In a fast-paced world, the fast fashion industry has to move fast on the delivery treadmill as the seasons shorten. This is correspondingly damaging our one and only habitable planet — as of now.
The fashion industry’s carbon footprint is huge. High profile public figures and even newbies are jumping into the fashion bandwagon. Clothing lines are created every day to meet the ever increasing demands of consumers who never want to miss out on the current trend. Today, clothes are even manufactured to last for such a short time that the next one is on the production line.
Natural fibres, such as cotton, linen, hemp, bamboo and silk undergo rigorous processes including bleaching, dyeing, printed on and dunked in chemical baths and when disposed of in landfills, the chemicals used can leach and end up polluting groundwater. Burning clothing will release the toxins in the air.
Organic cotton requires 5000 gallons of water to manufacture a T-Shirt and a pair of jeans. Cotton is a chemical dependent plant using huge volumes of pesticides and fertilisers. When, these chemicals, if not monitored, get into the water table it poisons our soil.
Synthetic fibres such as polyester, acrylic and nylon take over 1000 years to decompose. Micro-plastics from synthetic fibres also end up in our seas, post washing — and if you go to see, we have only one contiguous sea, with different names. Studies have reportedly found that microfibers are dangerous and are eaten by fish etc. and accumulate in the gut and correspondingly move higher up the food chain and what is on our bodies end up in our bodies.
To resolve these issues the industry needs to be more creative and invest in sustainable apparel by encouraging recycling and upcycling. Customers can be advised to bring in their old clothing for recycling into new fibres and further into new clothing and upcycling where a garment is turned into something new. Old jeans and T-shirts can be transformed into bags and more. Rugs and mats can be made from T-shirts using Tapestry mats. We can decide to choose what we buy and where we buy clothing. We can be the agent of change
