XR calls out fashion brands on climate
Extinction Rebellion Australia, 27 Nov 2023
Protestors paraded through ‘Black Friday’ sales in Melbourne fashion stores clad only in a banner reading 'Fast Fashion costs the Earth; rather go naked'.
XR Victoria rebels disrupted stores in Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall, putting brands H&M, Zara, Cotton On and Uniqlo on notice to stop trashing the planet with their high volume low priced fast fashion.
Spruiker Tim, in a showman's boater and bow tie, spelled it out to shoppers:
The fashion industry is making our planet HOT HOT HOT with 10% of all carbon emissions.
With pollution like this they’re practically GIVING our future away.
Fast Fashion relies on paying exploited workers BARGAIN BASEMENT wages to make clothes whose quality has been MASSIVELY REDUCED by using oil derived synthetic fibres that pollute our oceans and waterways.
This exploitative and wasteful industry SIMPLY CANNOT LAST!
The three nudies in the banner, Mani, Damon and El chanted:
We’re nude, we’re rude.
We’re protesting with attitude
We’re nude, we’re rude.
The workers can’t afford their food!
We’re nude. We’re rude
Fast fashion means we’re screwed
We’re nude, we’re rude
You're lucky we’re not glued!
Spokesperson Annie Delaney said:
“Fast fashion (FF) brands such as H&M, Zara, Cotton On and Uniqlo, are costing us the earth. These brands pump out millions of garments per day with 85% of the same garments ending up in land fill, and textile dumping grounds. While promoting excessive buying and instant gratification to consumers, they have created a throw away culture. This means higher profits at the expense of workers and the planet.
“While clothing brands say they are trying hard to improve their sustainability, it’s in fact greenwashing. The brands we are targeting today still have a particularly long way to go. The FF business model is unsustainable due to its enormous environmental impact. Pumping out 10% of the world’s greenhouse emissions, more than aviation and shipping sectors combined. The fashion industry needs to be held accountable by governments and consumers.
“We call on fashion brands to stop the pollution, stop the waste, stop exploitative work practices and the throw away culture in pursuit of profits. The fashion supply chains are the world’s third largest polluter (after food and construction) and emissions are on the increase.
“In the hottest year on record, government action on climate is critical, regulation is needed to turn around the current trajectory of the fashion industry, and direct industry efforts towards sustainable change at speed and scale. Now is the time to declare unsustainable fashion industry practice illegal”.
More information on Fast Fashion’s carbon footprint can be found on the STAND.earth web page about fashion brand emissions.