Could you give up fast fashion? 6 Minute English

Georgina: Hello. This is 6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English.

I'm Georgina...

Neil: And I'm Neil.

Georgina: In this programme, we're

talking about buying clothes

and only wearing them

a few times before buying more clothes!

Neil: This is something known

as fast fashion - it's popular,

it might make us feel good,

but it's not great for the environment.

Georgina: Which is why lots of people this

year are pledging - or promising publicly

- to buy no new clothes.

Neil: I for one am wearing the same shirt

I bought seven years ago.

Georgina: You're certainly not

a fashion victim, Neil! But first,

let's test your knowledge

of fast fashion with a question.

Do you know how many

items of clothing were sent to landfill

in the UK in 2017? Was it...

a) 23 million items, b) 234 million items

or c) 2.3 billion items?

What do you think, Neil?

Neil: I'm sure it's lots, but not billions,

so I'm going to say 23 million items.

Georgina: I shall tell you if you're right

at the end of the programme.

Let's talk more

about fast fashion, which is being blamed

for contributing to global warming.

Neil: And discarded clothes - that means

ones that are thrown away - are

also piling up

in landfill sites, and fibre fragments are

flowing into the sea when

clothes are washed.

Georgina: It's not great - and I've heard

the average time someone

wears something is

just seven! So why is this, and what is

driving our desire to keep

buying more clothes?

Neil: I think we should hear

from fashion journalist Lauren Bravo,

who's been speaking

on the BBC Radio 4 programme,

You and Yours. She explained

that clothes today are relatively

cheaper than those

from her parents' days...

Lauren Bravo: A lot of clothing production

got outsourced - offshored

over to the developing

world, so countries like Indonesia,

India, Bangladesh and China

are now responsible for making

the vast bulk of all the clothes

that are sold in the UK.

And with that, we've seen what we call

'chasing the cheapest needle'

around the world, so

the fashion industry constantly looking

to undercut competitors,

and with that clothes

getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper.

Georgina: Right, so clothes - in the

developed world at least - have

become cheaper because

they are produced in developing

countries. These are countries

which are trying to become

more advanced economically

and socially.

Neil: So production is outsourced - that

means work usually done

in one company is given

to another company to do, often because

that company has the skills to do it.

And in the

case of fashion production, it can be done

cheaper by another company

based in a developing country.

Georgina: Lauren used an interesting

expression 'chasing the cheapest

needle' - so the fashion

industry is always looking to find the

company which can make clothes

cheaper - a company

that can undercut another one means

they can do the same job cheaper.

Neil: Therefore the price of clothes

gets cheaper for us.

Georgina: OK, so it might be good to be

able to buy cheaper clothes.

But why do we have

to buy more - and only wear items

a few times?

Neil: It's all about our obsession with

shopping and fashion.

It's something Lauren Bravo goes

on to explain on the You and Yours radio

programme. See if you can hear

what she blames for this obsession...

Lauren Bravo: Buying new things has

almost become a trend in itself

for certain generations.

I think that feeling that you can't be seen

in the same thing twice,

it really stems from

social media, particularly. And quite often

people are buying those outfits to take a

photo to put on Instagram. It sounds

illogical, but I think when

all of your friends are doing

it there is this invisible pressure there.

Georgina: Lauren makes some interesting

points. Firstly, for some generations,

there is just

a trend for buying things.

Neil: It does seem very wasteful, but, as

Lauren says, some people don't like to be

seen wearing the same thing twice.

And this idea is caused by

social media - she uses

the expression 'stems from'.

Georgina: She describes the social

pressure of needing to be seen

wearing new clothes

on Instagram. And the availability of

cheap clothes means it's possible

to post new images

of yourself wearing new clothes

very regularly.

Neil: Hmm, it sounds very wasteful and to

me, illogical - not reasonable or sensible

and more driven by emotions

rather than any practical reason.

Georgina: But, there is a bit of a backlash

now - that's a strong negative reaction to

what is happening. Some people are now

promising to buy second-hand clothes,

or 'vintage clothes',

or make do with the clothes they have

and mend the ones they need.

It could be the start

of a new fashion trend.

Neil: Yes, and for once, I will be on trend!

And it could reduce the amount of clothes

sent to landfill that you mentioned earlier.

Georgina: Yes, I asked if you knew how

many items of clothing

were sent to landfill in

the UK in 2017? Was it...

a) 23 million items, b) 234 million items

or c) 2.3 billion items?

What did you say, Neil?

Neil: I said a) 23 million items.

Georgina: And you're wrong.

It's actually 234 million items -

that's according to the

Enviro Audit Committee. It also found that

1.2 billion tonnes of carbon emissions is

released by the global fashion industry.

Neil: Well, we're clearly throwing away

too many clothes but perhaps

we can recycle some

of the vocabulary we've mentioned today?

Georgina: I think we can, starting with

pledging - that means publicly

promising to do something.

You can make a pledge to do something.

Neil: When something is outsourced, it is

given to another company

to do, often because

that company has the skills to do it

or it can be done cheaper.

Georgina: And if one company undercuts

another, it charges less to do

a job than its competitor.

Neil: The expression stems from means

'is caused by' or 'a result of'.

We mentioned

that rise in fast fashion stems from

sharing images on Instagram.

Georgina: And we mentioned this being

illogical. So it seems

unreasonable - not sensible, and

more driven by emotions rather

than any practical reason.

Neil: And a backlash is a strong negative

reaction to what is happening.

Georgina: And that brings us to the end of

our discussion about fast fashion! Please

join us again next time. Bye.

Neil: Bye.