Brighton SocksThe Trouble With Sustainability
by Amanda Law, the Brighton Socks Company
Having coffee with an old friend in Brighton’s North Laine recently, the conversation quickly, and inevitably, turned to the climate crisis. Many of my conversations do these days, especially when discussing my small business, the Brighton Socks Company. My friend and I agreed, without question, on the need for sustainability across the business. But what happened next took me by surprise.
“What do you actually mean by sustainability?” my friend asked, with genuine curiosity and a hint of devil’s advocacy. The question, loaded with trepidation and intrigue, sat silently in the otherwise bustling café for just a little longer than I would have liked. Here I was, running a “sustainable” business, yet struggling to articulate a suitable response. So I did what I normally do when faced with a conundrum and reached for my phone – before nose diving down an internet rabbit hole.
The dictionary defines sustainability as “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level” or “the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.” Simple enough, yet when applied to the messy realities of running a business, I had a sense that these rather basic definitions may quickly reveal their limitations. My search continued.
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions, and 20% of global waste water. In the UK we buy more clothes per person than any other country in Europe and an estimated £140 million worth goes to landfill every year. Simple changes to how we buy and dispose of our clothing can have a huge impact on both the planet and also save us money.
At Sussex Green Living we often talk about our outreach with families, in the villages, in schools and with the Youth Eco Forum. What people may not realise is that we also run community sessions with the elderly. Morag and I went along to the Kings Court Care Home in January this year, taking the Horsham Cape of Good Hopes along with us.
Last month London Fashion week was held. There’ll be another in June.
During the first half of 2019 Sussex Green Living and the Horsham Repair Cafe are out and about, inpiring people to ‘make do and mend’, remake, repair, repatch and basically love the clothes and materials around them. Come and learn long lost skills of sewing, patches, repairing buttons, clothes etc. Learn about fast fashion and the damage it is causing our planet, solutions, ways of saving money and the planet……
Neckties are a bit of an environmental nightmare, novelty ties get bought for people who might use them once or twice, charity shops don’t want them as they don’t sell well and if sent for recycling they often get caught up in the recycling machinery and cause expensive damage. Upcycling, remaking and reuse is best!