Welcome back GFZ’s, to another Happy Earth News story—where fashion meets purpose and your outfit can save the planet (no pressure, right?).

This week, while the runways of Australia Fashion Week are buzzing with bold prints and bigger statements, the biggest flex isn’t the outfit—it’s impact. While sustainability is slowly weaving its way into the runway, we’ve got news that is show-stopping for both fashion and the planet.

Salvos Stores Is Stealing the Spotlight

No one’s doing sustainable style with more purpose (and heart) than Salvos Stores,who are celebrating a milestone worth strutting about: one million second-hand items sold through their online store!

Yep, their online shop just turned five, and they’ve kept 713 tonnes of quality pre-loved items in circulation. That’s a whole lot of clothes diverted from landfill—and a whole lot of lives changed. Because when you shop Salvos, you’re not just skipping fast fashion, you’re supporting programs that help Aussies doing it tough. Last year alone? They raised $39.5 million for homelessness, financial hardship, domestic violence support and more. Now that’s a power outfit.

Image: Salvos Stores celebrate one million second-hand items sold through their online store

Why We Need to Break the Fast Fashion Cycle

Research from the Australia Institute reveals that Australia tops the global list for textile consumption per capita (overtaking the US). Each year, Australians buy an average of 56 new clothing items and discard approximately 23 kilograms of clothing per person into landfills. And here’s the kicker: when fashion costs next to nothing, we value it less. We wear it less. We toss it faster. The cycle spins again, leaving a trail of waste and exploitation.

As we celebrate fashion done right, we’ve gotta call out the elephant on the runway: fast fashion, especially of the ultra-fast variety. You know who we mean—Shein, the brand dropping 10,000 new styles a day like it's confetti.

Behind every $5 top lies:

• Workers earning as little as $1 AUD per item, pumping out 500 pieces a day in 17-hour shifts
• Allegations of child labour, unsafe conditions, and a supply chain murkier than last season’s trends
• Mountains of polyester—aka plastic clothes that never break down, clog landfills, and shed microplastics into oceans (and our bodies)
• A 2024 Greenpeace study found toxic chemicals like lead and formaldehyde in multiple Shein items, some well above safe limits.
  

Image: Digital artwork created by AI artist Emanuele Morelli

Your Pocket Guide to Ethical Fashion

Not sure where your fave brand stands? Download the Good On You app—your pocket-sized fashion detective. It helps you check ethical ratings, discover better alternatives, and even score discounts from the good ones, because looking good shouldn’t come at the cost of people or the planet.

So, this Fashion Week, we raise our reusable coffee cups to Salvos Stores—and to you, eco-legend, for choosing progress over polyester.

Let’s keep fashion fabulous, not fast.

If you loved this story, you’ll love our other blog here about surfboards made from wind turbine blades, it’s a goodie!

Until next time GFZ’s,
Ellie xx