25 giu 2020

Green Is The New Black: Fashion & Sustainability (ENG)

Too often, we forget the impact of our purchases and the power that we have as consumers.

The fashion industry generates 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. However, there are several ways we can reduce the environmental footprint of our wardrobe.

Fast fashion:

"Fast fashion" is one of the main culprits of the fashion industry's terrible environmental impact.

By "fast fashion" we mean the type of fashion that promotes cheap clothes that are low quality and aim to follow the latest trends (like H&M, Zara and Topshop). To get an idea, while traditional fashion follows two cycles a year, "fast fashion" follows fifty.

The average consumer today buys 60% more clothes than the ones he used to buy 20 years ago and keeps them for half as long. This "fast fashion" mentality is putting the future of our planet at risk.

To learn more about the issues related to "fast fashion", you can watch the documentary The True Cost, which portrays the untold stories behind the fashion industry in an extremely interesting way.

Sustainability:

The fashion industry accounts for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of wastewater.

Cotton, in particular, represents a big issue in terms of water consumption: the production of a cotton shirt requires approximately 2,700 litres of water, which is what the average person drinks in two and a half years.

Realising everything that happens behind the scenes of the production of a single piece of clothing is not easy. For example, to produce a pair of jeans, you need a kilo of cotton. And to produce a kilo of cotton you need between 7,500 and 10,000 litres of water, which is what the average person drinks in ten years.

Moreover, producing a pair of 501 Levi's generates almost 35kg of carbon dioxide, which is what the average American car emits by driving 110km. These emissions come mainly from the production of fibres and fabrics, packaging and transportation, but 40% of them are generated by consumers (mostly when they wash their clothes).

To have better control over the jeans we buy, we can look for an indication of the Better Cotton Initiative or the Global Organic Textile Standard on the label, but even these standards aren't perfect.

Fortunately, sustainable fashion is taking hold. This type of fashion takes into account the whole supply chain and the entire lifecycle of a garment, from its creation to the moment it ends up in a landfill (some examples of sustainable fashion brands are Patagonia, Reformation e Organic Basics). It's important that this type of fashion becomes more and more relevant and that consumers start realising the impact that their purchases can have on the environment, that they consider the lifecycle of their pieces of clothing, and that they understand how to invest in a more durable wardrobe.

Natural materials aren't necessarily very sustainable. They can in fact require great amounts of water, dyes and transportation. Organic cotton, for instance, may be better for the farmers, who would otherwise be exposed to large quantities of pesticides, but the issue of wasting water remains.

Biocouture, which uses sustainable materials, is becoming increasingly more relevant. Some manufacturers are looking for ways to use wood, fruit and other natural materials to create fabrics. Others research alternative methods of dyeing fabrics or look for materials that are quickly biodegradable once they're thrown away. Orange Fiber, for example, is a Sicilian brands that offers fabrics made of citrus fruit.

Waste:

Every year, 100 billion garments are produced and many of them are wasted, because if they are unsold they are often destroyed and because when consumers don't want them anymore, they end up in landfills.

What's particularly problematic with the fashion industry is the frenetic pace it incites every season, pushing consumers to continually buy more clothes and follow the latest trends, thus generating a lot of waste.

To cope with the fact that we live in an era in which people do not want to be seen wearing the same outfit more than once, we could to resort to the platforms that allow us to "rent" clothes, such as Rent The Runway (which has programs with monthly swaps to continually refresh the wardrobe) and to those that sell used clothes, such as Depop.

How to select sustainable brands:

To learn more about the brands that are sustainable and to recognise those that aren't, you can look them up on Good On You, which is a website that can help you navigate the tide of products that are on the market and choose brands considering multiple ethical aspects (working conditions, respect for the animals and respect for the environment) without having to do endless research yourself.

Here's what we can do:

Now that we've analysed the issue, we can focus on what we can do to reduce our wardrobe's environmental footprint, like:

Buying less, or at least buying only what we really want and what we actually intend to keep. According to a study published by the World Bank, 40% of the clothes that are purchased in some countries are never worn. According to another research published by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the number of times a single piece of clothing is worn has decreased by almost 40% between 2000 and 2015 (in the US, 1/5 of the clothes in the consumers' wardrobes are never worn). In the same period of time, the production of clothes has doubled, their quality has deteriorated and their longevity has dropped.
Preferring smaller brands over big chains, like Melidé, which offers beautiful handmade embroidered T-shirts made of certified cotton.
Cutting down on online shopping. Generally speaking, online shopping contributes to a "fast fashion" culture in which consumers buy much more than they need and then return much of what they buy. Returning clothes can double emissions, both because of transportation, and because it may be more convenient for brands to throw away or burn the returned garments instead of trying to sell them elsewhere. Online purchases, available 24 hours a day, also make the buying impulse more difficult to resist. According to some estimates, 5% of the population engages in compulsive purchasing behavior.
Investing in better quality clothing. Preferring quality over quantity is extremely important because every item of clothing we don't buy implies less pollution. Cheap clothes tend not to survive after too many washes, which means that in the long run we do not save money by buying things that are cheap. Brands like Patagonia sell great quality clothing. Patagonia also offers free repairs of their products to stimulate consumers to keep their clothes as long as possible, instead of constantly pushing them to buy new designs.
Wearing the clothes we have more frequently and keeping them for a longer time. Some studies claim that continuing to wear a single piece of clothing for only 9 months longer can reduce its environmental impact by 20-30%.
Taking good care of our clothes, for example by repairing the holes in our socks instead of throwing them away, or by visiting websites like Love Your Clothes to get information on how to repair and extend the life of our clothes, reducing their carbon footprint.
Buying vintage clothing, which also allows you to have more unusual pieces that tell a story.
Washing clothes less frequently, thus reducing the carbon footprint of our wardrobe, as well as the use of water and the release of microplastics, which get in the ocean and sooner or later end up in our mouths. An option may be to hang clothes outdoors, if they just need some air. If, on the other hand, they really need to be washed, it would be advisable to run the washing machine at full load and use non-abrasive detergents. If you want to know more about how to use the laundry machine more responsibly, check out the article we have written about it.
When buying something new, asking the manufacturers about the sustainability of the garment's production.
When we no longer want a piece of clothing, it's preferable to give it to friends and family members or to give it to charity, if it's still in good condition, thus avoiding it ending up in a landfill or being incinerated, generating even more emissions.
Getting out of the "fast fashion" mentality and reflect on the reasons that lead us to buy too much and use too little and to derive pleasure and contentment from this mechanism.