In brief:
- Students protest Shein in LA, opting for bathrobes over fast fashion.
- Activist Lexy Silverstein leads the protest urging sustainable, ethical practices and fair labour conditions in the fashion industry.
- Campaigners demand transparency, accuse fast fashion brands like Shein of greenwashing, and highlight environmental and social impacts of the industry.
In detail:
Students dressed in bathrobes and towels protested against fast fashion retailer Shein in LA on Monday under the slogan “I'd rather be naked than wear Shein” to mark Earthday 2024.
Students protested outside Shein Distribution Cooperation in Downtown, according to activist Lexy Silverstein, who claimed to be leading the protests.
Silverstein also claimed that students in the UK had protested against retailer Boohoo as part of the Earthday event but did not provide any further information.
Silverstein said: "We're urging Shein and the entire fast fashion industry to recognize their impact on the environment and to quickly move towards sustainable, ethical practices while also tackling unfair labor practices for garment workers".
The event was being backed by Remake, a nonprofit and global advocacy organizatio for fair pay and climate justice.
Students were calling on fast fashion brands to become more transparent about their supply chains and business practices, providing clear evidence of where and how garments are made.
They also accused Shein and other companies of greenwashing tactics and called on them to implement genuinely and verifiably sustainable practices.
Silverstein said the fashion industry was a major source of air and soil pollution owing to its dyeing of textiles.
Earthday’s Fashion for the Earth campaign said that fast fashion was characterised by environmental damage such as “stripping the earth of its resources, depleting healthy soil, (and) contaminating fresh water sources”.
Campaigners said they were trying to reorient consumers away from fast fashion towards sustainable practices in sourcing, production and distribution.
According to the campaign, the fashion industry produces 100bn garments per year and 87% of these end up in a landfill or an incinerator.
Only 1% of all discarded clothing is recycled, they said. The campaign also singled out the apparel industry for being responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions and said that unchecked fashion production would account for 26% of all carbon emissions by 2050.
“Non-organic cotton is one of the world's most pesticide-intensive crops which has effects on farmers and populations nearby,” it said.
“The toxic farm runoff contaminates fresh wetlands and aquifers and threatens biodiversity and ecosystems.”
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