Holidays are now (or soon over) and we're all hit with the reality of 2025. A new year, a new start, and maybe some new resolutions? In my mind, I keep asking myself what I can do differently to help improve the world no matter how small the effect might have?
My wondering stopped when I re-read an article by the Australian Institute about Australians being the biggest fashion consumers - IN THE WORLD. We even beat the average American in terms of the number of new clothing items we buy per year, and far surpass that of the average Brit or Chinese. I've made a bar chart showing the data from the Australian Institute below - the light purple bars demonstrate that Aussies are buying more per capita than anyone else:
Not only are we buying the most (56 new items of clothing per year is basically more than 1 new item per week), but the value of what we buy per item is the lowest (dark purple bars). So basically we're only spending about $13 per clothing item compared to someone in the UK who spends roughly $40 per clothing item. That means that Australians are buying far more cheap items and cheap equals fast fashion.
Our obsession with fast fashion is not entirely our fault. Fast fashion brands like Shein and Temu have very aggressive marketing strategies. For example, Temu boasts the ability to let you 'shop like a billionaire' simply because of how cheap everything is. This mindset also makes us think we can shop until we drop, and leads to over-consumption and supports unethical production and environmental practises.
So this year, I'm vowing to boycott Shein and Temu, at the very least. I'm also going to make an effort to find and support local, ethical and sustainable small businesses. Because while small business may not boast to stock everything and anything all at once, I know that they have sustainability at the forefront of their business model and that makes all the difference.