The Environmental Impact of Fashion

It might be 2024, but the UK still sends a jaw-dropping 1.2 million tonnes of fabric waste to landfills each year. Over the past decade, the market has been swamped with cheap, unsustainable fashion and homeware brands, making it easier (and often cheaper) to toss and replace rather than repair.

Fashion is the third largest manufacturing industry globally, contributing up to 10% of the world's emissions. The rise of fast fashion – fuelled by brands like Shein, Primark, H&M and Zara – has increased greenhouse gas emissions, water and air pollution and significant waste. Millions of fabric items end up in landfills each year, taking decades to biodegrade (sometimes up to 200 years!) and often releasing environmental toxins. It's time to turn the tide.

Fast Fashion and its Environmental Toll

Fast fashion is a major contributor to global carbon emissions, wastewater, and pollution.

Here are some startling facts:

Fashion contributes up to 10% of global carbon emissions.
It accounts for 20% of global wastewater.
The industry uses more energy than aviation and shipping combined.
About 70 million barrels of oil a year are used to make polyester fibres.
A polyester shirt has double the carbon footprint compared to one made from cotton.
Polyester takes hundreds of years to decompose.

Sustainable Fabrics and Practices

Cotton: As the largest non-food crop in the world, cotton has significant environmental impacts, including water consumption, soil degradation and chemical pollution that can harm workers and habitats. These impacts and greenhouse gas emissions can vary widely depending on where and how the plant was grown.

India and China, the world's leading cotton producers, collectively account for 45-50% of global production, with the top four producers contributing 70-75%. In China, cotton is cultivated in 24 out of its 35 provinces, involving nearly 300 million people in production. It is a primary input for the country's textile industry, which accounts for 80% of cotton textiles. However, this industry employs over 10 million people in challenging conditions often characterised by low wages and limited consideration for the workers and their wellbeing.

Wool: Remnant Revolution sources remnant wool from sheep in England and Ireland, minimising carbon emissions. Wool production requires fewer chemicals or dyes, and the resulting yarn is easily recycled and biodegradable.

Bast Fibres (Hemp, Linen, Jute): These fibres come from hemp, jute, and flax. These plants generally require little water and fertiliser to grow in Europe (France and the Netherlands).

No part of the hemp plant is wasted, and hemp fibres have even been shown to have antibacterial properties. According to the Made-By Environmental Benchmark for Fibres, organic hemp and flax are among the most sustainable. Even when they’re not organic, bast fibres are a better textile choice. This is why Remnant Revolution focuses on using linen for its homeware products due to its sustainability and minimal environmental impact.

The Case for Recycled Fabrics

Recycled cotton, wool, and linen are among the most sustainable options available for fashion and homeware. By choosing recycled materials and promoting a more sustainable future, we can significantly reduce our carbon footprint.

Remnant Revolution's Commitment to Sustainability

As climate change becomes a more pressing issue, the environmental credentials of clothes are becoming as important as their style and price. European consumer goods companies are increasingly adopting circular models—repair, resale, refurbishment, recycling to reduce waste and promote sustainability.

Remnant Revolution uses predominantly remnant cotton fabric to create sustainable, high-quality homeware items crafted domestically and ethically with a commitment to environmental responsibility and product quality. And it’s our inclusive community of women who are leading the charge towards this positive environmental change.

Remnant Revolution: Pioneering Zero-Waste Fashion and Homeware

Remnant Revolution is committed to a zero-waste future, aligning with today's sustainability trends. Born out of a love for fabric and a loathing of waste, this female-led enterprise is about empowering local women. We're building a supportive community of talented female crafters and we rescue fabric from landfill and transform it into unique, stylish, and sustainable homeware. Together, we're making a difference for the environment and our community, one beautiful creation at a time.

Empowering Women and Building Community

We’re here to create a supportive community of women, providing a nurturing workplace where our team can really come into their own.

We recruit local women through ads, sewing shops, contacts, and mums at school to find skilled seamstresses. These women come from diverse backgrounds and many face challenges due to language barriers and lack of confidence. Among our team are Afghan refugees who have never earned money before, a Ukrainian friend who fled the war, and our head of production, a Brazilian lady who couldn’t find a job to support her family in the UK due to her limited English and her need to care for her young son during school term time.

By bringing these incredible women together, we are building a community of like-minded, kind, and brilliant individuals. They offer each other support, share skills, and teach each other sewing techniques, resulting in the creation of our beautiful homeware collection. The common thread among them is their ability to transform fabric into something beautiful, a skill passed down through generations.

By creating these communities, we aim to build support networks, develop friendships, boost confidence, and enhance skill sets while creating fair labour practices and employment opportunities in local areas. Our goal is to amplify this across the UK with further investment.

Sustainability Stats That Will Blow Your Mind

Time to take you on a quick trip behind the seams to fill you in on fashion's dirty laundry. From runway to throwaway, fashion is a major player in global resource consumption and waste production. Are you ready to uncover the dark side of your wardrobe?

Did you know?

100 billion new garments are produced annually around the world. The UN Environment Programme estimates that people buy 60% more clothes and wear them for half as long. Clothes made using synthetic fibres such as polyester and acrylic are responsible for more than 60% of global apparel purchases. These fibres take 80 to 800 times longer to decompose than natural fibres like cotton.

In light of these shocking stats, it is no surprise that, according to Business Waste, the world produces 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually, which accounts for 5% of landfill space. 25% of this global clothing waste is incinerated, releasing harmful greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change and air pollution. In fact, the global fashion industry is responsible for 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions, releasing 2 billion tonnes into the atmosphere each and every year.

43 Million Tonnes of Plastic Waste.

Every year, textile production creates 42 million tonnes of plastic waste and is responsible for 10% of microplastics that enter the ocean. In the EU alone, less than 13% of textile waste is recycled, perpetuating this cycle of environmental harm.

While you might be quick to point the finger overseas, the UK has been found guilty of being Europe's fourth largest producer of textile waste, according to a new study by sustainable menswear brand LABFRESH.

The UK is the proud home of world-leading fashion designers, including Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, but along the way, this celebrated industry has been busy amassing mountains of textile waste.

Brits spend on average £980,50 every year on new clothes, chucking out 300,000 tonnes of old clothes in their household rubbish bins, with £140 million worth of UK clothing ending up in landfill. Every. Single. Year.

How Your Wardrobe is Stealing the World's Water

Let's talk about your liquid legacy. Did you know that global textile production annually guzzles down 93 billion cubic metres of water?

It takes a whopping 10,000 litres of water to produce just 1 kilogram of cotton. Your average cotton t-shirt requires about 2,700 litres of water, while a pair of jeans consumes 6,814 litres - all drawing from the water sources wherever the cotton was cultivated.

What's the problem with using water? We hear your cry. The industry's high water demand can deplete local resources and cause ecological damage and economic instability. Chemical contaminants and microplastics from textile processes can also get into our water, harming both the environment and human health.

From Waste to Wardrobe: why we're Embracing Circular Fabric Economy

The devastating effects of excess water consumption and textile waste on our planet are why we're passionate about using remnant or deadstock fabrics to create our homeware products.

These leftover materials prevent landfill overflow and reduce water usage, benefiting the environment and our conscience. By rescuing, reusing and recycling, we're helping to minimise the industry's environmental footprint by contributing to a circular fashion economy that is so crucially important for the future of our world.

Fashion's impact is clear, but so are the solutions. By embracing circularity—rescuing textiles, reducing waste, and reimagining production methods—we can mitigate environmental damage and pave the way for a sustainable fabric future.