Pingree launches congressional caucus to push back against ‘fast fashion’ • Maine Morning Star

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree last week announced the formation of a “slow fashion caucus” meant to develop policies to curb pollution from “fast fashion.” 

Pingree’s office said in a news release that fast fashion involves cheaply manufactured, frequently-bought clothing items that have a short life span. The Maine Democrat, who represents the state’s 1st Congressional District, said this type of fashion takes a huge toll on the environment. 

For example, Pingree said the Environmental Protection Agency estimated in 2018 that 17 million tons of textiles were generated across the country. Furthermore, she noted that only 15% of U.S. clothing is recycled or reused. In addition, nearly two-thirds of the fibers people wear are made from fossil fuel products and the fashion industry as a whole creates more emissions than international flights and maritime shipping combined, Pingree said. 

“For too long, the so-called ‘fast fashion’ industry has been given free range to pollute our planet, exploit workers, and shortchange consumers,” said Pingree, who will chair the Slow Fashion Caucus.

“The launch of our Slow Fashion Caucus marks a new era in the fight against climate change and sends a clear message that Congress will not stand by as the harmful fast fashion industry flies under the radar to destroy our planet,” she added.

Fellow founding members of the Congressional Slow Fashion Caucus include: U.S. Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), and Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii).

The Slow Fashion Caucus has also been backed by several outside groups — such as American Circular Textiles, the Garment Worker Center, Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, Patagonia, and others — according to Pingree’s press release.

The caucus has a number of principles, including incentivizing the apparel industry to reuse, repair and recycle textiles to reduce natural resource consumption in the sector. 

Additional reforms supported by the group are building reuse and recycling infrastructure, creating awareness of the environmental impact of fast fashion, bringing textile production back to the U.S., pushing for the use of more sustainable fibers, and building on existing efforts to encourage sustainability. 

In a video last week about the issue, Pingree also encouraged consumers to buy fewer clothes along with repairing those they already have, rewearing them and recycling items if they need to get rid of them. 

“We have a saying in Maine: waste not, want not,” Pingree said. “We don’t like to throw anything away and we don’t like to spend money if we don’t have to.”