Fast fashion with low-quality textile garments consumed in frenzied quantities has resulted in huge amounts of waste that have devastating impacts on the planet.

Today we invite you to watch a video and read an extensive National Geographic article on an uncomfortable reality: the Atacama Desert (Chile), whose inhospitable and solitary landscapes, in just a few years, have become the world’s largest clothing dumping ground.

The textile industry is one of the most polluting industries on the planet. It is responsible for 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, a figure that exceeds those of aviation and shipping combined. Twenty per cent of water pollution is attributed to the fashion sector, and washing clothes made of synthetic fibres is responsible for 35% of the microplastics in the environment.

We must be informed consumers; we must know what happens to the products we choose and the environmental and social cost of our actions. We need to care about the origin of the raw materials, the water and energy resources involved in their production, where the waste ends up and also the working conditions of the people involved in the whole value chain.

In short, it is time to turn the tap off on hyper-consumption of clothing. We know that the final destination for unused clothing is its abandonment in remote areas of distant countries, negatively affecting local communities, while manufacturers, far removed from the problem, keep the machines whirring. Neither sales nor the gift-giving season can be an excuse for not acting responsibly.