Words by Smiley Team
Have you ever thought about changing your shopping habits to benefit the planet?
A campaign is raising awareness of how to buy clothes thoughtfully, use them carefully and make them last. Launched in 2014, the Love Your Clothes campaign has been developed together with industry organisations to help change the way UK consumers buy, use and dispose of their clothing.
The ultimate aim is to reduce the environmental impact of clothing across the UK and influence a more circular approach to clothing globally.
Love Your Clothes is part of the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP), which is coordinated by WRAP, a not-for-profit organisation which receives government support across the UK.
(Read more about how Give Your Best empowers refugees in need of clothes)
Every year, an estimated 336,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK. And more than 5% of the UK’s total annual carbon and water footprints result from clothing consumption.
If clothes stayed in active use for nine months longer (extending their average life to around three years), this would reduce their carbon, water and waste footprints by 20-30%. And extending the average life of clothes by just three months of active use would lead to a 5-10% reduction.
Plus, in the average UK household, nearly a third of clothes (worth over £1,000 per household, £30 billion in total) haven’t been worn in the last year.
To address this issue and help inspire people to make small conscious changes to reduce the impact of clothes on the environment, Love Your Clothes offers tips, tricks and resources to maximise the lifespan of your clothing. You can find out how and where to recycle clothing, what to do with unwanted items and much more.
(Read more about how Depop is helping charities sell clothes online)
There is huge potential for consumers to get more from what they already have. Love Your Clothes helps raise awareness that we can all make a huge difference by taking small steps.
We all need to think ‘do I need it’ before we buy, to be better informed when we purchase clothing, to choose pre-owned options more frequently, to learn long lost repair and fixing skills, to get creative with clothing and to share and donate unwanted clothing.
There are better alternatives, and there is still value in the clothing that is thrown away: even worn-out clothes can be turned into new products.
You can find out more about Love Your Clothes on its website and support its mission.
