Do good while looking good…

If ever there was an industry which could be characterised by the descriptions “fleeting” or “ethereal”, it would be fashion. Clothes – and the way they are worn – change more often than the seasons.

Today’s fresh idea is tomorrow’s rubbish bin liner.

That is why the thoughts on our page opinion piece today, of Jackie May, one of the people behind the Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards, have so much resonance.

She points out that deciding what to wear has become “an environmental, social and political minefield”.

The fashion industry is a $2.4 trillion (about R36 trillion) global industry, employing about 300 million people, but its workers (many of them women) earn very little and, as a sector, it is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than those of all international flights and maritime shipping combined.

May warns that, although the South African government has targeted the clothing sector to increase jobs by 160,000 by 2030, this should not be at the expense of the environment.

It’s time to think about how clothes are designed and produced, how materials can be recycled – and many designers and fashion houses are already doing so.

Clothes make the person … and people can shape the future of our planet.