“Call for a new fashion trend – 3Rs: REUSE, RECYCLE, REPAIR.”

Nowadays we can observe two types of consumers in the fashion industry: the increasing number of these who call for more transparency and expect information about environmental aspects and harm generated in the production of the items they buy from brands and others who are both obsessed with new fashion trends and price sensitive. The consequences of these particular consumers’ needs led to the development of ultra-fast fashion brands as well as the greenwashing phenomenon. Conscious consumers who care, as the famous Fashion Revolution campaign says “WHO MADE MY CLOTHES”, look for ethical green brands. The fact that textile industry workers are paid badly, work in inadequate conditions, health and safety regulations are not implemented or executed is not ignored anymore. Consequently, fast fashion retailers started to use sustainability as a marketing tool to respond to the demand for eco-friendly products. On the other hand, in recent years, ultra-fast fashion brands have gained enormous popularity, especially among young generations and undoubtedly social media (Instagram, TikTok) directly impacted this increase. As my thesis focuses on significant problems in Asia, it is definitely worth mentioning the Japanese situation. Japan is the world global economy with one of the highest GDP, world`s technology leader but at the same time it has hegemonic society. Japanese people are extremely aware of the environmental impact generated. Walking on the streets of Fukuoka, Osaka, Kyoto or Tokyo, it is impossible to find trash on your way. Besides, it is not easy to spot a trash bin. Japanese people are highly environmentally educated and recycling became part of their culture. They care about the final disposal of all products they buy starting from food and beverages to clothes. There are several fashion textile Japanese companies like Toray, Jeplan and Tejin which implemented the sustainable practices into their business models. Moreover, Japan is famous for its second-hand stores, 2nd Street in particular. In Japan, I found a solution combining the needs of both fast-fashion lovers and those who are eco-friendly. The Japanese government highly stresses the idea of reuse and prevention against the obsolescence of clothes in its environmental agenda with the reference to the fashion- textile industry. They underline the importance of reuse, recycle and repair, seen as tools to combat the problem in the society in which, despite environmental consciousness, textile waste makes a large percentage of the total waste generated. I am going to start my research with the analysis of consumer behaviour, and I would like to reveal how it changed over time. Later, using the lifecycle assessment of a cotton T-shirt and analysing the toxicity of the tanning process I will attempt to show how unsustainable the fashion industry is with reference to Asian countries no matter which fabric is used and how dangerous the production of fast fashion items is for the health of workers and for our planet. I will also mention the possible solutions to force changes. Next, I will describe the Japanese situation and analyse the Japanese environmental government agenda for fashion-textile industry. Lastly, I am going to present the results of the ethnographic research done during my stay in Japan in the 2nd Street stores. At the end, I am going to assess how important the circular economy is and that unnecessary purchases should be avoided.