If you’re already planning your post-winter wardrobe clear-out, hit pause before you cart your pre-loved items to the local op-shop. Charities say about 10% of what gets left at their doorstep actually makes it onto the shop floor – the rest is too grotty/in bad condition to sell. That’s creating a big problem as local fabric recyclers struggle to on-sell old clothes to countries like Malaysia – which has been overrun by wealthy countries trying to offload excess supply. One Aussie company Statewide Cleaning Cloths sent 20 million kilos of clothes overseas last year but has now stopped accepting new stock from op-shops. Fashion/textiles researcher Timo Rissanen says “we are producing more clothes than ever before in history” and we have to ask ourselves “what is enough and what does sufficiency look like?” Think that over with a coffee this morning… 

Check out this News Club interview with Financial Review fashion editor Lauren Sams for more on the fast fashion obsession.