Ever wondered what the average Australian discards in textiles and clothes in one year? Apparently between 23 and 27kg.
That’s one helluva haul of jeans, tops, frocks, socks and undies as local clothing brand BAY Active found out last Saturday.
BAY Active’s founder Helen O’Carroll said, ‘We wanted to know what that looked like, so we built a wall of waste using clothing eagerly donated by local op shops.’
‘Both of the op shop managers we interviewed expressed exasperation at the sheer volume of what they have to process daily. Both managers said the vast majority of donations these days was cheap, fast fashion’.
This volume of cheap fashion costs these charities millions of dollars annually to manage and redirect, she says.
Shift the mindset
O’Carroll aims to shift the current mindset on what value means to us as consumers and is encouraging us to ask our brands the big question – ‘Who makes our clothes?’
After spending decades in the fashion industry and studying at Sydney College of the Arts, O’Carroll has owned retail stores in Byron Bay for more than 15 years.
She says, ‘I must be a bit of a slow learner, because it wasn’t until I did the maths backwards on some of the fast-fashion brands I was selling that I realised the makers were being paid not dollars but cents per garment’.
‘Although we know the reality of our living costs are vastly different to those of developing countries, few of these brands could confirm they were paying a minimum living wage to their makers.
‘In fact, it proved almost impossible to find out what was being made where, as the garment industry is so layered.’
Bangladesh Rana Plaza disaster
‘When the Rana Plaza disaster occurred in Bangladesh, I remember seeing it on TV, but then heard nothing more. More than 1,100 people lost their lives in that tragedy, making fast fashion for the western world. Garment workers need protection and certified environments.
‘Fast fashion is toxic. It relies on volume – cheap petroleum-based fabrics poorly made to satisfy the whims of compulsive, mindless buying habits.
‘BAY Active is a brand of basics, active and yoga wear made in a size range of 6–18 in organic cotton, bamboo, regenerated fabrics and ‘dead stock’ fabrics, otherwise bound for landfill.
‘Our business model is 100 per cent transparent with factory certifications from field to finished product that offer protection of human beings and our planet.’
Come and check out the Wall of Waste at 13 Banksia Drive Byron Arts & Industry Estate.
The official launch of the BAY Active store is Friday October 13 from 4pm till 10pm. For more info call 0412 707 911 or visit the website www.bayactive.com.au.
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