3 . It shouldn’t come as news to anyone that the planet is moving quickly towards a climate emergency. And fast fashion certainly plays its part in this.

Fast fashion brands, which release hundreds of new styles every week, have caused trends cycles to speed up rapidly, leading to overproduction and overconsumption. British shoppers are buying twice as much as we did a decade ago and both brands and consumers are throwing away “unfashionable” clothing more often—over £300,000 of it ends up in landfill every year. How do we solve this issue?

One answer lies in the new generation of made-to-order brands making their way into the mainstream. These brands make clothes only as and when they’re ordered, and because there’s no overproduction, less unwanted stock ends up in landfills. They also promote a slower fashion model, with pieces taking between three weeks and three months to arrive once purchased. The focus is on creating special, well-made pieces for consumers to treasure for years to come.

Made-to-order fashion is nothing new. Until the mid-20th century, it was the norm. However, the 1960s brought about the dawn of fast fashion and a shift in our relationship with our clothes. The value once placed on craftsmanship and quality was replaced by the desire for low cost and volume, resulting in cut-cost production and the attitude that clothing should be cheap and disposable.

Of course, made-to-order fashion has continued to exist alongside this, though research clearly shows that fast fashion prevails (盛行). Cue a made-to-order brand bringing bespoke (定制) back to the mainstream. Spanish brand Alas features a slow business model. It takes orders each week which are then handmade and delivered in about three weeks. It also revolves around an on-demand production process that rewards consumers for “pre-planned responsible shopping.” Every week, they launch a new drop, available to pre-order for a discounted rate for a limited time. From pre-order, Alas determines how popular each new item is and calculates how many units should be produced to fulfill both pre-orders and future full-price orders, therefore reducing the overproduction of stock.

With made-to-order brands growing in popularity, it begs the question—could this be the dawn of a new, environmentally responsible era? The answer is self-evident.

4 . Gayle Bennett is the founder of online vintage (古董衫) shop Soul and Flare. One of the biggest aims of her company is to get rid of fashion waste by encouraging others to shop vintage and look after the clothes they already own.

Some of the vintage clothes have been worn on and off for up to 70 years-something of a miracle and testament (证明) to their quality as well as how they’re looked after, she says.

For some, buying vintage is a new experience, but Bennett has been learning her trade for a long time. She really knows what she’s talking about.

“I’ve been running Soul and Flare for around five years but have been in the vintage trade for more than a decade. I fell into it in many ways but, growing up, my mom would drag us around charity shops and car boot sales (后备箱集市). In her own way，she was sustainable even if she didn’t know what the word meant then. When I left college, I got a job at a vintage clothing shop. That’s when I started witnessing the vast amounts of clothing wasted in the UK, and my passion for reviving, repairing and making clothing last began.

“In the past, charity shops were there to help poor families, so you didn’t want to go there. But now people love going to charity shops,”Bennett says. The joy of going to charity shops is in the looking. “Around 90 percent of the time you’re going to be wearing something unique.” And that’s something every fashionist wants whether they’re wearing it to a wedding, or for a Zoom party.

5 . I am not sure if it was the crowds, the harsh lighting, the cheap fabric, or the overwhelming choices spread out before me. But last December, staring at rows of scarves in an H&M in London, I was _________. I decided to give up fast fashion for a year.

Fashion is an estimated $ 2.4 trillion industry. Fast fashion, a big portion of it, has completely _________the way we shop. Brands like H&M, Zara and Forever 21, with their quick _________to trends, speedy deliveries to stores, and ridiculously low prices, have developed faster than their competitors for years. Fast fashion is also a dirty industry, however. It is full of unsafe labor conditions and _________ resources.

Still, giving up fast fashion is not the easiest choice. I was addicted to what our fashion reporter Marc Bain calls the “sad cycle of uncontrollable shopping and _________” brought about by shopping at places such as H&M. But somewhere along the line, browsing for clothes had _________being fun and started feeling mindless. I wasn’t _________finding items I really liked. I was _________clothes as quickly as I was acquiring them. This was partly the _________of mistrusting my own fashion sense, but it was also about the way I shopped. Why care about how well-made or good-looking a piece of clothing is if you can just replace it at a minimal cost to yourself?

And so I __________to ignore the bright shop windows and glittery mannequins (人体 模型) and to bring some “mindfulness" to my wardrobe. For the most part, the shopping __________came as a relief. I began to buy things of __________quality and price, take better care of my clothes, and repair them instead of throwing them away.

However, my fast fashion-less year was __________. Toward the end of the year, I relaxed my rules and allowed myself to buy a few second-hand fast-fashion clothes at charity shops. I hope in the year ahead, with a more focused __________, I can learn how to shop better. Marc’s suggestion is to pause and ask yourself “How much do I really want this?” -- a guideline he follows to reduce his __________to the wastefulness of fast fashion.

Environmentalists are getting more worried about the harmful effects of fast fashion on the environment.

Fast fashion is the mass production of clothes at a low cost, which are put in shops and online quickly     1     (create) a high demand. Manufacturers (制造商) make 100 billion items of clothing every year and this is expected to grow     2     60 percent by 2030. It is reported     3     many of the clothes end up in the trash and are not recycled. The way people are buying clothes also adds to the problem of clothing waste. Many years ago, people went to stores and     4     (try) clothes on. They took more time and thought     5     (careful) before they bought clothes. They also wore them for a much     6     (long) time compared with current consumers. Today, people order cheap clothes on the Internet for     7     (convenient) and if they don't like them, they throw them away. This is possibly leading to     8     throwaway society.

Another negative effect on the environment that can not     9     (ignore) is caused by the chemicals used to make the clothes. These chemicals cause pollution to the environment as well as health problems for people     10     (work) in clothes factories.

7 . Len Wuey Chew's look involves a layered mashup of skirt and scarf you might spot on fashion designer’s catwalk. The elderly woman shows a simple yet lively way of life.

On every bench in Portsmouth Square, Chinatown's outdoor living room, elderly people in bright clothes chat, play cards and practise Tai Chi. Fuchsia scarves top crocheted vests; paisley sweaters wrap formal striped shirts. Impishly stylish, this respectable crowd is “Chinatown Pretty”, in the words of a new hook devoted to their fashion style.

Valerie Luu, a writer, and Andrio Lo, a photographer, spotted their first “pretty grandma” six years ago. A blog and a photography show in a Chinatown alley followed. Their book collects portraits from six North American Chinatowns, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Oakland and Vancouver. But their heart remains in San Francisco, home of America’s oldest Chinatown.

Five thousand souls, a big part of them elderly, are crowded into 30 city blocks. Many immigrated from China long ago, have experienced war and revolution and now live on small incomes. Around a third live in poverty. Yet their neighborhood bursts with color. Chinatown resembles an operatic senior center and the residents pay close attention to their clothes.

The eclectic outfits are practical. In the city's foggy, unpredictable climate, it pays to wear several layers. Beyond keeping warm, though, the fashions speak volumes about the enjoyment of living. Dressing beautifully on a tight budget is a matter of pride. “When you're young you don't have to are about fashion,” says Mr. Wu,82.a Chinatown model, “But when you're old, you have to.”

Each article of clothing tells a story. Some were made in Hong Kong decades ago, others have been sewn at home, or were handed up or down. One lady sports a hot pink backpack over a tailored blue skirtiest. The styles may not be to everyone's taste. But as surrounding neighborhoods become ever more costly, this frugality and courage are a means of survival.

8 . The Chinese fashion icon, qipao, was born a century ago in Shanghai. However, the dress made its way through history from the hands of old craftsmen and is deep-rooted in Chinese culture.

“Qipao used to be so popular,” Leung Long-kong, 89, a well-known qipao craftsman, says, adding that the dress was an everyday outfit among women, from the less well-off to women at the highest levels of society. “Now, nobody is wearing them except on grand and happy occasions.”

To carry on the tradition, fashion designer Mary Yu, 41, who has been attending classes teaching knot button-making techniques, is trying to renew the design of qipao by taking symbols from Chinese history and literature.

“I feel I should look into Chinese culture and learn more about the past. People should have an in-depth understanding of their culture in order to move on,” Yu says. “Fashion design requires a profound knowledge of one’s culture before visualizing it.”

“After a period of wearing foreign brands all the time, there will be a day when one looks back to traditional Chinese culture. It is about finding the stuff that exists in your genes and suits you best.”

Yu set up her own qipao brand in 2016. Most of the clothes were made by tailors based in Shenzhen and Hangzhou, for their lower cost and more traditional work.

In the constantly evolving fashion industry, qipao is catching up with the times. Zippers, digital print patterns and new materials such as lace and denim have been introduced to a new generation. More daring ideas like 3D printed qipao have also become a reality. Yu believed that with the help of these new technologies, qipao will find its way back to the daily life of Chinese people in the near future.

Our ancestors did it out of necessity, but we are returning to their ways out of a desire to preserve the planet     1     future generations. Claire Jackson investigates the return of our make-do-and-mend and it turns out that “fast” fashion has been replaced by a “slow” fashion     2    (move).

Reports that 300,000 tons of     3    (use) clothing ends up in UK landfill every year have led to a comeback of make-do-and-mend, encouraging increasing numbers of people to take a renewed interest in maintenance,     4    (buy) second-hand and to choose quality over quantity.

“There used to be a feeling of shame attached to wearing second-hand clothes,” reflects Anita Taylor, a shop owner. “We’re now meeting people     5     are sourcing their clothes from agencies such as ours, having committed to not buying anything new for a year.”

In days gone by, wearing a     6    (visible) mended jacket would have been considered an embarrassment, but now it may be prized for     7    (it) beauty and practicality.

Despite the growing interest in mending, basic sewing skills — particularly among younger generations —     8    (be) surprisingly scarce(不足的). If you really can’t fix something, you can always repurpose it. By the way, it’s all     9     matter of taste. No matter     10     my mother-in-law may say, I happen to like my silver bracelet made out of an old fork very much.