Textile waste zombies visit fast fashion shops in the UK

Inside the wearable structure, suitably named ‘Dead White Man’s Clothes’ – or obroni wauwu as they are known in Ghana – is Jeremy Hutchison himself.

Donning the tower of clothing, the artist is not afraid to admit the hand he’s played in contributing to textile pollution by consuming fast fashion in the past.

‘I am performing myself, nobody else. I am a white male Western consumer. I have definitely inhabited and participated in this,’ Hutchison said about the project.

Albeit not as apocalyptic-like as the ‘fast-fashion zombie’ we asked Midjourney to make, the result of the collaboration succeeded in catching the eyes of shoppers and retail workers – even when they tried to ignore it.

Ignoring it is exactly what workers at ASOS chose to do when the zombie paid them a visit. Boohoo, on the other hand, called security. Primark hastily locked its doors.

However, the zombie was quickly videoed and memed by shoppers as it pranced along high streets and followed people around in-store. It might sound creepy, but this is exactly the point of the project: to draw attention to a gigantic, global problem that is hiding in plain sight.

‘I’m trying to trigger this sort of hysterical response, the feeling deep down that we know when we put our shit in trash bags and send it off to somewhere else, that it hasn’t disappeared,’ Hutchison explained.

The fashion zombies were first displayed at the British Textile Biennial exhibition, where they were mounted, unmoving, and carefully lit for spectators to view.

They were displayed alongside a film, which shows one of the zombies strolling through Dakar before entering a shipping container. It later re-emerges in the Global North, meanders into clothing stores and walks along shopping streets, trying to find its place of origin.

The film cleverly depicts the story of fast fashion items, which are bought by consumers in wealthy nations and later discarded, shipped to the Global South for someone else to deal with. The zombie reflects a rebellion against this process, coming back to haunt those who produce, consume, and throw away fast fashion items on a wide scale.

As mentioned, the project is part of the Speak Volumes campaign, which is a component of the Stop Waste Colonialism initiative which is now advocating for the global implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies.

These new policies would enforce global accountability to disrupt the cycle of excessive production and overconsumption, as well as the externalisation of social and environmental responsibilities.

A more justice-centred EPR program, as envisioned by the Kantamanto community and The Or Foundation, rests on three fundamental principles.

First, it demands the introduction of a ‘per-garment fee’ on newly manufactured clothing items to finance waste management systems.

Secondly, it requires equitably distributing funds to address the losses and damages resulting from irresponsible waste exportation to under-resourced communities like those in Ghana, Kenya, and Chile.

Lastly, it demands disclosure of production volumes and a commitment to achieving production reduction targets of at least 40 percent within a five-year period.

Hutchison believes that making informed decisions about the waste management of products and a transition to circularity requires understanding how many garments exist right now.

Identifying this number, he says, will be crucial for the industry to formulate textile upcycling facilities that are capable of dealing with the volume of clothing in circulation.

Of course, major brands have this data readily available, but the vast majority aren’t willing to talk about their production scales publicly. Let’s hope a visit from the zombie – along with the implementation of new EPR policies – can help force some long-overdue change.