Could you give up fast fashion? 6 Minute English

Lots of people are planning to buy no new clothes this year, favouring second-hand or making do with what they already have. However, sales at online fast fashion sites, trade is going well. Could you give up buying new clothes for a year? Would you do it over concerns with the environment? Georgina and Neil discuss this fashion and environment and teach you some useful items of vocabulary.

This week's 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
c) 2.3 billion items
Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

𝐕𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐲:
𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠
publicly promising to do something (you can make a pledge to do something)

𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝
given to another company to do, often because that company has the skills to do it or it can be done cheaper

𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐬
if a company undercuts another, it charges less to do a job than its competitor

𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 (𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠)
caused by or a result of something

𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥
unreasonable - not sensible, more driven by emotions than practical reason

𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡
strong negative reaction to what is happening

𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝟔 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐬:
Why does seeing someone yawn make us yawn?

The decline of the apostrophe

Women in politics

Could you give up booze for a month?

Low emission zones

#6MinuteEnglish #BBCLearningEnglish #LearnEnglish

[laphoangkim]

0:43 4:34 landfill

1:08 blamed for

1:45 outsource - offshore

2:02 2:44 undercut

3:17 3:46 5:36 stems from

3:24 4:03 illogical

4:10 5:56 backlash

[thaothu]

1. You can make a pledge to do smt = to promise publicly to do smt.
2. Smt is outsourced. ( smt is given to another company to do)
3. One company undercuts another (that company charges less to do a job than its competitor).
4. Stem from = come from= caused by = a result of.
5. A backlash = A negative reaction to smt what happens.
eg: A backlash against feminism.

[jchinex]

I'm so grateful for what you do every week for learners... Lots of thanks 4ever

[irenefang]

Thanks BBC

My summary while listening

We'll hear about buying clothes and only wearing a few times before buying. This is something which is known as fast fashion. It makes us feel good but it's terrible for the environment so this is why many people are pledging to buy no new clothes.

According to Lauren Bravo, a fashion journalist, a lot of clothing production got outsourced - offshored over to the developing world, so countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh and China are responsible for making the vast bulk of all the clothes that are sold to the UK. With that, we're seeing "chasing the cheapest needle" around the world so the fashion industry's constantly looking for undercut competitors. As a result, clothes are getting cheaper and cheaper.

Also, the reason why people keep buying new clothes is that it has become a trend. This is related to the feeling that we can't be seen in the same thing twice. It really stems from the social media. Quite often, people are buying outfits to take a photo and post on Instagram. It sound illogical but there is an invisible pressure there.

[herya]

learning more new vocabulary will not cause co2 emission. therefore I will keep working on it!

[duyenngoc]

Such an interesting topic ! I've seen lots of fashion victims around me, not me 😂. My siblings used to buy a lot of clothes, but just wear 2 or 3 times then discard them. It's money-wasting. We can give these clothes away to those who need, like the poor, etc.

[luckygrewal]

Its good approach to save environment and money

[abuhuraira]

Nothing makes my heartbeat faster than a fashion sale

[hanjrarecords]

Bbc learning totally change my listening skill and vocabulary thank you for

[quentinbonjour]

Très intéressant et pertinent ceci demande une écouter très développée.
BBC learning English es ma chaîne youtube préféré.

[xiangliangchen]

pledge / outsource / undercut / stem from / illogical / backlash

[rawnaqmahdihashim]

Please, write the speech in the box description.

[caverschen]

I knew this series videos on the Internet and this one is slightly difficult to me, Hahaha, but it is helpful . : )

[durdonakhonbakhtiyor]

The prices for Clothes are becoming lesser than the detergent which is used to wash them.

[nhiphuong]

I am learning English lately. So sometimes I don't understand what you say in this video. I hope in the future my English is better than now

[erlankaspi]

Hello BBC Learning English team! Every thursday I download your show - 6 Minute English (mp3 version). Now I have ALL of them in my smartphone and listen to them everyday (from 2008). I have a request for you. Could you please remove intro music it is very annoying. Good luck and thank you!

[esstories]

I've bought fewer clothes than before because I don't need too many clothes in my everyday life. I'm glad to do that since the less we consume, the less pollution environment will get, save my money as well.

[ezaldeenalkhlif]

yes we could stop fast fashion if we had a stratification so we could save the environment and we less wastage of our money

[zaido]

I buy new shoes every year because they are dead in one autumn/winter (take the water).

But I discovered that some people managed to keep shoes 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, even 40 years with the best quality ! And that's common in fact...
I don't care about mode but every year I have to buy new clothes, for example I buyed a sweat last year or before, but the pockets are already in ridiculous shapes because I've used it too often.

[Gftrrf]

there are plenty of fashion victims one of them I know him personally, he gathers the clothes in piles, and he must clean them even though they didn't get dirty, and when he goes to University he must wear a different suit everyday and use those perfumery he has (like he is going to a wedding).
I think he is the most fashion victim I've ever seen in my whole life