some people don’t know the amount of waste there is in the fashion industry, producing over 92 million tons per year. additionally, 1 in 2 people throws their clothes in the trash. from plastic wrappings to tags to textile waste, the need for sustainability is imperative. Fashion Takes Action is Canada’s first non-profit fashion industry organization focused on sustainability. through education, awareness, research, and collaboration, fashion takes action (FTA) is becoming one of the top sustainability fashion-based non-profits.
since its founding in 2007, FTA has worked with more than 2000 clothing brands and participated in over 250 events, collaborated with academics, NGOs, and various industry stakeholders, and received tens of millions of media impressions, and will continue doing this in the future. additionally, they created a webinar series called “World Ethical Apparel Roundtable” a.k.a WEAR to continue educating and accelerating efforts for a more conscious fashion future. recently, in the fall of 2021, they launched a workshop called “SHIFT: Responsible Fashion Series” that educates micro and small fashion business in north america.
this organization is single handle changing the fashion industry and its founder kelly drennan is to thank. she wrote canada’s textile recycling feasibility report and now leads a group of national stakeholders in a mechanical textile recycling pilot. in 2017, she was the recipient of the “clean 50” award that is given to top leaders in canada combating climate change. after reading more about her, it inspired me to become more conscious with my fashion.
there are so many things you can do to reduce your fashion footprint. FTA calls it the 7Rs of fashion. reduce, reuse, repurpose, repair, resale, rent, and recycle. you can take the 7Rs fashion pledge to commit to it and to help raise more awareness. my favorite way to reduce my footprint is to thrift. i love the apps Depop and Poshmark. additionally, borrow clothes from friends or family instead of buying new ones! i hope everyone was as inspired as i was after learning about FTA, and will take the pledge to reduce our footprints.
