The method pop-up aimed to encourage people to think more carefully about the issue of fast fashion, especially as we own more clothes than we wear.
A fifth of surveyed shoppers admit to throwing used clothes in the bin rather than re-purposing them or giving them to charity, adding to the 300,000 pieces of clothing retiring to UK landfill per year.
New research was carried out by non-toxic soap brand method. The results urge people to be more environmentally-conscious when disposing of tired outfits and washing clothes.
method worked with Clothes Aid, to open the method slow fashion store in East London last week.
Fast fashion
The store - billed as an antidote to fast fashion - offered customers the chance to buy second-hand clothes gifted by influencers and celebrities such as Millie Mackintosh and Jasmine Hemsley, donate unwanted items and to customise unloved outfits to give them a new lease of life.
Millennials are the main offenders for chucking their outfits in the skip, according to the survey. A quarter of 16 -24 year olds admit to clearing out their wardrobe every month, with 22 percent admitting to throwing their garments in the bin.
This contrasts to the 45+ generation who are by far the best at donating to charity - at 76 percent - and with 47 percent clearing out their wardrobe only once a year.
Liverpool contributes the least to the massive amount of clothes in UK landfill, with a modest 12 percent throwing clothes away, whilst Glasgow fared the worst with 23 percent choosing to put old clobber straight in the trash.
The method pop-up aimed to encourage people to think more carefully about the issue of fast fashion, especially as we own more clothes than we wear.
Clothes Aid
Nearly half the nation - 45 percent - have more than 50 items of clothing – excluding underwear, sleepwear and swimwear - in their wardrobe, but 43 percent of Brits will wear fewer than 10 items per week.
Worryingly, 22 percent of 16-24 year olds say they would only be pictured in an item of clothing 1-3 times on social media before discarding it.
When asked why they choose to throw clothes away, 17 percent said they forgot charities take second-hand clothes, whilst 15 percent don’t have time to take clothes to a charitable drop-off point.
The method slow fashion store will include a clear place to leave donations, with all items and proceeds from sales given to Clothes Aid.
Over a third of the UK admit that they’ve not done anything to be more sustainable or eco-aware when buying or washing clothes. Which is a shame, as the majority of the UK - at 52 percent - will wear an item of clothing just 1-3 times before washing it.
Planet-friendly
Due to this, all visitors to the store will be gifted with a bottle of the non-toxic method laundry detergent, to encourage them to reduce their impact on the environment when using their washing machines.
Sarah Tuke, head of european communications at method said:“We want to help clean up the fast fashion industry by encouraging the public to either hold on to their clothes for longer or donate to clothes charities.
"All of our cleaning products, including our laundry detergent, are planet-friendly and non-toxic, so it’s down to companies like us to lead the change in making an impact on toxic behaviours.
"The method slow fashion store is about making conscious decisions to decrease our carbon footprint, whilst still loving fashion and looking stylish. We’re all about looking good while doing better, and if you are too, come down and get involved.”
Michael Lomotey, business manager at Clothes Aid added:“Clothes Aid is thrilled to be part of method’s one-stop venture. We are proud to recycle over 10,000 tonnes of textiles every year and have raised over £10 million for our partner charities.
"We can all do our bit to make fashion more sustainable by making small changes like buying second-hand, recycling clothing and using non-harmful cleaning products.”
This Article
This article was based on a press release from method.
