OP-ED: Why fashion must be a priority of the newly reconvened Environment Audit Committee by Tamara Cincik, CEO of Fashion Roundtable
Last month Fashion Roundtable proudly took up responsibility as Secretariat for the newly reformed All Party Parliamentary Group for Ethics and Sustainability In Fashion (ESF APPG). Supported by Hubbub and with Professor Dilys Williams, Head of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at UAL, we look forward to hosting parliamentary events and creating policy papers and initiatives to push the issues and support systemic paradigm shifts in our approaches towards environmental and ethical issues (COVID 19 lock down notwithstanding).
The feeling in the sector is that we want to change, we know we need to change and we are keen to address how, through policy, legislation and leadership. The EAC Fixing Fashion report published last year while Mary Creagh was Chair of the Environment Audit Committee, was met with much interest by the fashion industry: I have rarely seen the press and stakeholders discuss parliamentary events and policy papers with such keen attention. None of the 18 key recommendations from the report were picked up by the UK government and while I did not agree personally with the call to tax all items a 1p per garment for a number of reasons: how does a government shift money from a clothes tax into policing, being one; it is clear that the attention from parliament was important, if the fashion and textiles sector are to clean up their acts and become more transparent. Therefore when I received news from the EAC press team last week that fashion and textiles are not on the EAC's list of priorities, I read the announcement with shock and to be honest, concern. Fashion will not clean up unless policy, legislation and attention forces it to do so. Anyone who read The Financial Times Dark Factories feature, which details a number of Leicester factories where workers are locked into unsafe factories and paid the same price per hour as a coffee in a Starbucks, will share my concerns that an unregulated industry without the attention of the committee in a time when the UK is moving into a new business direction post Brexit, outside of EU regulations.
The EAC has just reconvened Chaired by MP Philip Dunne and these 6 key areas are its proposed targets:
Energy efficiency of existing homes;
Nature based solutions to climate change;
Local authorities and net zero;
Follow up on progress since 2018 Green Finance inquiry;
Community energy;
Biodiversity and ecosystem services;
Sustainability of crop management;
Carbon labelling.
All very worthy and of course I applaud the need for these issues to be addressed. However, it is vital that the environmental and ethical impacts of the fashion industry remain a part of the work of the EAC over the course of 2020 and onwards. Fashion makes over £32bn for the UK economy, it employs almost 1m and it is growing 11% year on year. This is a success story for the UK economy, but it needs the correct attention to avoid us being the fast fashion hotpot off the North Sea from mainland Europe.
Short written submissions are invited to aid the Committee in prioritising its programme of work. These should be submitted via the Committee's website by 5pm on Thursday 9 April.
Fashion Roundtable and CSF have already sent in submissions and urge you to please add your voices by submitting evidence and requests that fashion is re-included on the agenda and prioritised for the work programme.
Once the Committee has identified which inquiry it wishes to focus on first, a further call for evidence will be issued to invite more detailed submissions from stakeholders on the chosen topic. For ease, here is CSF's copy and paste email for you to submit.
The work of the EAC is vital in the UK’s ability to prosper in the context of the Climate Emergency including its potentially dramatic economic and social implications. The EAC enquiry and subsequent report into the hugely significant UK Fashion industry makes it clear that we have an unparalleled opportunity and imperative to support and grow the contribution of this industry to the UK. The fashion industry is equivalent to the world’s seventh largest economy (as compared to individual nations’ GDP) and in the UK, the fashion industry contributes over £30billion to national GDP. Clothing is the eighth largest sector in the UK in terms of household spending, but the fourth largest for environmental impact, as expressed by global carbon emissions (after housing, transport and food).
The creativity of the UK fashion sector is unparalleled, as evidenced in its world-wide recognition. There is an opportunity for this leadership to extend to new practices and new models of production and consumption, if the UK government and parliament convenes action by its stakeholders and supports best practices. Industry leaders are keen to engage with parliament, to make changes that enable short and long term prosperity, through reducing its climate impacts; they need clear governmental guidelines. This letter requests that the EAC includes fashion in its remit. There are already key initiatives for change in industry and academia, such as the Transparency Index from Fashion Revolution, the work on Vogue Business on sustainability, the pioneering work of Fashion Roundtable, as well as our own work at Centre for Sustainable Fashion, where we partner with business at scales from micro and small businesses, through to multi-national fashion businesses, we develop new knowledge and understanding of fashion and sustainability and we develop sustainability led creative curriculum, which we share with universities around the world. We ask that you continue to include this vital sector in your work, to shape global Britain as leaders in sustainability, contributing to prosperity in environmental and social as well as economic terms.”