Recycled, second-hand clothing, “trapishopin”, “shopintrapo”… varied and creative are the names with which we Cubans have baptized this commercial alternative that today is positioned among the most in demand… because there are not many others available for the majority.

But even though recycled clothing occupies a different position on Cuba than in other parts of the world and the fibers that weave the issue are varied, these lines talk about another interesting interpretation that’s given to recycled clothing in the world today.

It happens that there are some countries where the trend that opposes the so-called fast fashion is increasing, favoring second-hand clothing instead, and not because there’s a lack of options or it’s another new trend promoted on the catwalks.

In Guadalajara, for example, designers and activists protested in late April against fast fashion with a day of clothing repair and recycling that had an impact on many digital media.

This wan’t a one-time phenomenon, it was part of the so-called Fashion Revolution Week, between the Marcj 14-24, which included several Latin American countries, like Chile, where the question "Who made my clothes?" marked the beginning of the central event in the fight for a fair and sustainable fashion industry.

But it’s not just a movement in this part of the world. Just at the beginning of May and coinciding with the start of the Fashion Week in Berlin, the world-famous Brandenburg Gate was the scene for climate activists, environmentalists and many other people, responsible and convinced people, to gather there, speaking out against the pollution from the fashion industry, and will fill a huge container of used clothing.

It’s the same clothing that, considered as textile waste, garbage, is exported in an amount of 6 tons per week to Africa.

Even France, considered the mecca of fashion, has emerged as a pioneer on the planet with a bill that could take legal measures against companies that offer more than a thousand products a day since they will have to increase their price progressively, reaching up to ten euros more per piece between now and 2030.

This is how the French Minister of Ecological Transition and Sustainable Development, Christophe Béchu, explained, clarifying that "The problem with these platforms is that their number of references is overwhelming, and their products can be made with 95% plastics."

Of course, besides discouraging consumerism, the objective of this measure is also to limit the presence of this type of brands in the country and, according to Béchu himself , “to rebuild the French textile industry.”

In any case, since one doesn’t lose anything for being polite, it’s worth noting that France is at the European forefront in these efforts, to such extent that last summer its government allocated a fund of 154 million euros to encourage users to repair their clothes and shoes instead of buying new ones.

Fashion Protests?

Some have tried to disqualify the movement against fast fashion, but it’s not a “fashionable” or fleeting issue because the damage that this industry causes to the planet is not fleeting.

The concept of fast fashion was coined in the second half of the 20th century, especially since the 1980s onwards, in reference to clothing produced on a large scale, with poor quality raw materials that are replaced very quickly on the market based on falsely created needs to “follow fashion trends” and usually imitating, without success, the trends promoted by haute couture.

In reality, they only intend to encourage unbridled consumerism of these cheap clothes, which because they are cheap, are of poor durability and whose fabrics contain alarming amounts of polymers derived from petroleum.

If we add to the above that the manufacturing of these productions involves a workforce that is generally poorly paid and has long working hours, the design of what the planet does not need is almost complete.

There are plenty of reasons to attack this fast fashion that also in an accelerated way conspires against the world we live in and even against common sense:

Modes for fashion

The data is shocking and goes completely opposite to what is included in the Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the UN for 2030.

In particular, fast fashion collides with the impact of two trains in opposite directions against Goal number 12, related to “guaranteeing sustainable consumption and production patterns, something essential to sustain the livelihoods of current and future generations.”

Stopping consumerism is urgent because we are depleting Earth's resources while the world population continues to grow; and if it reaches 9.8 billion inhabitants by 2050, about three planets similar to this one would be needed to guarantee lifestyles like those of today.

It would be impossible but changing such a way of life, including consumerism, and in this case the one that accompanies fast fashion, is at hand.

There are opposing interests, those of those who fatten their accounts with these practices. But fighting for sustainable fashion is worth any effort, especially because ending our planet, with life itself, cannot be fashionable.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff