關於可持續時尚最常見的9個誤解(上)

MYTH: Buying from "eco-conscious" or "sustainable" brands is the best way to reduce your fashion footprint

誤解一：從“具有環保意識”或“可持續”的品牌購買服裝是減少時尚碳足跡的最佳方式

TRUTH: The best way to reduce your fashion footprint is to buy fewer things. Get the most out of your current wardrobe by mending or altering old garments, restyling tired pieces and trading items with friends or through clothing swaps (post-pandemic). If you must buy a new item, try to find it second-hand. Some companies even offer repair programs, like Patagonia's "Worn Wear," or help to resell worn items. Researching sustainable brands is helpful, but buying something new should be the last option, not the first.

事實：減少時尚碳足跡的最佳方式就是少買衣服。最大化地使用你現有的衣服，你可以修補或改造舊衣服，把穿膩了的衣服重新設計一下，和朋友換穿衣服，或者到網上進行衣物互換（當然是在疫情過後）。如果必須買新衣服，試著在二手店找找有沒有合適的。一些公司甚至提供修補衣服的專案，比如巴塔哥尼亞品牌的“破舊衣服”專案，或者幫助顧客賣掉穿過的衣服。對可持續品牌進行調研可以有所幫助，但是購買新衣服應該是最後的選擇，而不是首選。

MYTH: Luxury fashion is more sustainable than fast fashion

誤解二：奢侈服裝比快時尚服裝更可持續

TRUTH: Spending money on luxury fashion does not guarantee sustainability. Some fashion houses, including Burberry, have staged "carbon-neutral" shows, and Gucci claims its operations are now entirely carbon-neutral. Stella McCartney has been working towards more greener practices for years and is one in a number of fashion brands to sign a UN charter for climate action, pledging to reduce collective carbon emissions by 30% by 2030. But the luxury fashion industry still has work to do. A report released earlier this year by Ordre, which specializes in online showrooms, reveals how unsustainable fashion weeks really are, for example. By measuring the carbon footprint of fashion buyers from 2,697 retail brands and 5,096 ready-to-wear designers attending international fashion weeks over a 12-month period, the report found that the 241,000 tonnes of CO2 (or equivalent greenhouse gases) emitted was the same as that of a small country, or enough energy to keep the lights on in 42,000 homes in a year.

事實：花錢購買奢侈服裝並不能保證可持續。包括巴寶莉在內的一些時尚品牌舉行了“碳中和”時裝秀，古馳品牌則聲稱自己的產業運作現在完全是碳中和的。斯特拉·麥卡特尼品牌多年來一直致力於更環保的行為，也是簽署聯合國《時尚業氣候行動憲章》的多個時尚品牌之一，承諾到2030年將碳排放總量減少30%。但是奢侈時尚行業做的還不夠。今年早些時候奢侈品展示網站Ordre釋出的一份報告揭示了奢侈品時尚業的一些真相，比如時裝週對環境的破壞有多大。通過測量12個月內參加國際時裝週的來自2697個零售品牌的時裝買家和5096名成衣設計師產生的碳足跡，該報告發現，時裝週產生的24.1萬噸二氧化碳（或等量的溫室氣體）相當於一個小國的碳排放量，這些能源足以為4.2萬戶家庭提供一年的照明。

MYTH: The more expensive the garment, the less likely workers have been exploited

誤解三：衣服越貴，工人受剝削的可能性越小

TRUTH: Many mid-priced and premium labels actually produce in the same factories as discount and fast fashion brands. This means that everything from workers' rights to the conditions in which they work in, can be exploitative, regardless of price point. What's more, the price of a garment does not guarantee that workers were fairly paid, because the cost of labor only makes up a small fraction of total production costs.

事實：許多中高檔品牌的服裝實際上跟折扣店和快時尚品牌用同樣的工廠生產。這意味著從工人權利到工作條件等方方面面都可能存在剝削，與價位無關。此外，衣服的高價不能保證員工能得到公平的報酬，因為勞動力成本只佔生產總成本的一小部分。

MYTH: Donating old clothes is a sustainable way to clean out your closet

誤解四：捐舊衣服是清理衣櫃的可持續方式

TRUTH: While charities and thrift stores do give away or sell a portion of the clothes they receive, your donated clothes are likely to end up being shipped overseas to resale markets in developing countries, which can negatively impact their local industries, or in a landfill. Only 10% of clothing given to thrift stores is actually sold. The US alone ships a billion pounds of used clothing per year to other countries. Africa receives 70% of global secondhand clothes.

事實：儘管慈善機構和二手店確實會捐掉或賣掉它們獲得的一部分舊衣服，但是你捐的衣服很可能最終會被運到發展中國家的轉售市場或者進入垃圾填埋場，而運到發展中國家的舊衣服會給他們的當地產業帶來負面影響。捐給二手店的衣服只有10%真的被賣掉了。光是美國每年就會運10億磅（約合45萬噸）舊衣服到其他國家。非洲接收了全球70%的二手衣服。

A 2016 research project, entitled "Dead White Man's Clothes," found that in Kantamanto, the largest secondhand market in Ghana, 15 million items are unloaded each week. The team behind the report concluded that 40% of the clothing in each bale becomes waste, dumped into already overflowing landfills, the Gulf of Guinea, or burned in Accra's slums.

2016年一項名為“已故白人衣服”的研究專案發現，在迦納最大的二手市場坎塔曼託市場，每週有1500萬件衣物會運到那裡。研究團隊在報告中總結道，每批衣服的40%會成為垃圾，被傾倒入本已滿溢的垃圾填埋場、幾內亞灣，或在阿克拉貧民窟焚燒。