Opinion | Hongkongers must learn some self-control when shopping for clothes
Peter Kammerer says it is tough to resist temptation in a consumer-driven society, but only keeping clothes we need and enjoy will benefit all, especially the environment
Shopping with one particular friend is torture. We’ll go from shop to shop comparing, checking the price, contrasting and double-checking. No matter whether it’s clothing, furniture or a bathroom fitting, the style, colour and size have to be just right. There won’t be a purchase until perfection is found.
This is not the shopper Hong Kong retailers want. Their ideal is someone who is driven by fashion and the seasons, the sort of person who sees an advertised item and wants it now. A quick sale and everyone’s happy. Well, everyone except the environment.
People queue outside a Louis Vuitton shop in Kowloon. The ideal shopper for retailers is one driven by fashion, who sees an advertised item and wants it now. Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
My friend pays attention to trends. But she’s also mindful of recycling, so only buys when she needs to and gives whatever is no longer of use to the needy. Clothes are put in the bins provided for the Community Used Clothes Recycling Bank Scheme.
Like her, I used last Wednesday – the traditional time three days before the start of the Lunar New Year – to spring clean, to go through belongings and dispose of the excess.
Government figures show that 110,000 tonnes of textile waste were sent to landfills in 2015, with only four per cent being recycled. There’s natural wear and tear, but also a lot of waste from thoughtless or impulsive buying.
A survey by the environmental group Greenpeace has found that we each spend about HK$800 a month on clothes, with the result that wardrobes are bulging. It determined from questioning 1,000 people that, on average, women have 109 items of clothing and men 77, and nearly one-fifth of the items are seldom or never worn.
