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Opening the event, Joan Ruddock, Minister for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Waste, said:
"Increasingly, consumers really care about the environment and the social impacts associated with clothing. And clothes, almost more than any other product, fill magazines and get column inches. Not only are consumers really getting their teeth into this, but fashion journalists are increasingly keeping pace with the green game.

"There are plenty of examples of people in the industry already seeing sustainability as an opportunity, not a threat. There are people taking an active role in ethical sourcing, designing and producing clothing throughout the supply chain.

"That's why Defra is aiming to work collaboratively with the clothing and fashion industry to improve the sustainability of clothing."

Speaking at the event, Katharine Hamnett, one of the industry's most ethical and environmentally aware designers, said:
"Sustainable clothing doesn't have to be more expensive. It can be more affordable and it should be more affordable."

Clothing, across its life cycle, generates a range of environmental, social and economic impacts – with the growth in fast fashion and consumption being a key factor in this.

In 2006, UK clothing and textiles produced up to two million tonnes of waste, 3.1 million tonnes of CO2 and 70 million tonnes of waste water.  Clothing imports into the EU as a whole now account for 42% of the global market. In the UK only 10% of our clothing is manufactured at home, the rest is imported.

The UK market for cheap clothing is enormous, doubling in size since 1999, and now accounting for one fifth of the textile market.  We spend £23 billion a year on about two million tonnes of clothing. 

Following this event, the clothing and fashion industry will be invited to be involved in developing the sustainable clothing roadmap coordinated by Defra. The roadmap will examine all stages of clothing's life cycle (from raw materials to end of life), chart the environmental and social impacts arising at each stage, and propose ways of limiting those impacts where most effective.