Posh Swaps Blog

Posh-swaps.com was at the Southbank Centre in London on Wednesday for the Sustainable Clothing Conference and update of the Sustainable Clothing Roadmap. The conference included entrance to Estethica, London Fashion Week’s sustainable trade show, a reception and address by Environment Minister Dan Norris.The conference brought together over 200 clothing industry representatives to discuss the ethical and environmental impacts of clothing.

One year on from the first sustainable action plan in which Posh Swaps pledged to promote recycling and reuse of clothes by encouraging clothes swapping and buying and selling of second hand clothes as well as other eco fashion and sustainable clothing. A further 40 companies and organisations have signed up to the action plan including British Retail Consortium, Ethical Fashion Forum, Forum for the Future, Levis Strauss, MADE-BY, Cotton Made in Africa, RSPCA, Society of Dyers and Colourists.

Since its creation the SCAP has brought together over 40 organisations, from high street retailers, to designers and textile manufacturers to battle the environmental and ethical impacts of ‘throw away’ fashion.  Some of the biggest names in fashion are working to take actions which will make a significant difference to the environmental footprint and social inequalities which blight some of the consumer fashion supply chain.

Many of the initiatives from the original action plan are now well underway including Tesco’s new sustainable clothing range in collaboration with From Somewhere which will launch this Spring and the Oxfam ‘Clothes Exchange’ partnership with M&S.

There was also the announcement of a £3.5 million fund to be made available over 3 years by the Responsible and Accountable Garment Sector (RAGS) fund for bids from organisations who want to make the clothing business more ethical and contribute more strongly to development in poor countries.