Halloween: The Ultimate Scare Story For Sustainable Fashion
We’ve all watched with a mixture of glee and horror as the unveiling of Halloween costumes begin to flood our social media feeds. Standout costumes this year have been Fleabag and the Hot Priest, Lizzo and her magical flute, and perhaps the scariest of them all— Brexit themed get-ups.
Every year Halloween seems to become a bigger cultural and commercial phenomenon. But before we get carried away with the spectacle of it all, it’s important to acknowledge the negative environmental impact of these annual festivities. Halloween can be one of the most wasteful and excessive holidays with its disposable polyester outfits, throwaway plastic accessories, decaying pumpkins and hundreds of discarded sweet wrappers.
Fast fashion retailers are, in part, fuelling this over-consumption with many sites like Boohoo offering hundreds of fancy dress garments at bargain prices. Last week, Topshop took to Instagram stories to announce its new eco-friendly line of clothing called CONSIDERED which features dresses made from 100% recycled polyester— however, it was slightly tainted by the fact it appeared alongside its customary promotion of Halloween costumes.
New research from the environmental charity Hubbub and The Fairyland Trust is predicting that, in the UK alone, the occasion will generate around 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste. Many costumes are fabricated from polyester which is made entirely from oil and behaves as a “persistent pollutant” in the environment in the form of microplastics, the report said. It is estimated around 7 million Halloween costumes are disposed of each year in the UK— that equates to dumping 83 million Coca-Cola bottles.
Meanwhile, according to the National Retail Federation in the US, consumer spending is expected to reach $8.8 billion this Halloween season with consumers spending $3️.2 billion on costumes alone.
Food waste is a further consideration—Britons are expected to generate record levels of kitchen waste at Halloween this year. According to research by the stock cube brand Knorr and Hubbub, 40% of consumers buy fresh pumpkins to hollow out and carve but 60% of those admit they don’t use the flesh. As a result, more than 8m pumpkins will be binned this week.
However, it is entirely possible to have an eco-friendly Halloween by introducing a few simple adaptations to your annual festivities. This includes costume rental from sites like depop, re-wearing items from previous years and giving them a new spin, avoiding synthetic fibres, and even turning those left-over pumpkins into a warming autumn soup.
Single-use plastic and disposable costumes are the scariest omen you’ll encounter this week, but being mindful of the alternatives is the best way to avoid the ultimate Halloween nightmare.