NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ - Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom, 2009/02/14 - The global fashion industry behaves like a wild animal which devours all in its path, a new report from the thinktank Freedom Clothing Project concludes.

When disaster strikes, it is common to see TV pictures of refugee camps with children wearing football shirts, slogans and designer labels donated by the British public. A new report by Freedom Clothing Project, the fashion 'think-and-do' tank, suggests that our collective addiction to fast-fashion forces millions in live as captives of the system - either working in unholy factory conditions, picking crops for a pittance or in total dependence on handouts from the mountain of waste clothing it produces.

In our own country, it forces many to live in a shadowy existence - where the minimum wage laws do not seem to count, where there are no unions, no advocates and few who seem bothered about attempting to enforce the rules. Whilst British sewing skills remain of low value, these homeworkers will continue to be forced into a dark parallel economy.

The report claims this adds up to an all-consuming monster of a supply chain which we cannot afford in a sustainable future - environmentally, socially or morally.

Joe Turner, Director of the thinktank said "We are constantly bombarded by clothing brands which claim all kinds of ethical credentials. But maybe it is time we stopped and questioned whether the modest benefits they claim are worth the damage they cause and whether exposing some of the most vulnerable communities in the world to the vagaries of international trade is actually the right thing to do in an age of economic turbulence. We believe that we need to build an alternative clothing system which values the local, the handmade and the recycled for our own communities and people everywhere."

1. Freedom Clothing Project is a non-profit co-operative fashion think-and-do tank based in Coventry. It is engaged in thinking creatively about the alternatives to the current fashion orthodoxy and putting the conclusions into practice.
2. 2 million tonnes of waste clothing are produced in the UK every year, 63% of which ends up in landfill.
3. The UK consumes 3.6% of the total world production of clothing.
4. 60% of all clothing purchases in Ghana are of imported waste clothing.
5. 0.2% of the total world cotton crop is organic.
6. 16% of all insecticides used worldwide are on the cotton crop, more than any other crop.
7. British homeworkers often work piecerate for long hours and pay under the minimum wage.

Agency / Source: Freedom Clothing Project

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