Some clothing has become so cheap and available in the 21st century that it is effectively disposable, with most items worn only once or twice before being discarded.

This cheap fast fashion, like cheap fast food, satisfies an immediate need to dress for the day – but the true social, ethical and ecological impact is not yet understood.

We know the world wastes about one-third of the food it produces and we are only beginning to grapple with clothing and textile waste.

FAO data on fibre apparel use shows we now consume clothing at three times the rate we did two decades ago. Since 1992, global population has increased by 25 percent and textile consumption by 80 percent. In 1992, we each used 7kg and that increased to 11kg per person by 2010 – with most of the increase being synthetic fibres, derived from petroleum. Synthetic fibres that are cheap, readily available, ultimately unsatisfying and disposable. 

Natural fibres may require some petroleum to produce through farming and transport costs but like real food – as distinct from processed food – there is more substance, intrinsic value and nourishment in their makeup.

Wool and linen garments are worth investing time to upcycle, as per Sew it Again #232. This lavender linen skirt with silk trim had always been too long for me, so I cut off the trim and re-hemmed it. To utilise the silk trim (which was several metres long around the bottom of a full-circle skirt), I used my fingers to crochet it into a chain so it has a second-life as a necklace. Using the stitch in time saves nine ethos, I mended the cherry blossom pink wool top in a couple of spots (a hole and two neckline unravels) so it should last another couple of seasons. The necklace conveniently covers the roughness of my stitching – even though those same stitches carry worthy values of zero waste, thrift and sustainability. Mending – like having backyard chickens – is a simple, old-fashioned sensible way to live holistically.