more successful, the issues began to be brought to the light, I wanted to research further and find out what really goes on behind the scenes. Therefore, I chose three fast fashion brands: ASOS, Primark and SHEIN. Afterwards, I shared all the facts that I had gathered with two college students called Una and Travis because I wanted to get their perspective on it. Something that really stood out to me was the information that I gathered from a documentary called ‘Inside the Shein machine: UNTOLD’ on channel 4. In our group discussion, we found it challenging to comprehend how they could treat their workers so poorly by paying them 3p per garment (they had to make roughly 500 garments per day for around 16 hours). It was also concerning to learn how harmful these brands are to the environment since Primark produces more than 6 million tonnes of co2 annually. Even though these facts made us apprehensive to buy from these brands again, it is important that we were able to consider the financial state that people our age are in. Sustainable fashion isn’t as affordable due to aspects like the quality and how the materials could cost more. This caused me to feel conflicted as Travis stated “ because it’s so cheap why would people boycott them” when we were discussing how to try and avoid shein. However, Una suggested that “If you want to buy fast fashion you might as well do it second hand” , which shows how second hand shops are a solution for people who can’t afford to buy from sustainable clothing brands. As a result, everything that Iggi does to make his clothing brand sustainable has a great impact on the environment positively and it proves that there are solutions for fast fashion brands so that they can change and improve their sustainability. However, we must take into consideration that lots of steps should be made in order to have clothes that are both affordable and sustainable.