Could you stop buying new clothes for one year?

Fashion retailers tend to produce a huge amount of clothes every season.

British shoppers have been buying less clothes in recent years due to environmental concerns and declining pleasure from shopping, even as prices fall.

Since 2016, there has been a 40% reduction in earnings forecasts for the largest clothing retailers in the world, including ASOS, Zalando, Macys, and Marks & Spencer.

In the UK, there are around 300,000 tonnes of garments sent to landfill every year but recently, consumers have raised awareness of environmental impacts of the fast-fashion industries, especially among female millennials.

Some bloggers, vloggers and influencers have brought a “no-buy” movement to society by pledging to use the things they already own rather than buying new clothes and beauty products.

We asked people in Cardiff whether they could stop buying new clothes for one year to mitigate the environmental crisis.

Ines Martinez, 29, waitress

“I can’t do it because we live in a city surrounding by so many stores and shops… and when you are watching TV, there are many advertisements as well. You can see famous people wearing fashion clothes… yeah, one year is too long, maybe I can do it for four or five months.”

John Blow, 72, retired

“I could, yes, no problem. My wife couldn’t. She bought clothes three times a month but I’ve got enough. I don’t need anymore… I think it [fast-fashion] is a big issue and a lot of protests are going on at the moment and I agree with them… What they do is basically right.”

Philip Crossley, 23, sales

“Yes. Last two years, I haven’t bought any clothes for myself… I did it purely because I wanted to save money and I had plenty of clothes… also it’s quite environmental as well because I turned to be a vegetarian few years ago and stop having eggs and milk.”

Joan Carroll, 60, art manager

“Probably not stop buying anything, but I do agree we should buy less clothes. For me, the amount of money that people get paid to make this stuff. They are slave labours, aren’t they? This is another important issue for me… We’re living in a throw-away society now. It doesn’t affect me but it does affect young people.”

Pablo Rodriguez, 34, occupational therapist

“I can. I have stopped buying new clothes for a long time ago. I’m not consumers and I can stay with the same clothes… and I don’t like to spend too much time and money shopping… All the clothes look similar to me.”