To celebrate Earth Day on 22nd April, we decided to create a pop up swap shop in the LC warehouse, to draw attention to the harmful effects of fast fashion and encourage staff and visitors to reuse and exchange items instead of buying new.
Staff brought in items from home that they no longer want or need, to donate to our swap shop. We will keep our swap shop open for staff and visitors to get a chance to leave something and pick something else up, at no cost!
The fast fashion industry operates on a “race to the bottom” model to produce the greatest number of garments at the lowest price. With cheap production, lowered costs and societal pressure to constantly consume clothing, fashion’s numbers are staggering: 100 billion garments made annually, 87% ending in landfills or incinerators and only 1% recycled. Toxic textile processing pollutes freshwater systems harming connected ecosystems, and each year 200 million trees are razed for cellulosic fibres imperilling biodiversity. 69% of clothes are made from crude oil and washing them accounts for 35% of the ocean's microplastics. Microfibers are in the food chain, our air, our soil and appear deep in our organs and our bloodstreams threatening our existence.
Earthday.org
If you are coming in to the Leicestershire Cares office soon, be sure to check out our swap shop, and if you have a couple of items you would like to add, please do!
Visit Earth Day for more information about fast fashion, ways to raise awareness about it and other Earth friendly ideas.