Climate change: Sabrina Lee quits buying new clothes

With her job as a TV weather presenter, it would be easy for Sabrina Lee to justify buying new clothes for work on a regular basis.

Instead she has set herself a challenge – to quit buying new clothes for the whole of 2024.

“There’s pressure for me to look good because of my role and I know there’s a lot of eyes on me,” said Sabrina.

“But I’m a meteorologist, I studied the weather and climate at university and I also talk to the public about it… so I’ve realised that the fashion industry has a negative impact on the environment.”

The fashion sector is responsible for somewhere between 2% and 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Sabrina’s own work in this area has shown her the likely consequences of climate change going unchecked.

She has put together a forecast for 30 years’ time which predicted changes to the coastline and more extreme heat events resulting in heat-related illness, infrastructure failure and wildfire risk.

Sabrina, 31, has always loved fashion and going clothes shopping with her mum.

She spent about £700 on clothes last year and estimates she currently owns about 200 items of clothing.

“That’s not something I’m proud of… that is a collection that has built up mainly over the last decade,” said Sabrina, who has been a weather presenter for BBC Wales since 2019.

“My wardrobe’s full but there’s also pieces in there that I’ve only worn once and I feel bad about that.”

She said when she gets chatting to members of the public they often ask her two things – the first is inevitable about the weather, mainly when it will improve, and the second is usually something about her wardrobe.

“People are wondering what I’m going to be wearing next, where my clothes are from and that adds more pressure, so I think that if I wasn’t in this job I wouldn’t have as many clothes,” she said.

Before starting her challenge, Sabrina said she would typically buy a few items of clothing each month and often be tempted by marketing emails and sales.

She has been inspired by American meteorologist Ginger Zee, who in June 2022 made a no new clothes pledge and has been going strong ever since.

“I like to think of her like the Carol Kirkwood of the US,” said Sabrina, who grew up in Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and now lives near Cardiff.

“She’s wearing some of her colleagues’ pieces, she’s renting clothes… and she’s also inspiring other weather presenters in the US.”

Sabrina is now more than two months into her own challenge and has already started to save money,

So what rules has she set herself?

No brand new clothes apart from underwear and shoes.

Any purchases she does make must be second-hand, mainly bought online or from charity shops.

She will also focus on “timeless”, quality pieces that will last and buy mainly block colour rather than print to ensure new purchases can be mixed and matched with clothes she already owns.

“I’d rather buy from charity shops because I’m able to walk to those locations, when you buy clothes online you’ve got to think about your carbon footprint because of the journey from somebody else’s house to yours,” she said.

Sabrina said she was trying her best to buy no clothes at all but so far this year has bought two second-hand items – a dress from a charity shop for £9.40 and another dress from online second-hand marketplace Vinted for £7.20.

“I really want to try and limit how much I purchase. The end goal is actually to sell more than I buy,” she said.

She currently has £88 in her Vinted account from selling items on the app, and hopes that will be in the hundreds by the end of the year.

She is also embracing hand-me-downs.

“I have some items of my grandma’s that I wear, my mum and auntie have both passed me down some real quality pieces which I’ve actually worn presenting the weather on Wales Today,” she said.

Sabrina also plans to learn to sew so she is able to mend items herself and when something is no longer usable she will recycle it rather than send it to landfill.

She has a few weddings to attend this year as well as a holiday but plans to wear clothes already in her wardrobe.

She must have had some wobbles?

“I follow some fashion influences online and some of the items do look really quite appealing, and I think ‘oh, that would suit me’ but I try and just think to myself, ‘Sabrina, you don’t need these things right now’,” she said.

As well as being responsible for somewhere between 2% and 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the fashion sector also produces significant pollution, water extraction and biodiversity impacts, including 9% of annual microplastic losses to oceans, according to the UNEP.

Then there’s the use of water – the UNEP has said the industry consumes 215 trillion litres of water per year.

Last year the BBC podcast More or Less: Behind the Stats explored the often-quoted statistic that it takes 20,000 litres of water to make a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

It found the global average was in fact 1,931 litres of ground water and fresh water resources, with the environmental impact varying greatly depending on the country where the cotton is grown.

Aside from the environmental impact, some in the industry have been criticised for poor conditions for workers.

In 2021 a report by Swiss advocacy group Public Eye found workers for some suppliers of the Chinese fashion giant Shein were sometimes working 75-hour weeks.

Shein responded saying it took supply chain issues seriously and would review the report.

In November a BBC Panorama investigation found fast-fashion firm Boohoo had broken promises to make its clothes fairly and ethically, with an undercover reporter witnessing evidence of staff pressuring suppliers to drive prices down, even after deals had been agreed.

Boohoo said it had not shied away from the problems of the past and had driven positive changes in its business.

“I don’t want to be supporting fast fashion,” said Sabrina.

“I feel really good that I’m on this challenge, saving money and looking after the planet and ultimately I aim to educate others along the way.

“I’m looking after the environment while still looking good.”

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