Like Sunbathing on a Sinking Boat: Repeal It Reflection

This week we had planned to write a press release about our Repeal It campaign.  It’s been live for just over a month and when we launched it, we were excited to continue spreading the word about what we’ve been doing. We imagined this reflection would have a celebratory tone. However, the experience of this past month has been quite different, as we see the sales of fast fashion brands just going up and up.

To respect to our community and ourselves, we’ll always tell the truth, especially in these modern times where honesty from companies is increasingly hard to come by. ‘Image’ is everything, to the point where being seen to be caring is enough, instead of genuinely doing so. Hence the greenwashing pandemic.

The IPCC report about the current state of climate change came out a couple of days ago (9^th August) alongside some tweets from Greta Thunberg shedding more light on why fast fashion is so terrible for people and planet. We would like to think these have sobered Governments, but we are finding it hard to believe this when the conversation has been going on for decades, and it is definitely still more about short-term profit in their eyes.

What is the breaking point? What will it take for the West to implement the required changes? The global South have already been suffering the physical consequences and we have still turned our heads and trudged on with our plastic lifestyles and overconsumption. Now even parts of North America are going up in flames… yet it still isn’t hitting home.

Everyone likes to blame countries like China for their immense burning of fossil fuels, but they’re not over producing for fun… they’re overproducing to feed our seemingly insatiable desires for consumption. They’re the dealers. We’re the addicts. It is a toxic relationship that needs to be reformed.

The most frustrating of all is that we DO have the tools, power and minds to significantly heal the damage we’ve caused. When Covid-19 came along it was deemed an international emergency: the media frenzied to tell people of the dangers, all news channels reported on it every day… even with a running death toll at the bottom of the screen. We had to dramatically change our lifestyles. Yes, it was uncomfortable, but it was essential to focus on health. We scrutinised the people in power, held them to account and demanded they do their absolute best to fight this threat. It also heavily influenced our votes. Where is this energy for climate change?

When we look around at the overconsumption that is still rife – big budget brands plastering their latest collections on billboards and TV… and people buying so many clothes they could never possibly wear them all, without concern for the harm it is perpetuating… it sometimes feels like everyone is sat on a sinking boat with sunglasses on sipping cocktails.

A bit of a different tone in this diary, but like we said, we are always honest. Right now, we’re stumped. It is hard to be hopeful sometimes when, as the ‘little guy’, you are doing absolutely everything you can to help change behaviours for the benefit of the planet, yet you can’t see much change happening.

What do you all think?

Love Clare and the Team

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