– When I was younger, I could wear new clothes two or three times before I gave them away.
22-year-old Dina Buer walks around a large Uff store in the center of Bergen, looking for a new second-hand find.
The student has always been interested in fashion, and before that she was a major customer of so-called fast fashion chains.
– I thought “What does it matter if I buy this top? It doesn’t hurt anyone.” But it damages the environment in the long run.
The World Bank estimates that the clothing industry accounts for around 10 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition, only 3 percent of the clothes we donate in Norway actually stay in the country, shows a survey of used textiles and textile waste.
Much of it ends up in large garbage heaps in Africa, among other places.
After Buer was featured in an NRK article when she was 17, she started reading up on the climate footprint of fashion clothing.
Photo: Agnieszka Iwanska / NRK / AGNIESZKA IWANSKA
Will make “fast fashion” more expensive
In an attempt to overcome the problem, France is now in favor of an environmental tax on “fast fashion”.
The proposal, which has received strong political support, will initially add five euros to the price of a cheap garment.
In 2030, the sum will rise to 10 euros.
Such an arrangement can be goodnstig also in Norway, says Professor Ved SiphoIngun Grimstad Klepp.
Klepp has been researching textiles, clothing and our clothing consumption for many years.
Photo: Synne Sørenes / NRK
– If consumption is to go down, the price has to go up, she says.
She believes that heavier regulation of the clothing industry is the only solution that will reduce the overproduction of clothing.
– Then such a fee can be part of the solution, she believes.
It is not enough that it will be cheaper with a used one
In an attempt to reduce the consumption of new clothes, the government has recently made it easier to buy and sell used.
But it is far from enough, Klepp believes.
– It is not the case that people buy less new because they buy more used.
– The most important thing to reduce the environmental impact is to produce less new. There is no direct connection between the increase in used trade and a reduction in production, she states.
The industry: – How expensive is expensive enough?
Berekraft manager in Virke, Tord Dale, says they have spoken to their sister organization in France, who are initially positive about an environmental tax on cheap clothes.
– But they also say that there are more questions than answers when it comes to this arrangement.
He believes the most important question is how big the tax must be to bring about change.
Dale believes it is important to be sure that an environmental tax does not turn out to be unfair, and that it does not happen to Norwegian producers more than foreign producers.
Photo: PRESS PHOTO / Virke
– It could potentially be a very large sum. Then we can risk that things go wrong, and that it will be expensive for those with the worst advice, he says.
He believes it may be better to focus on making the production of clothing itself more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Synne Sørenes / NRK
Lan Marie Berg, Green Party
– It is important that Norway also introduces a tax on fast fashion at the same time that we remove VAT on second-hand trade and repairs. I will raise this in connection with the finance committee’s consideration of the revised national budget.
Even Bjøringsøy Johnsen / NRK
Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde, Right
– We will introduce a system where those who produce and import clothing into Norway must pay for handling the clothing waste. We believe it is a more targeted scheme than a general tax, because it both places responsibility on those who send tons of cloth into the market and means that you get money to invest in facilities for sorting and recycling cloth.
Terje Bendiksby / NTB
Sivert Bjørnstad, FRP
– We are probably more positive about using a carrot than a whip. These are proposals that will only make clothing more expensive for most people, and we as politicians should do what we can to reduce the costs for people and businesses, not increase them.
William Jobling / NRK
Sofie Marhaug, Raudt
– We are skeptical of taxes that are simply passed on to consumers, and turn out to be lopsided. The most important thing is to give producers responsibility for ensuring that the clothing industry does not exploit workers, and for more clothing to be recycled in Norway. We expect that the government will soon get the producer responsibility scheme for textiles in place.
Jan Erik Finsæther
Jenny Klinge, Sp
– Such chains that go under “fast fashion” are similar to fast food chains in terms of luring people to gluttony and to become addicted. We are therefore positively inclined to consider a fee if it is possible to arrange the measure so that it targets the type of business in question here.
Frode Fjerdingstad / NRKFrode Fjerdingstad
Rune Støstad, Ap
– If France introduces such a fee, it is also something we can learn from. Here in Norway, the government has already announced stricter product requirements, because we know that “Fast fashion” produces huge amounts of clothing that is of poor quality, that is used only a few times and that ends up as a waste and environmental problem.
– The higher the price, the better
Klepp at Sifo says it is difficult to determine a concrete sum that will surely lead to a change in the consumer.
– But it is clear; the higher the price, the better for the climate.
She adds that clothing can be taxed differently, so that those that pollute more will be the most expensive.
Buer says she is always looking for new clothes at Tise, Finn or second-hand shops. And in the roommate’s closet, then.
Photo: Agnieszka Iwanska / NRK / AGNIESZKA IWANSKA
Dina Buer believes that an environmental tax can make it easier to stay away from “fast fashion”.
– Sometimes it is actually cheaper to buy new than used, and it shouldn’t be that way, she says.
The student, who is also an artist, nevertheless has some tips if you want to renew your wardrobe and save the kroner:
– Exchange evenings are arranged, for example. But I’m lucky. I live with a friend, so I have a double wardrobe, she says, laughing.
