Words and pictures by Elli Collins, Raisy Aquino and Francesco Fiori
It is no secret that veganism is becoming a huge trend world-wide, with many people eating dairy alternatives, or just giving it up for ‘Veganuary’.
Holloway Road is home to an abundance of charity shops, with people donating new clothes every day, vegan and non-vegan, expensive and inexpensive. Have you ever thought what happens to the clothes that can’t be put on the racks?
Alice Coloban, 38, manager at Oxfam said: “We send clothes to be recycled if they can’t be sold. There is a huge place where they go, and they select what clothes we send to them. It happens a lot with shoes and bags.
“Some of the items can be repaired, and some of them we don’t sell in here, so we recycle it, or sometimes there are big charity shop festivals for people to buy our unsold stock.”
According to a report published in The Telegraph, the “biggest buyer of these cast-off clothes is Ghana. Every year, 30,000 tons of used clothing arrives on the docks of the capital, Accra. It comes in huge bales, weighing between 45-55 kg, and the majority of it is from Britain.”
What happens to the clothes that aren’t on the racks?
The ever-growing fast fashion market contributes to a lot of the pollution as the clothes that aren’t sold are burnt or sent to landfill. People are sending their unwanted clothes to the charity shops, but a lot of it seems to be more fast fashion.
At the London Metropolitan University’s fashion event on Tuesday: ‘Should Fashion go vegan?’ campaigners and fashion retailers joined the panel to explain to audiences the positive effects of buying vegan clothes as opposed to fast fashion.
Bel Jacobs, former fashion editor at Metro said: “Looking at vegan fashion, what we should be targeting is the amount of waste and the landfill and air pollution and how by using vegan fashion, it can be decreased as opposed to fast fashion.”
So, are charity shops contributing to a healthier planet because people are donating their clothes? Or are they promoting an unhealthy society due to all the stock that goes to recycling and different countries?
Coloban thinks that outlets like hers play an important role in keeping the environment green and pollution-free.
“Yes, I do think that charity shops help to keep a healthy environment because they are donating the clothes that aren’t sold to be recycled which means they can be made into different things and help to reduce air pollution by not burning the clothes and sending them to landfill,” she said.
Next time you donate your clothes and don’t see them on the racks, remember they could be getting recycled to make new products or sent to developing countries to benefit more people.
Fashion with compassion is all the rage at the moment. In the meantime, the human race continues to reproduce and consume at an alarming rate. We simply cannot stop global heating, wildlife extinction and pollution by donating our cast-offs to charity shops. Our rage should be directed at corporate greed, and stopping those who continue to pillage the earth of its natural resources in order to supply us with the things we’re stupified into believing we can’t live without.