Reducing Our Fashion Footprint With Tiffanie Darke

While oil and energy garner the bulk of attention for the climate crisis, there is another major culprit - the fashion industry that is responsible for 8 to 10 per cent of global carbon emissions.

Impacts include water and plastic pollution and fashion is also a major human rights issue through fast fashion’s unethical production.

There is a lot of work to do for the industry to align with the Paris Agreements 1.5-degree pathway and in Australia, we are large fashion consumers. With a population of approximately 26 million, on average, Australian’s buy 56 brand new items of clothing a year.

So here to help me explore how we can all improve our fashion footprint is communication and brand specialist Tiffanie Darke.

With over 30 year’s experience in editorial sensibility and commercial strategy, Tiffanie is the co-founder of Ibiza’s luxury sustainability fashion boutique, AGORA and the creator of Rule of Five – a global movement where participants only buy five fashion items a year.

Tiffanie and I discuss what makes a garment truly sustainable from fabric and production to sale. She also offers advice on how to shop sustainably and even alter current items in our wardrobes to give our clothes longevity. We also discuss the sustainability concerns around new plant-based materials and the responsibility of designers to create fashion items with circularity.

Tiffanie’s transformation from luxury fashion consumer to one of sustainable fashion advocate is inspiring and achievable without costing the earth.  

I hope you enjoy the episode.

You can follow Tiffanie via her Instagram and read her newsletters at:

Its Not Sustainable

Rule of Five

This audio was edited by Peter Magill.