CREDIT: LAUREN DIETRICH
Fanshawe's student run retail shop Live Chic has continued their partnership with H&M to help recycle and reuse textiles from clothing no longer in use. Helping to recycle textiles is another way the college is being more environmentally friendly.

If you have not had a chance to visit Live Chic on Fanshawe’s campus yet this semester, it is definitely a spot you will want to check out. The retail store is run completely by Fanshawe students and staff and features unique designs at an affordable price.

Not only is it a great place to browse for all of the latest fashion trends, they have also carried on a great incentive to encourage environmental sustainability.

Live Chic has partnered with H&M to take part in an environmental campaign that rewards those who get involved with the project. H&M started, “Don’t Let Fashion Go to Waste” and Live Chic began mirroring this campaign last year and has received a great response so far.

“We are opening our doors at Live Chic to any staff or student within Fanshawe College who would like to drop off unwanted clothing or textiles. We give the customer a $5 coupon to use at Live Chic on the next purchase of any full price merchandise,” Linda Jenken, professor of Fanshawe’s Fashion Marketing and Management program said.

Once used clothes are brought to Live Chic, the customer receives their discount coupon. Live Chic brings the clothes to H&M and receives a coupon for their store that is distributed to the Live Chic employees.

The clothing will then be sorted through once brought to H&M, with the textiles either being recycled or reused. The incentive is to help reduce the amount of clothing going into landfills and help reduce waste.

Having an incentive for people to get involved in the project is a great way to promote this environmental sustainability campaign.

Amanda Whittingham is a sustainability co-ordinator at Fanshawe. Her job is to get the college on a sustainable path and educate students on how they can have a positive impact on the environment.

Whittingham is passionate about sustainability both on and off of campus. When asked about the Live Chic program, she fully supported their initiative.

“Textile recycling is very important. Plastic fibers can be broken down and spun into new fibers and if they can’t be then they get shredded and used in stuffing for furniture,” explained Whittingham.

Recycling these fibres and creating something functional out of them is a great way to reduce the large amount of waste that clothing creates.

“Eighty-five per cent of apparels are currently ending up in landfills and we want to decrease landfill space. If we continue with the current level of waste, we are going to run out of landfill space in London in nine years and the city will have to buy farmland to use as another landfill,” Whittingham added.

Taking part in strategies to reduce waste is key to ensuring that farmland can still be used for its original purpose.

Landfill space is not the only issue that textile recycling will help. Whittingham also discussed the negative effects of what happens when apparel gets to the landfills.

“When natural fibres end up in landfills, they take hundreds of years to decompose and they release methane and carbon dioxide when they are decomposing. When you have synthetic fibres, like rayon or polyester, they are made from plastic and they don’t decompose at all,” Whittingham said.

Not only are these effects bad enough, with the ever-changing fashion trends, the issue only gets worse. Fashion has graduated from being four seasons a year to fifty-two seasons a year. People are buying cheaper clothes more frequently which increases the amount of waste from apparel.

It is important for our environment that companies like H&M and Live Chic recognize the issue and take action. Live Chic is looking forward to another great year of fashion and they are eager to see staff and students participate in their campaign.

If you are interested in bringing in your old clothing, you can drop it off at Live Chic Monday to Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

To contact Amanda Whittingham about Sustainability, email sustainability@fanshawec.ca or call 519- 452-4430 ext. 3934.