What to do with clothes you no longer wear
Model Ellie Jolliffe says she was shocked at the amount of waste she saw when working on modelling jobs, in particular for e-commerce companies.
"I've been on shoots where there are boxes and boxes of deadstock - clothes which are no longer on sale. They've never been worn. No-one wants to buy them. Tonnes of unused clothing goes to waste."
The 20-year-old Londoner began studying sustainability. She found herself queuing for castings while reading books on the environmental and human impact of fashion.
"I figured out pretty quickly that I needed to lay down some boundaries in terms of who I'd work with," she says.
She also realised she had to change her own habits.
"I would often do cheap fast fashion orders, especially before events," she says. "A lot of the clothes I bought then are still sitting in my wardrobe, unused."
Now, Ms Jolliffe buys second-hand clothes from eBay, charity shops or kilo sales.
"I feel much better," she says. "I still have plenty of clothes and I'm paying no more than I would if I was buying fast fashion."
Stepping away from fast fashion, she insists, is not synonymous with stepping away from fashion.
"There are lots of ways to dress that don't compromise people or planet."
Fast fashion refers to the quick turnover of fashion trends and the move towards cheap, mass-produced clothing - with new lines constantly released.
It is often blamed for waste in the industry.
Some companies have taken it to a new level. Ultra-fast fashion firms, like China's Shein, release new clothes onto the market every day.
Experts say that is putting pressure on the environment.
"Fashion is an extremely resource intensive industry," says Catherine Salvidge, sustainable textile sector specialist for the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap). "It fuels climate change, water scarcity, pollution and biodiversity loss."
Around 25% of materials end up as waste before they even reach the customer, says Ms Salvidge, and at the end of the chain we are disposing of more clothing than ever.
According to Wrap, some 921,000 tonnes of used textiles end up in our general waste every year, which is then either incinerated or sent to landfill.
"To address the root cause of the problem, we need to consume less new clothing and keep it in use for longer," says Ms Salvidge.
Repurposing unwanted clothes into new items, she says, could help us curb our reliance on raw materials.
Some firms are offering ways to slow fashion down.
Re_considered takes unwanted clothes and transforms them into something new, so-called upcycling.
Say you have a dress you no longer wear, Re_considered could rework it into a matching top and shorts set for about £30. If you want a skirt taken up at the hem it will cost from £8.
They'll even take an old pair of curtains and make something new from it for about £45.
Whatever it is, you can apply online to arrange a five minute virtual appointment when you'll chat about your desired design. You then send them your old clothes or fabric, they rework it - and send a whole new outfit back to you.
"Before starting Re considered," says founder Tabby Bunyan, "I would buy new items of clothing every other week. I enjoyed the instant gratification but rarely cherished what I bought. I hardly ever wore things more than a handful of times
