Sustainable fashion choices for climate justice.

The message was clear from the TY students in Mount Carmel Secondary School today as they held a fashion show to highlight the impact that fast fashion is having on people all over the planet.

Joined by members of Friends of the Elderly, who modelled pre-loved clothes from their shop Ritzy Rags, the students held this event to demonstrate that by upcycling clothes or buying pre-loved clothes we each can make choices that can reduce the environmental impact of producing, transporting, packing, and retailing clothes. 

Speaking at the event Mount Carmel principal, Ms. Deirdre Fitzgerald said “It would be remiss of me not to say how enjoyable that was, I’ve never enjoyed an afternoon more in this school, thanks to all the students for organising and to our new friends from Friends of the Elderly”.

Today we learned that fast fashion is the mass production of cheap, poor quality, disposable clothing. 

We were also informed that 80 billion items of clothing are produced every year – that is 10 pieces of clothing for every human on earth.

A jaw-dropping 400 times more garments are produced this year than there were 20 years ago.

Equally astounding is the fact that three out of five fashion garments end up in a landfill within a year of purchase.

We also learned that fashion production makes up 10% of human carbon emissions and that the fashion industry is responsible for polluting oceans and wastewater by using toxic dyes.

Clearly then, every time we upcycle our clothes or buy pre-loved clothes, we are helping the environment. Wearing recycled clothes is a proactive solution to the climate crisis that we are call currently facing.

Speaking after the event Mr. David Coleman, Ty Coordinator said “Thanks for yesterday, definitely one of the highlights of my time in Mount Carmel, our guests from Friends of the Elderly stole the show – great outlook on life – great to see”.