Extinction Rebellion want London Fashion Week cancelled – they’re barking up the wrong tree

The fashion industry generates enormous waste, but companies – not consumers – should be forced to deal with this

The protest group Extinction Rebellion have announced it plans to draw attention to global warming by “shutting down” London Fashion Week, which opens on 13 September.

ER’s Boycott Fashion group says, “we need to change our culture around consumption … people have no idea how environmentally destructive fashion is”. Well, that’s just not true. Most of us know fashion is wasteful and we know we buy too much, but what can be done about it?

The lure of cheap fashion is as addictive as drugs. Most designer-sold sustainable lines cost far more than the high street and will only be bought and worn by the middle classes.