In Chile’s Atacama desert, a fashion show with a unique twist is bringing attention to the massive problem of clothes waste. Sadlin Charles, a model, struts down the sandy runway wearing denim salvaged from discarded garments found in the vast piles of rubbish that have been illegally dumped in the desert. This waste, totaling 60,000 tonnes annually, mostly comes from countries like the US, China, South Korea, and the UK.
Ángela Astudillo, co-founder of Desierto Vestido, a non-governmental organization, explains that the Atacama desert has become a global dumping ground, affecting the local community and tarnishing its reputation. To raise awareness about this issue, her organization collaborated with Fashion Revolution Brazil and Artplan to organize Atacama Fashion Week 2024, featuring a collection designed by Brazilian stylist Maya Ramos.
Ramos, inspired by the four elements of earth, fire, air, and water, created outfits using clothing collected from the dumps. Each outfit symbolizes a different type of pollution and its impact on the environment. The show aims to shed light on the urgent need for change in the fashion industry, which is a major contributor to environmental pollution.
The fashion industry’s fast fashion model, characterized by excessive consumption and disposal of cheap clothing, has led to a staggering 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually. This overproduction has detrimental effects on the environment, with the fashion industry accounting for 20% of the planet’s wastewater and 10% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Many developed countries donate their used clothes to charity shops, but a significant portion of these donations end up in countries in the global south, contributing to the growing problem of clothes waste. In Chile, unwanted clothing from duty-free ports in cities like Iquique ends up in dumps near municipalities like Alto Hospicio, where it is sorted and resold or ultimately dumped in the desert.
Despite efforts to monitor and penalize illegal dumping, the problem persists due to insufficient enforcement and lack of regulations specific to textile waste. The environmental and health impacts of burning discarded clothes, made mostly of non-biodegradable materials like polyester, are detrimental to the local population and ecosystem.
Fernanda Simon, the director of Fashion Revolution Brazil, highlights the environmental racism and colonialism inherent in the fashion industry’s global supply chain, where products are consumed in the global north and disposed of in the global south. She emphasizes the need for systemic change to address the root causes of clothes waste and environmental degradation.
While local authorities have introduced fines for illegal dumping, the enforcement remains lax, and the waste continues to accumulate. Chile has taken steps to hold importers responsible for the waste they generate but has not yet included clothing and textiles in its waste management framework.
The Atacama Fashion Week serves as a powerful reminder of the urgent need to rethink our consumption patterns and the fashion industry’s impact on the environment. It calls for a shift towards sustainable and ethical practices to protect our planet and future generations from the devastating effects of clothes waste.