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  • Georgina: Hello. This is 6 Minute English

  • from BBC Learning English.

  • I'm Georgina...

  • Neil: And I'm Neil.

  • Georgina: In this programme, we're

  • talking about buying clothes

  • and only wearing them

  • a few times before buying more clothes!

  • Neil: This is something known

  • as fast fashion - it's popular,

  • it might make us feel good,

  • but it's not great for the environment.

  • Georgina: Which is why lots of people this

  • year are pledging - or promising publicly

  • - to buy no new clothes.

  • Neil: I for one am wearing the same shirt

  • I bought seven years ago.

  • Georgina: You're certainly not

  • a fashion victim, Neil! But first,

  • let's test your knowledge

  • of fast fashion with a question.

  • Do you know how many

  • items of clothing were sent to landfill

  • in the UK in 2017? Was it...

  • a) 23 million items, b) 234 million items

  • or c) 2.3 billion items?

  • What do you think, Neil?

  • Neil: I'm sure it's lots, but not billions,

  • so I'm going to say 23 million items.

  • Georgina: I shall tell you if you're right

  • at the end of the programme.

  • Let's talk more

  • about fast fashion, which is being blamed

  • for contributing to global warming.

  • Neil: And discarded clothes - that means

  • ones that are thrown away - are

  • also piling up

  • in landfill sites, and fibre fragments are

  • flowing into the sea when

  • clothes are washed.

  • Georgina: It's not great - and I've heard

  • the average time someone

  • wears something is

  • just seven! So why is this, and what is

  • driving our desire to keep

  • buying more clothes?

  • Neil: I think we should hear

  • from fashion journalist Lauren Bravo,

  • who's been speaking

  • on the BBC Radio 4 programme,

  • You and Yours. She explained

  • that clothes today are relatively

  • cheaper than those

  • from her parents' days...

  • Lauren Bravo: A lot of clothing production

  • got outsourced - offshored

  • over to the developing

  • world, so countries like Indonesia,

  • India, Bangladesh and China

  • are now responsible for making

  • the vast bulk of all the clothes

  • that are sold in the UK.

  • And with that, we've seen what we call

  • 'chasing the cheapest needle'

  • around the world, so

  • the fashion industry constantly looking

  • to undercut competitors,

  • and with that clothes

  • getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper.

  • Georgina: Right, so clothes - in the

  • developed world at least - have

  • become cheaper because

  • they are produced in developing

  • countries. These are countries

  • which are trying to become

  • more advanced economically

  • and socially.

  • Neil: So production is outsourced - that

  • means work usually done

  • in one company is given

  • to another company to do, often because

  • that company has the skills to do it.

  • And in the

  • case of fashion production, it can be done

  • cheaper by another company

  • based in a developing country.

  • Georgina: Lauren used an interesting

  • expression 'chasing the cheapest

  • needle' - so the fashion

  • industry is always looking to find the

  • company which can make clothes

  • cheaper - a company

  • that can undercut another one means

  • they can do the same job cheaper.

  • Neil: Therefore the price of clothes

  • gets cheaper for us.

  • Georgina: OK, so it might be good to be

  • able to buy cheaper clothes.

  • But why do we have

  • to buy more - and only wear items

  • a few times?

  • Neil: It's all about our obsession with

  • shopping and fashion.

  • It's something Lauren Bravo goes

  • on to explain on the You and Yours radio

  • programme. See if you can hear

  • what she blames for this obsession...

  • Lauren Bravo: Buying new things has

  • almost become a trend in itself

  • for certain generations.

  • I think that feeling that you can't be seen

  • in the same thing twice,

  • it really stems from

  • social media, particularly. And quite often

  • people are buying those outfits to take a

  • photo to put on Instagram. It sounds

  • illogical, but I think when

  • all of your friends are doing

  • it there is this invisible pressure there.

  • Georgina: Lauren makes some interesting

  • points. Firstly, for some generations,

  • there is just

  • a trend for buying things.

  • Neil: It does seem very wasteful, but, as

  • Lauren says, some people don't like to be

  • seen wearing the same thing twice.

  • And this idea is caused by

  • social media - she uses

  • the expression 'stems from'.

  • Georgina: She describes the social

  • pressure of needing to be seen

  • wearing new clothes

  • on Instagram. And the availability of

  • cheap clothes means it's possible

  • to post new images

  • of yourself wearing new clothes

  • very regularly.

  • Neil: Hmm, it sounds very wasteful and to

  • me, illogical - not reasonable or sensible

  • and more driven by emotions

  • rather than any practical reason.

  • Georgina: But, there is a bit of a backlash

  • now - that's a strong negative reaction to

  • what is happening. Some people are now

  • promising to buy second-hand clothes,

  • or 'vintage clothes',

  • or make do with the clothes they have

  • and mend the ones they need.

  • It could be the start

  • of a new fashion trend.

  • Neil: Yes, and for once, I will be on trend!

  • And it could reduce the amount of clothes

  • sent to landfill that you mentioned earlier.

  • Georgina: Yes, I asked if you knew how

  • many items of clothing

  • were sent to landfill in

  • the UK in 2017? Was it...

  • a) 23 million items, b) 234 million items

  • or c) 2.3 billion items?

  • What did you say, Neil?

  • Neil: I said a) 23 million items.

  • Georgina: And you're wrong.

  • It's actually 234 million items -

  • that's according to the

  • Enviro Audit Committee. It also found that

  • 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon emissions is

  • released by the global fashion industry.

  • Neil: Well, we're clearly throwing away

  • too many clothes but perhaps

  • we can recycle some

  • of the vocabulary we've mentioned today?

  • Georgina: I think we can, starting with

  • pledging - that means publicly

  • promising to do something.

  • You can make a pledge to do something.

  • Neil: When something is outsourced, it is

  • given to another company

  • to do, often because

  • that company has the skills to do it

  • or it can be done cheaper.

  • Georgina: And if one company undercuts

  • another, it charges less to do

  • a job than its competitor.

  • Neil: The expression stems from means

  • 'is caused by' or 'a result of'.

  • We mentioned

  • that rise in fast fashion stems from

  • sharing images on Instagram.

  • Georgina: And we mentioned this being

  • illogical. So it seems

  • unreasonable - not sensible, and

  • more driven by emotions rather

  • than any practical reason.

  • Neil: And a backlash is a strong negative

  • reaction to what is happening.

  • Georgina: And that brings us to the end of

  • our discussion about fast fashion! Please

  • join us again next time. Bye.

  • Neil: Bye.

Georgina: Hello. This is 6 Minute English

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A2

你能放棄快時尚嗎?聽6分鐘英語 (Could you give up fast fashion? Listen to 6 Minute English)

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    林宜悉 posted on 2021/01/14
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