The fashion and textile industry

It’s been just a couple of weeks since Philip last went shopping, but he already thinks the clothes he got are not the latest fashion anymore. He feels like he must buy some new outfits! New collections of clothes come into the stores all the time, and they are often cheap to buy. No wonder Philip is tempted to go shopping for clothes, to be able to keep up with the ever-changing fashion trends! But it hasn’t always been like this.

For most of history, making an item of clothing is a lot of work. People work by hand, or using very simple machines, to turn fibers like cotton, linen, and wool into threads and fabrics. Then they cut these fabrics and sew them into cloth. It is time consuming and expensive. People mostly produce their clothes themselves.

Only a few can afford to pay professional tailors to make clothes for them. But in the mid-1800s, several new inventions, such as the sewing machine and the power loom, make it possible to produce clothes much faster and cheaper. Small manufacturers soon start turning into larger factories that house these machines and dozens or even hundreds of workers. A new industry emerges: the textile and clothing industry. Through the 1800s and early 1900s the clothing industry is centred in Great Britain and the United States, where most clothes are produced and sold.

The industry grows slowly at first, but by the middle of the 1900s it starts expanding around the world. Clothing trade increases and new factories are popping up constantly. In the second half of the 1900s, the bulk of production moves overseas, mostly to East Asia, where raw materials and labour are cheaper. Today, with the help of advanced technology, clothing factories worldwide produce and sell over 100 billion pieces of clothing a year. That's over 10 times more than the number of people on the planet!

Textile industry is one of the largest industries globally. It employs over 300 million people, throughout the supply chain — from producing fibres to selling ready-made clothing. About one fourth of the people employed in the textile industry work directly in the factories, most of them in China, Bangladesh, India, and Vietnam. Many of these factory workers are paid very low wages, and conditions in factories are often extremely poor. The textile industry is also harmful for the environment.

To make all these clothes, a huge amount of water, fuel, and electricity is needed. On top of that, the machines used to make the clothes, as well as the trucks, boats, and planes used to transport them, release harmful gases and chemicals into the environment. The more clothes are produced, the bigger the negative impact on the environment. We all need clothes to keep us dry, warm, and to protect us from external conditions. And clothes often are much more than just protection — fashion can help us express our personalities, show our status, or signal that we belong to a certain group or culture.

You might feel like you can’t express yourself properly without new clothes, Philip. But what if for a change, you try swapping some of your clothes with your friends? Or try and find a second hand clothes shop near you? It might take some time to find what you like, but it would be a sustainable way of updating your wardrobe. And who knows, you might end up liking your clothes even more!