I came across this disturbing reel https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_WgTwsIjzv/ a while ago. While walking about the streets of my local home town I see many people wearing distressed jeans and wonder if any of them know the shocking human & environmental cost of what they are wearing. 

What has the world come to when we willingly pay for distressed jeans—artificially worn and torn by underpaid workers in developing countries—just to stay on trend? It’s not just a fashion statement; it’s a disturbing reflection of the world we live in today. Behind every pair of trendy jeans lies a hidden cost: the environmental toll of mass production and the ethical implications of exploiting vulnerable labour forces.

I posted a message in my BAFTS (British Association of Fair Trade Shops & Suppliers) what's app group with the horrifying IG reel and immediately received a reply from Jo Salter ( Fairtrade and Eco enthusiast, Founder of Where Does It Come From? traceable clothing brand) with an article she wrote way back in, wait for it...October 2017, on this very subject. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jo-salter1/jeans-with-a-high-waste_b_17957122.html

Exactly seven years later and some of us are STILL buying new (and distressed) jeans from high street brands, many of whom don't give a monkeys about their negative impact. Would we think again if we knew...

..It can take 11,000 litres of water to produce just one pair of jeans and the mass dumping of dye chemicals in rivers in key denim manufacturing countries is turning the water an unnatural shade of blue, according to Canadian environmental documentary ‘River Blue’?

There are plenty of ethical alternatives out there, when will we wake up and recognise the true price of fashion. Is it really worth the human and environmental cost? 

Yesterday I went into a local charity/thrift shop as a friend wanted to buy a second hand pair of jeans. A collection of jeans, washed and displayed beautifully, she was soon able to find a pair that worked for her. See here for our second hand purchasing. 

If pre-loved don't work for you, then read here SANJAStories about what this team of remarkable idealists are doing. 

Theirs is a revolutionary response. And in their own words...

'Radical Idealists? Maybe. But we're proof that a circular model is possible'.