Plastic fashion facts – all about plastic in fashion.

July 3 is International Plastic Bag Free Day. Two years ago (in 2019), we organized a campaign under the hashtag #plastikZgłowy, symbolized by a plastic bag worn over the head. Together with many wonderful people who joined the campaign, we wanted to draw attention to the fact that fashion also means plastic. A lot of plastic, in fact – although much less was being said about it at the time...

What has changed since then? As of January 1, 2021, the European Union introduced a ban on the sale of single-use plastic products such as bags, straws and cutlery. After July 3 (the deadline for clearing existing stock), they should also disappear from Poland. Is that enough? Unfortunately not.

Every change aimed at reducing plastic is necessary and positive, but we urgently need regulations that will have an impact on the fashion industry. Alongside many smaller brands promoting conscious fashion and natural alternatives, as well as the rapidly growing second-hand fashion sector, a gigantic fast-fashion segment is quietly expanding – on a scale we have never seen before. One example is SHEIN, which has been described as "hardcore fast" because of the alarmingly low cost of producing its clothing and the sheer number of products it is able to bring to market every day. Brands like these are ticking time bombs for the fashion industry...

Why? Read these alarming facts about plastic in fashion. Let them motivate you to read labels, choose products made from natural materials, look for certified products and support local production. Less means more – more of our planet for us and for future generations.

Fashion is the No. 1 source of microplastic in the oceans!!!*

• Clothing accounts for 22% of waste globally.
  
• Approximately 60% of clothing contains plastic. Plastic-based materials include polyester, nylon, acrylic, acetate, polyamide and Lycra.
  
• Every year, around 80 billion new garments are purchased worldwide...
  
• And we buy 60% more of them than we did 15 years ago. Yet we use them for
half as long as we used to...
  
• It is estimated that every second, an amount of textiles equivalent in volume to one garbage truck is thrown away somewhere in the world.
  
• More than 60% of synthetic fabrics are derived from crude oil. It is estimated that around 70 million barrels of oil are used each year to produce polyester alone. It is not biodegradable.
  
• With every wash, plastic-based fabrics release plastic microfibers into the water (around 35% of global ocean pollution caused by microplastics comes from the clothing industry...), and eventually into the environment. Marine animals ingest them and are then eaten by humans!
  
• Plastic fibers have been found on beaches, in mangrove forests, in Arctic ice, as well as in food products and human feces!

• It is estimated that humans ingest more than 5,800 synthetic waste particles every year!

Change starts with us, and ultimately, we are the ones who decide what we buy. Let’s buy fewer, better-quality things made from natural materials, produced with respect for the people who make them and for the planet they will exist on – products that won’t take another 400 years to decompose.

*The information provided is based on data from: Fashion Revolution (@fash_rev) and Sustainable Fashion Forum (@thesustainablefashionforum).