Two years after its inquiry into fast fashion, the Environmental Audit Committee has decided to revisit the issue after new concerns came to light during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2018 inquiry, called Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability, made several recommendations including a producer responsibility charge to pay for better clothing recycling and a requirement for due diligence checks across fashion supply chains to eliminate forced or child labour.

Most of these recommendations were rejected by the government in 2019, but it has also indicated textile waste should be a priority in its resources and waste strategy.

The pandemic also brought to light new allegations about working conditions in Leicester textile factories, which suggest little improvement has been made since 2018.

The new inquiry will follow up on a number of issues raised two years ago, asking what progress has been made in reducing the environmental and social impact of the fashion industry, as well as discussing how the pandemic has further impacted matters.

It will also discuss solutions to the problems in the industry such as licensing and incentivised recycling.

The committee is currently gathering written and oral evidence until November 13.

Boohoo, which has been at the centre of the Leicester factory scandal, is expected to give evidence.

Committee chair Philip Dunne MP said: “Two years, four fashion seasons and billions of tonnes of harmful emissions from textile production later, my committee has decided to revisit its fashion sustainability work.

“The fashion industry has a major environmental footprint – from the extraordinary amount of water to create cotton and polyester, to the sheer scale of waste with many items being worn once and thrown away. Our thirst for the latest trends is simply unsustainable.

“But, as we found two years ago, this inquiry goes beyond the harmful impact on the environment. Accusations of labour market exploitation in the UK remain, with poor working conditions and illegally low wages.

“Two years on, I hope there have been some improvements in the fashion industry. We will be unearthing whether this is the case, and what more needs to be done to secure our goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

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