Whether you’re keeping up with the latest fashion trend, a crazed shopaholic or generally using them – fashion seems to come at a price. Turns out 11.1 million tons of recyclable fabric and textiles end up in landfills every year. That means in just 10 years, the entire population churns out a hundred and one million tons of fabric.
So what should we do about it? We can’t just stop wearing clothes – right? (note: please don’t try this). Instead, we can do our very best to reduce our overall textile consumption.
Know the Problem
Annually, we produce 80 billion garments globally. The t-shirt is actually one of the most commonly worn garments in the world.
The pesticides used when growing cotton severely harm ecosystems and the health of farmers.
People who stitch t-shirts – yes, even branded and so-called ‘machine-made’ tees – face problems such as poor wages and bad working conditions.
2,700 litres of water are needed to produce the average shirt.
The transport and transfer of clothing during production gives cotton a gigantic carbon footprint. Apparel production constitutes about 10% of global carbon emissions.
16,000 gallons of water per year is used in a consumer’s home for laundry.
Dryers, using 5-6 times more energy than washing machines, also are a part of this resource-eating process.
Fashion is the 2nd last polluter (after oil) in the world.
The Solution
Now that you’ve understood how serious this problem is, you need to start helping out.
Here are six ways to reduce your consumption:-
Shop for needs, not for desires: there’s a very famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi that goes, “There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed.” You know what this point means already, don’t you? Consumption should be driven by need instead of want. A way to do this is to not glue yourself to every new trend, and instead understand that the clothes will be ‘out of fashion’ and into the landfill soon enough.
Observe Honestly: If you think you have a shortage of clothing, open your closet and actually observe how much clothing is cluttered in there. How much of it did you actually wear this year? How much of it was buried in there, causing you to forget of its existence? That brings me to my next point
Declutter: After your realization that your closet is clogged up with old clothes, instead of heading straight to the bin, (1) give it to a textile company that recycles – like H&M(- external link). They even have a drop box near the counter for your old garments (2) donate it to a charity organisation and do your good deed for the week! You’re helping the environment and poverty, so make this a habit (3) reuse them at home. There are so many DIY projects you can take up to reuse old clothes – believe me!
Wash less: if your first reaction to this is ‘EWW!’, I understand. It sounds unhygienic, but sometimes it’s sensible to re-wear your clothes. Take a moment right now to examine your laundry – how many of those garments did you wearing momentarily before tossing them away? I just want to make it clear that there’s a fine line between repeating clean garments, and never washing them. Go with your gut and decide whether it really needs another wash. In addition, clothes that are soft often and those that have printed graphics on them often lose their shelf-life if you wash it too much. That’ll make it look older, and will cause you to throw it away faster.
Hang-dry your clothes on a clothesline, and eliminate the need for dryers.
Skip ironing everything, because that uses energy too!
Know your Clothes: buy organically made clothes – they usually say it on the label itself – so make sure you only buy 100% organic material. Many celebrities also support the organic clothing movement. Emma Watson set up an Instagram account (the_press-tour) to show off her completely environment-friendly clothing online. The clothes look amazing, yet they have minimal impact on the environment! Every time you decide to buy some new clothing, check for yourself whether there’s more to its story. Unless it’s labelled as “organic” cotton, there’s a high chance that it’s genetically modified cotton sprayed with lots of pesticides (including known carcinogens). This can be damaging to neighbouring non-GMO crops, cause water contamination, reduce biodiversity, and have negative impacts on human health.
KEEP LEARNING!
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-life-cycle-of-a-t-shirt-angel-chang – a great 5-minute TED-Ed video on fashion consumption, that inspired this article.
Instagram @ the_press_tour
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