New report reveals environmental impact of Londoners’ fashion habits

Love Not Landfill pop-up aims to encourage London’s fashion-lovers to embrace pre-loved styles and significantly lower their carbon footprint

• A new report from ReLondon reveals that Londoners buy an average of 48 items of new clothing each per year, yet also discard an average of 44 items annually
• These buying habits mean we’re adding a whopping 155,000 tonnes of new clothes – a pile of clothes more than 1 kilometre taller than the London Eye – to our wardrobes every year while a massive 142,000 tonnes are being discarded – and less than 10% of the clothes we donate or put in the recycling actually get reused in London
• By swapping out just 12 new items for second-hand instead, and repairing only 5% of the garments already in our wardrobe rather than throwing them away, Londoners could help reduce the city’s carbon footprint by a staggering 30%
• Love Not Landfill opens its preloved pop-up shop on 29^th June, with four collections from charities and clothing rentals platform Hurr, curated by London’s most style-savvy influencers

Pop up open: 29^th June – 2^nd July 2023, Ground floor, Angel Central, 21 Parkfield Street, London N1 0PS

A new report from ReLondon and University College London, ‘London’s fashion footprint’ shows for the first time the environmental impact of our fashion habits in the capital, while revealing that buying just a few more second-hand items instead of new could make a real difference to our own personal carbon footprint. Fashion is on track globally to use over a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050[1] so it has a huge impact on our planet and the escalating climate crisis.

‘London’s fashion footprint’ highlights the fact that Londoners get rid of an average 44 items of clothes every year and even though 60% of those get collected for reuse by councils, charities and textile merchants, less than 10% of those collected clothes actually get reused within London. In fact around two-thirds of them end up being sent overseas, mainly due to a lack of demand for second-hand clothes in the UK.

This is why the Love Not Landfill campaign is opening its doors again from 29^th June in Angel Central, with its fifth cult pop-up shop featuring the very best of London’s preloved fashion. Known for its perfectly curated collections, this year Love Not Landfill is back with three charities and a clothing rentals platform collaborating with some of London’s most style-savvy influencers to create a shopping experience not to be missed. The collaborations set to draw London’s fashion fans this year are:

Shelter x @EllesseChar

FARA x @DemiColleen

Cancer Research UK x @ItsLinaMar

Hurr Collective x @Nantidaintajak

Hurr, an online fashion rentals platform, are joining in for the first time, selling clothes that have been rented out but are now approaching ‘retirement’.

Second-hand shopping is a great way to help young Londoners do their bit to fight climate change. This new research from ReLondon has calculated that Londoners’ clothes habits in 2019 resulted in the production of over 2 million tonnes of damaging greenhouse gas emissions, and Love Not Landfill knows that young Londoners want to do something to help: in a poll from 2021, the campaign found that over 90% of those surveyed were concerned about the impact fast fashion has on the environment, but around a fifth of them said that they weren’t sure what they could do to make a difference. A big part of the answer is: second-hand.

This new report has been an eye-opener for us: Londoners are getting rid of an average of 44 items of clothing a year, but buying around 48 new items. The ‘buy it, wear it, throw it away’ fashion model is playing a huge role in the climate crisis we’re facing, so for the planet’s sake, we can’t keep doing it. There’s an almost endless supply of beautiful, unique second-hand clothes out there to refresh your wardrobe, which is why we’re so excited to be running another pop-up shop at the end of June in Angel Central. We’re encouraging people to come along to find a one-off piece or a whole outfit they love – and importantly we hope this means they no longer need to go shopping for something brand new.

Lizzy Woods, Love Not Landfill campaign

Clothing and textile production is both resource-intensive and a major contributor to global carbon emissions, with this report laying bare how harmful our shopping habits are. In tackling the climate emergency and preserving our precious natural resources, it is vital that we embrace pre-loved clothing and take better care of the things we already own.

The Mayor and I are proud to support another Love Not Landfill event in London. Events like this help to engage Londoners in the climate emergency and the environmental cost of fast fashion and support the Mayor’s vision for a greener and more prosperous London for all.

Shirley Rodrigues, London Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy

ENDS

Notes to editors

• ‘London’s fashion footprint’ is produced by ReLondon and University College London, with support from Circle Economy. Published 28^th June 2023.
• 2021 polling conducted by Censuswide 19^th to 22^nd October 2021, surveyed 1003 16-24 year old respondents across the UK.
• Press preview event on 28^th June to preview the full collections and meet the influencers.
• Influencers, Love Not Landfill spokespeople and charity representatives are available to interview.
• High res shots of key pieces available now.
• Short films by all the influencers involved to be released in run-up to the opening.

Please contact Laura McLachlan at Barley Communications on 07958 342505 or email laura.mclachlan@barleycommunications.co.uk for more information.

• ‘London’s fashion footprint’ is produced by ReLondon and University College London, with support from Circle Economy. Published 28^th June 2023.
• 2021 polling conducted by Censuswide 19^th to 22^nd October 2021, surveyed 1003 16-24 year old respondents across the UK.
• Press preview event on 28^th June to preview the full collections and meet the influencers.
• Influencers, Love Not Landfill spokespeople and charity representatives are available to interview.
• High res shots of key pieces available now.
• Short films by all the influencers involved to be released in run-up to the opening.