Government has “no interest” in tackling fast fashion, says Ahern

Labour TD and climate spokesperson Ciaran Ahern has said that the government has “no interest” in tackling fast fashion.

This week, the European Parliament agreed on a €2 flat fee on what they call “low-value packages” into Europe, with the aim of tackling fast fashion packages from companies such as Shein.

Ahern noted that the decision from Europe puts the government in a bind, as Shein’s European HQ is based in Dublin, with then-Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney opening the HQ in 2023.

Ahern said that by 2023, the environmental impact of fast fashion was apparent, yet the government parties gave the practice their tacit support.

The Labour TD said, “Fine Gael clearly has no interest in taking on what is not only a planet crisis, but a people crisis.”

“Fast fashion’s ecological footprint is enormous and changes are needed to incentivise sustainable consumption patterns.”

The Dublin South-West TD noted, “100 billion items of clothing are produced each year, and over the past twenty years, clothing production and consumption have doubled, yet consumers only keep their clothes half as long. 93% of used clothes end up being dumped, incinerated or exported annually.”

Statistics from the United Nations showed that fashion was responsible for as much as 10% of global carbon emissions in 2019; that number has likely grown since the rise in popularity of fast fashion websites and apps during the pandemic era.

A BBC report from earlier this year found that factory workers making clothing for Shein work 75-hour weeks, and earn less than 1 cent per garment.

Ahern said, “Labour has a long history of calling for better waste management, and advocating for measures to reduce waste; this is not something that we’ve just woken up to.”

“It’s more than 20 years since we published our Waste Matters policy document in 2005, an alternative strategy on waste management to that of the government of the day. It proposed radical and meaningful actions to improve the ways we deal with waste and build the appropriate infrastructure to do so.

“Many of those policy proposals have since been adopted, like waste segregation, investing in recycling plants, providing waste treatment facilities and so on.”

He remarked, “while it is welcome to see Fine Gael finally wake up to the ills of fast fashion, it does beg the question if they are serious about taking on some of the biggest polluters of our time; it cannot just be left to individual action.”

In February, Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews welcomed a crackdown on the fast fashion practice, saying “it is high time for direct action to be taken to safeguard our consumers online.”

“Shein’s business model has long been under deserved scrutiny for its dangerous manufacturing practices, environmental impact, and alleged links to forced labour.”