Stylish, Smart, and Sustainable
Photo from iStock
Shannon O’Dwyer
One of the biggest concepts/issues we face as a society today is sustainability. Can we achieve it? How do we achieve it? Where do we need to create sustainable environments? In order for something to truly be sustainable it must meet the needs of the present generation without compromising future generations’ needs.
Fashion Industry Impacts
One of the largest and most destructive industries for sustainability is the fashion industry. One may have heard of the popular coined term “fast fashion.” This refers to any form of clothing, accessories, or shoes that are mass produced, often in poorer countries around the world. This type of clothing is incredibly cheap to make and therefore is sold for low or “deal” prices, making it appealing to a wide variety of consumers. However, since the clothing is so cheap and poorly constructed, it often falls apart quickly and therefore the consumer buys more, increasing the waste production. Some of the more popular/prevalent fast fashion brands today are: Shein, Zaful, ASOS, Fashion Nova, Amazon, even Forever 21. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, there are countless environmental and humanitarian factors of fast fashion that make it incredibly unsustainable.
Worker Impacts
Most of this type of fashion production comes from what’s known as ‘sweatshops,’ which is a factory that employs workers for incredibly low wages and terrible working conditions. According to National Geographic, “Buildings might be badly modified for commercial use, with no fire extinguishers, poor electrical wiring, blocked fire exits and barred windows. Attempts to form trade unions are suppressed, sometimes violently. Workers who are injured, and the families of those who are killed, receive little compensation.” Not to mention, the sheer amount of chemicals used in dyes, bleaches, and other elements to make such clothing affect the employees. It is clear to see that there is little compensation for anything in a sweatshop where workers are treated as less than human just to gain any amount of money. By supporting fast fashion, you are essentially supporting inhumane labor.
Environmental Impacts
Although the humanitarian impacts are significant, the environmental impacts of fast fashion are even more prevalent. Mass produced clothing eats resources as if they were a bottomless pit: water, cotton, etc. Around 93 billion cubic tons of water is used every year; it takes 7,500 litres to make one pair of jeans. Billions of tons of water are used to make clothing that is only going to get thrown away after a few months and then repurchased, creating this endless cycle of waste production. This amount of water is enough to supply five million people with water, ultimately ending in a significant drought increase in certain areas around the world.
Not only does the fashion industry strip the world of natural resources, it contributes far more harm to the environment by putting non-compostable resources back into the earth. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, “500,000 tons of microfibers are released into the ocean each year from washing clothes — the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.” This waste is then coupled with roughly 8-10% of the world’s carbon gas emissions, 4% of of the world’s pesticide use in cotton resources, and pollution from shipping (either via gas emissions in airplanes or ocean emissions in cargo shipping, etc.). In cotton farming, nitrogen and phosphorus based pesticides and insecticides are used to protect the cotton crop from destructive species. According to Common Objective:
Around 60 to 70 percent of all fabric colorants are AZO dyes, which release chemicals when fabric comes into contact with the skin. Chlorobenzenes, toxic by inhalation or on skin contact, are widely used in the dyeing of polyester. Phthalates are used to dye and soften leather, rubber and PVC in footwear and accessory manufacture. Perfluorinated chemicals, formaldehydes and chlorinated paraffins are used in finishing processes in order to deliver waterproofing effects or flame retardance, or to create easy-care fabrics, for example.
It is clear that almost every part of the mass production of clothing and other textiles are extremely damaging to the environment. From the crop used to create fabrics, to the dyeing, to the shipping of products, natural resources are stripped dry and replaced with harmful chemicals. Is this the kind of clothing you want to be wearing?
Supporting Sustainability
This is the point where sustainability in fashion comes in; but how can you be more sustainable in your clothing choices?
Thrifting
One of the best options is to buy secondhand clothing through the use of thrift stores. This method of shopping is incredibly sustainable and you can find tons of options. Goodwill, St. Vincent DePaul, The Salvation Army, Plato’s Closet, and Clothes Mentor are just a few examples of local thrift stores near us. By thrift shopping, you can find endless amounts of clothing without supporting mass produced clothing. Each piece is different from the last meaning that you are likely to find unique pieces that no one else will have. This can also help you in building your own personal style by finding articles of clothing that fit you personally. Not only is thrifting sustainable and fashionable, it is also cheap. Much of the appeal of fast fashion is its price tag; however, thrift shopping can be just as inexpensive and often for higher quality. For example, I have personally found real leather jackets that would typically go for hundreds of dollars for around $20. Thrifted clothes are sure to hold up far better than cheap, mass produced clothing.
Sustainable Companies
Thrift shopping may not be for everyone, it may be difficult to find clothing that appeals to you and you may end up searching without results. However, there are other options if you are looking for something that is new. Brands from all over the world are beginning to find innovative sustainable methods of clothing production. For example, British clothing brand ‘Teemill’ has invented a way to create sustainable t-shirts. “This Isle of Wight-based company sources organic cotton from Gujarat, in northern India, and turns it into T-shirts using a sustainable spinning, dyeing and weaving process in factories powered by renewable energy. It then ships the T-shirts to its Isle of Wight premises where it prints them up to customers’ own specifications.” Sustainable clothing brands are the future of fashion, they will help end the destruction of our environment due to fast fashion and mass production.
