While many clothing companies chase trends and aim for sky-high sales, Patagonia - which has made Earth its sole shareholder - swims against the tide. The fast fashion industry is booming. Consumers are buying 60 per cent more clothes and wearing them for half as long, according to data cited by the UN Environment Programme.
Estimates suggest a truckload of abandoned textiles is dumped in landfill or incinerated every second. The also highlights that the fashion industry produces between 2 to 8 per cent of global carbon emissions. If nothing changes, it will take a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050.
Alongside this, textiles shed when they are washed, contributing to the pollution in our oceans. The dyeing process is also the second largest globally. “The impact that the is having on designing for obsolescence at the onset, to chase a trend, is destroying the planet,” Tyler LaMotte, Product and Marketing Director (EMEA) at Patagonia, tells Euronews Green at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Patagonia is a US brand specialising in outdoor clothing which doesn’t want to sell as many products as possible. Adopting a “buy less, buy better” ethos, it says customer relationships are instead built on “quality and responsible consumption.” “We have a campaign running right now called ‘Unfashionable’ and essentially where we are reinforcing our values that our products are built for years, not for seasons,” LaMotte explains.
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