Christian charity Tearfund has launched The Great Fashion Fast campaign, which aims to encourage to “live more sustainably, raise money, and help beat poverty”.

According to Tearfund, ”fast fashion is harming God’s creation and pushing people further into poverty. It generates more harmful CO2 emissions than all international flights and shipping combined”.

“This contributes to climate change, making extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and storms more frequent and more severe. And it’s people living in poverty who are suffering the consequences”, adds the Christian charity.

Tearfund statistics show that 100 billion items of clothing are manufactured every year, and 57% of people own new clothes they have never worn. Furthermore, less than 23% would consider the good of the planet to be a reason for buying less clothes.

Ten items of clothes for one month

That is why the Great Fashion Fast campaign calls on people “to pick just ten items of clothing and get people to sponsor you to wear only those things for the whole month of March”.

The money participants raise “will be used to help vulnerable communities around the world adapt to the climate crisis and lift themselves out of poverty”, explain the organisers.

They encourage people to share their progress in social media using the hashtag #GreatFashionFast, and give them ideas to pick the 10 items for the month.

Ruth Valerio: “Fashion industry is one of the ways that the climate crisis is increasing”

Ruth Valerio, director of Tearfund, stresses that “the CO2 emissions that are generated by the fashion industry are one of the key ways that the climate crisis is increasing”.

“At Tearfund, I hear every day the devastating impact that the climate crisis is having on people living in poverty. That of course, has been caused by a whole variety of things, but fashion is one of those areas because it is so energy intensive”, she points out.

Valerio warns that “people all around the world are being impacted by the climate crisis right now. This isn't an issue for the future. This is an issue for now”.

You can learn more about The Great Fashion Fast campaign here.