Invitation: Extraction Fashion
What does it actually take to make fashion? Come to the launch of a new report.
Hello,
The second short and sharp newsletter is an invitation from me to you. Come along to the launch event of the new Extraction Fashion report, co-authored by me.
See you again soon!
Launch of EXTRACTION FASHION
What does it truly take to make fashion? Peeling back the facade of corporate designers and shiny billboards, how much Land, water, fossil fuels, metals and minerals does it take to produce the billions of bits of clothing that appear in shops every year?
And how many human hours go into stitching and sewing, growing and transporting all of these clothes?
Now for the first time War on Want and Research & Degrowth International have answers to these questions. Using groundbreaking research to define and reveal fashion’s global footprint.
To give a sense of just how staggering fashion’s footprint really is:
In a single year (2021) the fashion industry used land equivalent to an entire island of Great Britain and Belgium — just to produce fashion for the EU and UK.
- 226,928 km² of land for the EU — equivalent to the entire island of Great Britain.
- 30,258 km² of land for the UK — roughly the entire land area of Belgium.
The report reveals how fashion is using up country-sized tracts of Land which could otherwise have grown food or been reforested. The majority of this Land extraction took place on the continent of Africa, followed by China - showing conclusively that clothes being produced for consumption in the EU are not being made using the wealth of Europe, but are based upon a system of extraction from the Global South.
- Online event hosted by War on Want (WOW) and Research & Degrowth International (R&Di)
- Wednesday December 10th 2025 from 12:30 -13:30 PM GMT (13:30-14:30 CET)
Sign up here:
Journalists and co. wanting more info or an advanced copy, please email Ruth: rogier AT waronwant.org
Thanks for reading.
In solidarity, Tansy.
p.p.s Is something ethics + fashion related bothering you? Send me a letter for the Patched advice column to DearPatched@proton.me