What we wear defines us be fashionable and ethical

[Music]

[Applause]

are you

interested in fashion do you like to

wear

nice and trendy clothes

i believe a lot of us do because

people do judge you by your appearances

they may not know you but they will

certainly define you by the types of

clothing you wear

for this reason fashion has become a

very

important part of our lives

personally i love shopping whenever

enter a clothing store i get lost in the

endless rows of tops

jackets dresses and pants and there’s

almost so

many things that i’m on a shopping high

so speaking of fashion there’s still

different

different types of stores for example

let’s compare a top from store 8

which is a fashion shop and one from

store b

which is not so the one bought from

story cost three dollars whereas one

costs twenty five dollars if you buy it

from store b

now do you see the difference

and right now you might start thinking

wait a minute you’re telling me that the

exact same top

that feels the same and looks the exact

same

cost 22 dollars more for that difference

you can buy eight more crop tops instead

of

just one so

seriously how do fast fashion shops

carry

out all the production process

transportation transportation operations

and advertisement

in such a cheap amount of money the

answer is

they can’t there’s a phrase

saying that behind a successful person

there is a wasteful process of hard work

but no one ever sees it and they only

see the results

well it’s really quite similar

because we only see the trendy and cheap

clothes

but behind it there are countless

environmental costs

that we don’t occasionally care for to

be honest

because fast fashion isn’t free someone

somewhere is paying the price for it

now let’s clarify what fast fashion

means before we get

all started fast fashion

is the umbrella term used to describe

the accelerated process

of turning new design ideas from the

catwalk

into clothes onto the retail floor

so that is what fast fashion is

now for example a fast fashion brand

could take

around only 14 to 21 days

to convert an idea to its inception to

its sales

as a final product so that is extremely

fast because a simple project that you

might have had at school or

work usually costs around

three weeks to a month to complete this

simple task

but this store do

all the blueprinting designing

and making in simply just two weeks

now this ability to create new trends

instantly combined

with savvy marketing campaigns has

enabled fast fashion stores

to quickly turn around their stores

redefine their latest looks

and change their hype about their latest

look

and a new line of clothing so these fast

fashion stores

introduce new clothes almost weekly and

this times us consumers to buy

the newest product while making older

items seem more

irrelevant faster so

this over consumption has high

environmental cost circumstances

on the supply side of the equation

because

most clothing now is made of a product

material called polyester and it is a

petroleum-based fiber

that requires large amounts of fossil

fuels

for manufacturing so

in the 1980s polyester

and cotton they would use the same

amount

20 years later in the 2000s

cotton was still playing the same role

as polyester and even

a bit more but now statistics

of 2020 suggest that cotton stayed at

25 million metric tons of oil per year

which is a lot but polyester

rose up to 100 million metric tons

per year just let that sink in for a bit

and now this is a huge problem for

us and the planet because polyester is

also

a non-biodegradable product again it is

a petroleum-based fiber

and it requires large amounts of fossil

fuels

for manufacturing it can take anywhere

from

20 to 200 years to decompose

moreover it is one of the leading causes

to plastic in the oceans

now you might start thinking that

well i guess i’ll just buy cotton shirts

but cotton may be a better choice but

one single cotton shirt that you’re

wearing right now

costs 2 700 liters

of water to make 2700

for a single small shirt that’s about

all the water you’ll drink

in two years even two and a half years

but the greatest problem by far

is the waste that fast fashion produces

the average american sends 41 pounds

of waste to landfill each year

and this happens because fast fashion

stores

tend to advertise and produce new

products

almost weekly and they tempt us to buy

them

so consequently we throw out all our old

clothes

and buy new ones garbage waste

is already a huge huge huge problem for

our planet

because of the fashion industry the

amount of the waste is

increasing fast really really fast

and the fast fashion industry

is now the eighth most polluting

industry

in the world in terms of greenhouse gas

emissions

it is responsible for 92 million tons

or four percent of the world’s annual

solid waste

so this cannot possibly go on

how do you feel knowing that the new top

you bought wasted

2700 liters of water or the pants you

have on

will take 200 years to decompose

do you sleep better at night knowing

these facts no

i don’t think any of you think so

so we cannot

afford to disregard or dismiss the

details

that brought that new top or those

hot pants into existence we have

a responsibility as this generation

for the planet so

we have to protect it and if possible

without sacrificing our sense of style

so what should we do can we be

fashionable and ethical at the same time

so let’s just think how we wear

and shop for clothes the first and

easiest thing

is to just buy less clothing in the

first place

before you buy ask why you buy do i

really need this

do i just want this are they going to

make me

happier than the one i already have on

right now

or are they going to make me regret the

choice i

bought it so always ask yourself

why before you buy and the next thing

you can do

is to just wear your clothes for

longer that is so simple because just by

wearing your clothes for nine months

longer

you can reduce your carbon footprint by

that garment

by 30 percent you don’t have to toss

your clothes away because

the colors aren’t in there anyway you

can accessorize it which is really fun

like tie dyeing it but

if you still feel like shopping you can

go to a thrift store

it is a lot of fun it is almost like

treasure hunting and when you buy a

pre-owned piece

of clothing you reduce the carbon

emissions

by almost half a million cars

because us humans are almost dependent

on

cars and we can’t really live without

them

but by simply just wearing this piece of

clothing

for nine months longer you can help

reduce this

by a lot and finally

if you still want to have something new

choose to shop

from eco-friendly companies some of

the most ethical and sustainable

clothing shops in vancouver instead

include

obaki charlie and lee and chloe angus

designs

and there are a lot of others too so i

highly encourage you to be more aware

of how your clothing got to you

because once you become knowledgeable

and passionate about the clothes you

wear

it’s going to change you and it’s also

going to change

us and our planet

because global warming and climate

change

isn’t in the distant future it is here

and it is now

because every action and inaction either

contributes to it or

reduces its inch impact

now in new york city there is a clock

that says

exactly how long there is until our

planet

gets destroyed again this might be one

of

those other misinterpretations

or hoaxes but

what if there’s a chance what if the

world does

end we only have seven years left

we should do something that we wouldn’t

regret doing

so play your part as consumers

we have so much power to just change

this world

by thinking about what we buy so buy

less

and wear it for longer and choose to

shop from

thrift stores or eco-friendly companies

what we wear defines us we

can be ethical and fashionable

at the same time thank you

you