Email your MP: Fast fashion and data transparency

News to Reuse, a youth-led anti-fast-fashion campaign that sits within the social enterprise “I Have a Voice”, is advocating for Government policy to be introduced that would encourage fashion companies to create product labels that inform customers about their clothes’ environmental footprint and the human rights conditions of workers in their supply chains.

When the Covid-19 outbreak began last year, UK fashion companies stopped orders and refused to pay for shipments of clothing, impacting the hundreds of thousands of workers that work in garment manufacturing globally. Many still remain unpaid.

The pandemic has also had a profound impact on the industry’s sustainability efforts. During the first lockdown, many undertook a collective ‘wardrobe clear out’, generating an estimated 67 million tonnes of waste. Less than 1% of textiles from garments are recycled.

The News to Reuse campaign believes QR codes could be part of the solution.

“When consumers scan the code, they would be able to see in which factories and countries the clothes were made and the environmental footprint of the clothing production. Over time, this could include a quality mark or rating system that provides consumers with assurances that the working conditions throughout the supply chain meet a pre-agreed definition of human and workers’ rights and certain sustainability criteria”, said Hannah Fuchs, Policy and Public Affairs Officer for I Have a Voice.

Some brands such as ASOS have already included QR code on labels to inform customers about a garments country of origin and carbon footprint. “However, more information needs to be available in order to hold companies as well as governments accountable”, said Fuchs.

Now, News to Reuse is asking for your support.

If you would like to join and urge the Government to tackle fast fashion, you can ask your MP to sign an Early Day Motion to discuss this topic in Parliament. Find your MP here.