A startling 80 to 150 billion pieces of clothing are reportedly produced annually. However, the fact that the numbers out that differ so greatly—that is, over a range of 70 billion —should cause us to wait. Why are n’t we aware of the precise number of clothes made? And if we do n’t know how many garments are actually out there, how are we supposed to solve the enormous textile waste problem?
In order to combat cotton waste at Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, The OR Foundation has launched its Speak Volumes plan, which calls for 100 models of all styles to disclose their production levels on Black Friday ( a time that has come to be associated with wild consumption ). The co-founder and executive director of the non-profit, Liz Ricketts, tells Vogue,” There’s a really big difference in the info- we really should n’t have that gap. It’s critical that companies discuss what “enough” means in terms of output levels at this time when so many people are being urged to make more purchases.
The And Foundation has requested that its supporters publicly share the number of clothing produced by three brands, and on their behalf, the organization has sent letters to each company. The most nominations so far have gone to H&M, Zara, and Shein, many of whose names match the names on Ghanaian clothes washed up on the beach. Ricketts explains,” We perform routine clean-ups and gather the keywords from the clothes we find.” Many people are using that information to contact the particular companies at the top of those lists and share their creation volumes.
Although the parent company of Zara, Inditex, does release its manufacturing volume in tonnes, none of these leading brands have yet disclosed the precise number of products they produce. Shein mentioned that it introduces its styles “in small initial batches of 100 to 200 items,” but she did n’t specifically address the issue of publishing production figures, and H&M declined to comment.
Yet, a number of smaller brands, such as Collina Strada, Finisterre, and Osei- Duro, have disclosed how many garments they produced the previous month. Additionally, all brands taking part in the program have pledged to share their annual production volumes going forward. Collina Strada’s artistic director and chairman, Hillary Taymour, explains why the company chose to share the data, saying that “it is important to be fundamentally visible in the industry to develop solid data in order to focus on how we can do better future.”