At The Spotted Quoll we pride ourselves in our beautiful wares that have been created and produced in an ethical and environmentally sustainable manner, so hearing that France are leading the way in banning fast fashion is music to our ears.
The proposed tax will mean that by 2030 fast fashion companies will be taxed €10 per garment sold, with a €5 payment planned to commence next year. Companies will also be banned from doing any advertising in France and will have to be transparent with their customers about each product's environmental impact - this is BIG!
Australia we have some work to do. Trust the fancy French to start something as big as this in fashion!
Are you running a fashion business that isn't employing ethical and sustainable practices - well, you've got some work to do too!
Want to learn more about the fast fashion tax? Check out this article from The Guardian.
Why is this so important?
Well this is to slow fast fashion brands who are churning out over 7000 pieces of new rubbish clothing per day....YES I said per day!
On average, every Australian buys 56 items of clothing yearly, most of which are made from non-sustainable, non-durable materials. Year on year, the price of clothing continues to drastically decrease, while the negative impacts to the environment as a result of the fashion industry continues to increase. According to Greenpeace, the average person buys 60% more clothing and keeps them for about half as long as 15 years ago.
Australia is now the second highest consumer of textiles per person in the world, after the USA. Each Australian disposes an average 23 kilograms of clothing to landfill each year and Australia has no systematic resources for the collection of unwearable clothing. As a result, textile waste has become one of the largest contributors to Australia’s waste problem.
Did you know?
The fashion industry is one of the highest polluting industries. It is responsible for an estimated 10% of global CO2 emissions.
Australians are the worlds second largest consumers of textiles BUT:
- The average person only wears 40% of their clothes
- Of the clothes that go to charity, it is estimated that only 15% are resold within Australia
- The rest are sent to landfill or overseas to developing nations
- In landfill, decomposing materials can take up to hundreds of years to break down whilst releasing methane and some release microplastics into the soil and eventually into our water streams.
What is Fast Fashion?
Fast fashion is cheap, disposable clothing that is produced rapidly by mass-market retailers to keep up with the latest international trends. This is designed to encourage customers to shop regularly for new looks - which of course means that we buy more.
Leaning into slow fashion -
Don’t buy so much. And make sure the clothes you do buy are made to last.
“Buy less, choose well, make it last.” - Vivienne Westwood
“As consumers, we have so much power to change the world by just being careful in what we buy” - Emma Watson.
