Environment Audit Committee, House of Commons, Chairwoman
Mary Creagh
Environment Audit Committee, House of Commons, Chairwoman
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About Sustaining Voices

Sourcing Journal’s Sustaining Voices celebrates the efforts the apparel industry is making toward securing a more environmentally responsible future through creative innovations, scalable solutions and forward-thinking initiatives that are spinning intent into action.

Overview

Politician Mary Creagh put fashion sustainability on the British government agenda—and headlines across the world.

A proposed per-garment tax to fund a national clothing-recycling scheme
1 penny

A proposed per-garment tax to fund a national clothing-recycling scheme

The length of the EAC's inquiry into the impact of fast fashion in the U.K.
8 months

The length of the EAC's inquiry into the impact of fast fashion in the U.K.

the amount of clothing the U.K. consumes per capita (Textiles Recycling Association)
26.7 kilograms

the amount of clothing the U.K. consumes per capita (Textiles Recycling Association)

Deep Dive

In the battle against “fast fashion”—the high-output, low-quality and razor-thin-margin model of clothing production that has become a byword for environmental and social injustice—British politician Mary Creagh has emerged as one of its most formidable generals.

As chairwoman of the Environmental Audit Committee of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons, Creagh spearheaded an eight-month investigation into the damaging ecological effects of the garment industry, along with the exploitative working conditions it frequently engenders.

“We kickstarted a huge debate around fashion when we decided to look at the true cost of clothes,” she explained in an op-ed in July. “With a climate emergency upon us, people want to know how to shop responsibly and which brands to trust.”

Throughout the inquiry, Creagh pulled no punches. She bemoaned charity shops as “dumping grounds” for the “high street’s dirty little secret.” She called out garment factories, including those that operated out of the United Kingdom, for employing 19th century businesses practices and “criminally underpaying” their workers. When she grilled executives from Asos, Boohoo, Burberry, Primark, Marks & Spencer and Topshop, Creagh tore into them for not doing enough to mitigate the 300,000 tons of clothing that end up in U.K. landfills every year.

In a report published at the investigation’s conclusion, Creagh and her colleagues called for an end to the “era of throwaway fashion.” The committee offered 18 recommendations designed to “fix fashion,” including a one-penny charge per garment that would fund a national clothing-recycling scheme, a virgin-plastic tax on textile products containing less than 50 percent recycled PET, mandatory environmental targets for apparel companies with a turnover above 36 million pounds ($44 million) and “clear economic incentives” for businesses that offer repair services for clothes.

In June, Parliament rejected every single one, eliciting an outpouring of sadness, anger and disappointment from the public. But there was one silver lining: While Creagh’s committee demonstrated that “business as usual” for the fashion industry is no longer tenable, it also offered a way forward. Now it’s just a matter of political will.


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