Switzerland among biggest consumers of disposable fashion – rts.ch

“We are bad, we are very bad”, repeats Katia Vladimirova, Interview by Swissinfo, sipping an already cold cup of coffee. The young woman describes how well-off people buy large quantities of cheap and temporary goods. She admits to being a part of it.

The fashion industry generates up to 8% of global carbon emissions, almost as much as emissions from shipping and international aviation. Before she opened her eyes to fashion’s devastating impact on the environment and society, Katia Vladimirova shopped obsessively.

Katia Vladimirova, in front of Upcyclerie de Genève, gives second-hand clothes a second life. The researcher has drawn a map of Geneva stores, which is favorable for material reuse and waste reduction. [swissinfo.ch]She was often at the top of the line during sales. Today, the 36-year-old academic mainly buys used items. He is now a sustainability, consumption and fashion researcher at the University of Geneva.

Switzerland, the second worst student

Originally from Russia, Katia Vladimirova studied and worked in the major fashion capitals of London, New York and Milan. When she visited Geneva in 2018, she was disappointed to find that one of the world’s richest cities didn’t offer much when it came to fashion, outside of luxury stores and fast-fashion chains.

As part of his research, he began mapping consumer trends in Geneva. In particular, he sought out local vendors who try to reuse materials and reduce waste. “I thought I would find more diversity, but disposable fashion still exists”, underlines Katia Vladimirova. His statementFunding from the city of Geneva, released at the end of April.

The data indicate that this fact is widespread. After Luxembourg, Switzerland ranks second in terms of per capita expenditure on clothing and footwear, of which only 6% is sustainably produced. Swiss consumers throw away more than 100,000 tonnes of clothing per year, only half of which is given away, resold or recycled.

The other half is incinerated to reduce the amount of textile waste that ends up in landfills (see diagram below). In most cases, these are practically new clothes, sometimes even with their labels. This practice fuels the bottom line for apparel manufacturers as the bulk of discarded clothing and shoes are quickly replaced.

Textile waste in Switzerland in 2019. [Kai Reusser – swissinfo.ch]

Very slow progress in Switzerland

In recent years, many initiatives have emerged around the world to raise awareness of sustainable and responsible consumption of fashion. Nevertheless, Switzerland still lags behind other European countries. There is virtually no research in this area and some local researchers are struggling to get their work off the ground.

Katia Vladimirova is one of them. “This theme is not very popular in the research community,” he explains. Throughout her career, she has continued to have a certain disdain for fashion studies. In Switzerland, obtaining public funding has proven more difficult.

Researchers have to spend a lot of time and energy to get grants. The initiative to create a report on the Geneva textile ecosystem did not come from the city, but from Katia Vladimirova. She managed to convince municipal officials that her idea was worth pursuing. Finally, in 2020, the municipality decided to support the project with 50,000 francs over two years.

Human and environmental balance sheet

Katia Vladimirova identifies the psychological and business mechanisms governing the global disposable fashion industry. Middle-class women, in particular, tend to hoard cheap, shoddy clothing, much of which is produced overseas under dangerous working conditions.

April 24 marked the 10th anniversary of the tragedy at Rana Plaza, an apartment building on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. A building collapse killed 1134 textile workers in 2013. This event drew global attention to human exploitation in the fashion industry.

>> Read about it: Rana Plaza, a symbol of abuses in the textile industry, collapsed 10 years ago

The sector also affects the environment. The overall numbers are staggering. Fashion is the second largest consumer and producer of water in the world 20% of industrial wastewater From textile processing and dyeing. Clothes, once sold, continue to pollute water. When washed, microfibers from synthetic materials like polyester, as well as toxic chemicals, end up in waterways, where they can be ingested by living organisms.

The Environmental Footprint of the Fashion Industry. [Kai Reusser / swissinfo.ch]

Buy, wear, throw away, repeat

Katya Vladimirova’s research shows that cities like Geneva act as “pumps”. Unwanted clothes and shoes end up in donation bags or are collected by export companies for recycling.

Swiss consumers, the world’s second richest in terms of GDP per capita, are well represented in this round. In 2022, Switzerland imported 22 kg of textiles per person, more than 95% of all clothing purchased in the country, and exported around 14 kg (used and new), according to the Office of Federal Customs (OFDT).

In Geneva, a distribution center run by the charity Caritas and the Social Protestant Center sends 35% of the donated clothing in poor condition to the recycling company Texaid. These garments are mainly exported to Pakistan and African countries, where, according to Vladimirova, they often end up in landfills because the quantity is too high and the quality too poor.

Texaid, for its part, wrote in an email to swissinfo.ch that although the garments are only exported to authorized retailers, the company has no influence on how the garments are disposed of in the destination country.

Recycle and rethink fashion

Actually, less 0.5% textile The scraps are now recycled into fibers. This is because most clothing is made from cheap textile blends, which makes separating and reusing the material very complicated and labor intensive.

Europe is mounting political pressure to solve the problem. In March 2022, the European Commission published A solution proposal It will standardize sustainable products in the EU. Funding research for the production of recycled materials and the reduction of petroleum-based and non-recyclable raw materials such as polyester are essential in this regard.

“We need to understand how to recycle fibers and use them in a way that makes them last longer,” says François Adler from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. “We can’t do that with current technologies and supply chains.”

François Adler is a researcher in textile design and sustainability at the University of Lucerne. [HSLU]Françoise Adler is another researcher who feels that studies on the durability of textiles have been neglected in Switzerland. “It’s frustrating to see funding readily available for research in fields like robotics and artificial intelligence, and we’re fighting to secure national funding,” he says.

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) have been supporting since 2020. project With funding of 325,000 francs until 2024, it aims to develop more sustainable and transparent supply chains in the textile sector. But it is mainly aimed at industry and does not promote research.

Countries like the UK and Scandinavia have a head start. Kate Fletcher, a highly cited British academic in the field, believes this is thanks to the strong link between industry and academia. But according to him, this close collaboration precludes any research that is more critical of the logic of economic growth driving the industry.

“We don’t need new technologies or new fibers because commercial chains are not interested in solving this problem,” says Kate Fletcher. Producing and buying less clothing would be more sustainable, the researcher says. “But it’s the news no one wants to hear.”

Sarah Ibrahim’s trial Published on Swissinfo. Text checked and checked by Sabrina Weiss and Veronica de Vore, translated from English by Mary Vagaritis

Web adaptation for RTS: juma