After the first fortnight since the start of the summer sales, let’s take a moment to reflect on the impact of fashion on the health of our planet . Clothes and shoes serve to cover us, warm us, protect us and also to express a style or personality. And, on the other hand, the way we acquire it and make it last, demonstrates environmental awareness .
The proliferation of clothing stores at low prices—and quality equal to the amount—is leading to an increase in fashion consumption. The carts, physical or virtual, are quickly filled with ” it doesn’t come from here anymore “, “for this price, no matter how short it lasts…” or ” surely it will be useful one day “. But we must not lose sight of the fact that we are not saving money when we buy something we do not need; especially, if you don’t end up giving it any use.
The reality is that the textile industry has a considerable environmental impact. Many natural resources are used up in the manufacture of clothes and footwear – fibres, water, energy – and generate CO₂ emissions. This situation is aggravated when the large ecological footprint it causes is not compensated by a reasonable use of these articles, and it is estimated that a piece of clothing is used about seven times on average. In other words, there are people who buy a shirt and wear it only once or twice before discarding it. Or never
What has always been done is to give clothes to close people or to charities so that they can be used is the pillar of the circular economy : extending the useful life of the products and delaying the moment when they have to be managed as waste . Thrift stores have many advantages: durable, exclusive product that can be found for less money, reduced environmental impact and opportunities, in the social sphere. But, whether it’s new or recovered clothes, the most important thing is to take care of them, use them for a long time and separate them with the corresponding fraction so that they follow their course in the most sustainable way possible!
The regulations in January 2025
It is increasingly common to find textile containers on the streets; they usually belong to some social entity that manages the collection, preparation and sale in second-hand circuits, and is responsible for diverting the waste to the rest of the treatment phases, such as the material recovery of the fabrics or the valorization energetic The goal – and the urgency – is that no more pieces of clothing end up abandoned in natural environments transformed into illegal landfills, such as in the Atacama desert (Argentina), on the beaches of Togo, Chile, India or other places in the global south.
> In 2022, the European Waste Prevention Week focused on the textile sector
