Half of the clothes sold online are made from virgin plastic

According to a study, out of 10 thousand clothes analyzed in two weeks, 49 percent were made entirely with virgin plastic.

Despite the intention to reduce the enormous environmental impact of the fashion industry, approximately half of the clothes sold from major brands online fashion, how Boohoo And Asos, are made entirely with virgin plastic, i.e. one produced using raw materials and not recycled raw materials.One reveals it study from the Royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce (RSA), which analyzed around 10 thousand items found on sites such as Asos, Boohoo, Missguided and PrettyLittleThing, over two weeks in May.

What the study says about clothes made from virgin plastic

Of these 10 thousand articles analyzed over the course of two weeks, it was found that an average of 49 percent it was made entirely with new plastics like polyester, acrylic And nylon.In some cases only 1 percent some of the clothes contained recycled fabric.The massive use of synthetic fibers produced with is not surprising fossil fuels, if we consider the boom that the fast fashion has had for the last 20 years.It's a vicious circle:after the explosion of fast fashion, the use of these cheaper materials is almost doubled, allowing disposable fashion to continue to proliferate.

However, what not many people know, according to Josie Warden, one of the authors of the report, is that these tissues require large amounts of energy in the production phase e feed the petrochemical sector, responsible for most of the climate changes and of thepollution uncontrolled.And what's worse, there is little awareness about how certain types of materials are made, especially among young buyers.

It is known that the fashion industry is among the most polluting sectors in the world, not only in terms of (over)production of clothes, but also and above all for theirs disposal:in the United Kingdom 300 thousand tons of clothes they are burned or buried every year.A problem for which brands such as PrettyLittleThing and Missguided are also partly responsible, who adopt strategies that encourage unsustainable consumption, with gimmicks such as dresses for 8 pence and swimsuits for 1 pound.

The measures taken by brands

“We can no longer use plastic to create poorly made garments designed to be worn only a handful of times.These require large amounts of energy, create environmental damage during their production process and can take thousands of years to dispose of,” Warden said.But also many natural materials, how cotton And viscose, have a significant environmental impact, “so ultimately it is the scale of production that needs to change”.Brands have started to catch on measures:Following revelations of poor wages and working conditions in some of its suppliers' factories, Boohoo, which owns PrettyLittleThing, launched a complete overhaul of its supply chain and has promised that by 2025 the fabrics of its clothes (made of 80 percent cotton or polyester) will be recycled or in any case more sustainable.

A spokesperson for Missguided later said that the brand has drastically reduced the use of virgin plastic, but agreed that “there is more to do.”The objective for the moment is to make the products more sustainable, with 10 percent using it recycled fibres by the end of 2021 and 25 percent by the end of 2022.Asos has encouraged the use of more recycled synthetic materials And sustainable cotton and introduced a “Responsible edit”, to guide customers towards purchasing clothes made with sustainable materials.Finally, the RSA requests a "tax on plastic” for every item made from virgin plastic imported or produced in Great Britain and, addressing consumers, invites them to buy less and better.