Happy Saturday!

Heading to brunch or dinner this long weekend? Whatever the occasion, you’ll need an outfit.

Did you know the average Australian buys 56 items of clothing per year, according to the Australian Fashion Council (AFC). That’s about 1.5 billion new items of clothing per year collectively.

As a result, 200,000 tonnes of clothing goes to landfill each year. Like the clothing piled in landfill, fast fashion is a mounting concern.

So who is responsible for making fashion more sustainable? Brands? Government? Maybe even consumers?

Today, I’m looking into the fast-fashion industry – what is Australia doing to address the landfill issues, what is the industry saying in response, and how are overseas governments dealing with it?

Let’s unpick the threads!

Aussie retail’s fast fashion levy

Last year, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek announced a voluntary scheme called Seamless, in collaboration with AFC to encourage sustainable fashion.

Seamless aims to divert clothes away from landfill by creating and facilitating a circular clothing model (I’ll explain what this is soon).

The scheme is voluntary, meaning retailers can choose whether or not to join. It requires retailers to pay a levy of four cents for every garment sold. The money goes towards improving national manufacturing and recycling practices.

Some retailers, including Big W, The Iconic, and Cotton On, have joined. However, with many retailers holding back, Plibersek has put the fashion industry on a “watch list”.

Plibersek said the Government will introduce regulations if Seamless can’t raise “enough money to cover its costs” on a voluntary basis. This would force retailers to pay the levy.

What the industry is saying

Concerns have been raised about how regulations for retailers would impact prices for customers. Australian Retailers Association CEO, Paul Zahra, told TDA that access to “low-cost” clothing during a cost of living crisis is important.

He said the government needs to better invest in “recycling infrastructure” to improve waste management, and suggested tax cuts and lower import levies to encourage sustainability in businesses.

However, Plibersek said the government won’t consider a “weaker scheme”.

Kmart is among the retailers yet to sign up to Seamless. A spokesperson told TDA that while the retailer “fully” supports a sustainable fashion scheme, it wants to see funding to scale up national recycling capabilities. It called Australia’s “limited” clothes recycling infrastructure a “major roadblock” to future proofing a sustainable industry.

Zara, Glassons, and White Fox Boutique also haven’t signed on to Seamless, and didn’t respond to TDA’s request for comment.

H&M told TDA it supports “driving progress towards a more sustainable fashion industry” but didn’t comment on Seamless specifically.

TDA also reached out to Princess Polly, who said: “We aren't able to help with your question at this time.”

Circular economy

Part of fashion’s sustainability problem comes from mass production driven by trends. New trends emerge before old ones have “died out”, driving fashion waste.

This is what a ‘linear’ economy (basically) looks like:

So what is a circular clothing model?

The principle is that all the materials which currently exist are constantly recycled and reused. A circular economy is a framework designed to respond to climate change, waste, and pollution. In an ideal world, this would mean we don’t need to create new materials — we could continue to reuse what already exists.

This is what a circular economy (in simplified form) would look like:

Polyester and garment labels

Another issue is that fast fashion producers use synthetic fabrics like polyester, which are not manufactured to last. A more sustainable fashion cycle would also extend the lifespan of clothes.

Although polyester is cheap to make, it’s not sustainable. Polyester is basically plastic, and it isn’t biodegradable. When washed, it releases small particles of waste into our waterways. Synthetic materials make their way into a lot of our clothes, like chiffon, nylon, spandex, viscose, and rayon — think of these as polyester’s cousins.

How do you know if you’re buying a synthetic garment? The labels sewn into your clothes can tell you a lot about an item. Garments that are 100% cotton, linen, wool, organic bamboo or hemp are natural fibres. They don’t contain any synthetic materials, are more durable, and biodegradable.

However, cotton requires a lot of water. According to Levi’s, a pair of denim (cotton) jeans can use up to 3,800 litres of water over its lifetime.

So, it seems like Australia has plenty of work to do when it comes to fashion sustainability, but what about overseas?

What are overseas governments doing?

Let’s talk about France — a country at the heart and start of many fashion trends.

A raft of fast fashion reforms are currently being considered in the Senate, after France’s lower house recently voted in favour of a fast fashion tax.

If passed, these reforms would mean retailers and manufacturers need to pay a €5 ($AU8) penalty on every product sold in 2025. This would increase by €1 every year until 2030, when it will reach €10 ($AU17) per product.

The bill also calls on retailers to inform customers about the environmental impacts of their purchases. This would include online messages encouraging customers to reuse, repair, and recycle their clothing.

Further, a ban on advertising fast fashion would essentially try to discourage people from buying it (like Australia’s advertising ban for cigarettes).

Australia’s voluntary four cent levy is far from a mandatory $17, but if France passes the laws, maybe other countries will crack down on their own industries.

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