PRESS RELEASE

9:00am Monday 9 March 2020

Boohoo: Don’t Make Me Cry action

• Members from XR Manchester will gather outside of the Boohoo Head offices on Dale street on Monday Morning as part of a non-arrestable action.
• On Monday 9th March Boohoo will be hosting the official launch event at their head offices for the Digital City Festival week, where Major Andy Burham will be in attendance and other Manchester entrepreneurs.
• XR are highlighting Boohoo’s lack of policy on where their materials are sourced and the misleading nature of their reGain app.
• XR, respectfully invite Boohoo and associated brands to take responsibility for their part in the climate and ecological crisis and instead take a leadership role in helping to tackle this issue.
• Fast fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world. More so than international flights and shipping.

Extinction Rebellion Manchester will be taking part in a non-violent direct action outside of Boohoo’s offices on Dale Street in the Northern Quarter. This is to highlight their continued use of unsustainable and unethically sourced materials, and to invite them to take responsibility and lead in taking huge steps towards a ‘slow fashion’ model with better quality products.

Members of Extinction Rebellion Manchester will gather outside of the head offices in Dale street, with banners and placards at the same time as the official launch event for the first Digital City Festival Week. Some members will be dressed in white with tears painted on their face, highlighting the tragedy that is the climate and ecological emergency, asking Boohoo: ‘Please don’t make me cry’ with a letter written to deliver to them.

Boohoo and associated brands have made commendable steps to appear more environmentally friendly, however, this is nothing more than Greenwashing.

Their recycled range is made using polyester based fabrics, which is non-biodegradable. With no clear policy stated on their website on how fabrics are sourced, instead relying on suppliers to meet inadequate regulations.

Furthermore, their reGain app encourages customers to donate clothes, in order to earn vouchers to purchase more clothes. The planet cannot sustain this level of production, fast fashion leads to lower quality clothes that even when they are donated, are often unable to be reused and still end up in landfill, where they pollute the land. Society needs to embrace the ‘slow fashion’ movement, by purchasing clothes that last longer and be encouraged to keep clothes for longer.

The fashion industry produces 20% of global wastewater and 10% of global carbon emissions - more than all international flights and maritime shipping. This has to change.

Extinction Rebellion believes that ethical fashion is not a trend, but vital in tackling the climate and ecological crisis, from now on.

LETTER TO BOOHOO:

Dear BooHoo plc,

We appreciate the efforts that you and your associated fast fashion brands are going to in reducing the amount of waste from your businesses. We also acknowledge your position as one of the North West’s huge business success stories and the hardwork and creative thinking involved.

With that in mind, we invite you to take the lead in the sustainable fashion revolution in Manchester, in a greater attempt to throw off the title as one of the twoleastsustainable fashion brands in the UK, given by the Environmental Audit Committee report in 2018.

Your polyester recycled range is a good start - particularly as polyester is non-biodegradable, but we would ask that you consider writing a robust policy on how you source your cotton, viscose and other materials, aiming to use environmentally friendly materials from the offset instead. Ethical fashion is not a trend, but is vital in tackling the climate and ecological crisis, from now on.

It also helps that you encourage customers to ‘recycle’ through the reGain App. However, the key to recycling is that there is, at least a partially closed production loop. There is benefit in using this app to slow down the journey of clothing to landfill, but we would ask you to move towards investing in a system where there is a lot less new material and products entering the chain and less ending up in landfill. A process which is more circular, rather than a chain.

As well, we think it’s important to realise that one of the most effective ways to be sustainable, is to reduce the number of clothing purchases that are made and encourage customers to keep their clothing for longer. The incentives used on the reGain App, to send unwanted clothing for ‘recycling’ in order to gain discount vouchers, to purchase yet more clothes, contradicts the aim of recycling. Instead of reducing waste, you are increasing waste being sent to other countries. With the ‘recycled clothes often going to countries that are unable to cope with the amount being sent, and due to the poor quality of the clothing in the first instance, unable to be reused (as cited in the ITV News Report,” How UKs fast fashion habits are polluting a country halfway around the world, 18/2/2020”).

In order to help your customers be involved in a truly sustainable fashion revolution, we would like to suggest that you introduce and promote a ‘slow fashion’ range consisting of items which are made to last and from ethically sourced materials, with a more transparent supply chain. Without taking more adequate steps, your recycled range and reGain app are nothing more than Greenwashing. You are in a unique position, to take responsibility, lead and influence the culture around fashion for a more sustainable future on our planet.

The key messages for BooHoo plc being:
Better quality, longer lasting, less waste.

Yours hopefully and sincerely
Extinction Rebellion Manchester
media@xrmcr.org

NOTES AND BACKGROUND

The action will take place outside:
49-51 Dale St, Manchester M1 2HG
At 9:00am on Monday 9 March 2020

About Extinction Rebellion

Extinction Rebellion is an international movement with a presence in over 80 countries, which uses non-violent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction and minimise the risk of societal collapse.

The group has three demands:

• Tell The Truth.Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
• Act Now.Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
• Beyond Politics.Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.

Extinction Rebellion Manchester website: xrmcr.org

Extinction Rebellion national website: rebellion.earth

Contact
Email: media@xrmcr.org