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‘People are anaesthetised to seeing rubbish everywhere’: the book unearthing waste in our seas


East Yorkshire artist Mandy Barker has found a way to make us look again at pollution – cataloguing fibres from fast fashion in the style of a Victorian book about British algae

Cheap, stylish but low-quality garments from household names such as Zara, Nike and Adidas were found to begin disintegrating almost immediately after purchase in one study, losing more than 100mg of fibres for every kilo of laundry. Photograph: © Mandy BarkerHer project is aimed in the first instance at generation Z and millennials “because I think older people are generally happy with the woolly jumper they’ve had for 30 years, as I am”. As the growth of vintage stores, secondhand sales and community clothes markets begins to change fashion’s rules, Barker pins her hopes on a shift to more expensive, but better-quality and longer-lasting apparel.

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