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FASHION

Demand for clothing is growing across the world,  sales have doubled in the last 15 years and will treble again in the next 30.  This is particularly worrying when we discover that fashion is one of the most environmentally damaging industries. It uses vast quantities of water, causes deforestation and pollution and relies upon a carbon fuelled supply chain which creates 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. This is more than international air flights  and shipping combined.

The fashion designer Stella McCartney, whose 2016 dress this is, acknowledges that to turn around the $2.4 trillion industry is going to be difficult. “But”, she says  “we need a new textile economy in which clothes are designed differently, worn longer and recycled and reused much more often”.