Sustainable fashion

How much?

Toxic Substances Control Act

Rana Plaza

Pesticide

Poisoning

Waste

Citarum River

• 68% of industrial facilities on the upper Citarum manufacture textiles
• Outfalls tested
• Nonylphenol - bioaccumulative, toxic, estrogenic
• Antimony - inflammation of liver and kidney
• Tributyl phosphate - inflammation of liver, kidney and bladder, possible birth defects and low birth weight
• Highly alkaline (pH 14) - more caustic than ammonia or lye

Aral Sea

• Water diverted from two rivers for agriculture
• Water level dropped 23m, salinity in South Aral increased from 10g/l to 100g/l
• Fish catch
• 1960: 43,430 tons
• 1980: 0 tons
• Six million hectares of arable land lost
• Decreased rain and snowfall - glaciers shrinking

Conventional Cotton

Pros

• Biodegradable
• Moderately low energy use
• High yield

Cons

• 25% of pesticide use in USA
• 24% of insecticide use globally
• 11% of pesticide use globally
• High water use

Cotton

• Can take up to 20,000 liters of water to produce 1kg of cotton
• Organic cotton is only 0.03% of world's cotton production
• Cotton accounts for a vast majority of pesticide poisonings

Polyester

More complicated than you think

Conventional Polyester

Cons

• Not biodegradable
• Produces micro-plastics when washed

Pros

• Very low water use
• Durable
• Generally production chemicals are not released into environment

Recycled Polyester

Cons

• Not biodegradable
• Produces micro-plastics when washed
• Costs 15-20% more than virgin fiber
• Lower grade than virgin polyester

Pros

• Very low water use
• Durable
• Generally production chemicals are not released into environment
• Uses 70% less energy than virgin fiber
• Reduces landfill waste

Microplastics

• Ocean water off the Pacific Northwest coast
• 200-9,200 particles per cubic meter
• 70% fiber particles
• Bind to other toxins in the environment
• Accumulates in fatty tissue and shellfish

How to reduce microfibers

Consumers

• Use a Guppy Friend bag
• Short, gentle wash in cold water
• Use fabric softener
• Avoid powder and oxidizing detergents
• Buy bio-degradable clothing

Makers

• Explore alternative fabrics like hemp fleece and Lyocell
• Create demand for fabrics with anti-shed treatments

Sheep wool

Cons

• High direct land use
• Animal welfare concerns

Pros

• Biodegradable
• Low energy and water use
• Low carbon emission

Cashmere

vs

Alpaca

• Large goat herds in sensitive terrain = extreme environmental stress
• Cashmere goats are tough on the fragile land
• Eat very close to the roots, destroying plants
• Damage topsoil and grass root systems with their stiletto-like hoofs

• Their feet do not disturb grass root systems, because they have a soft pad similar to that of a dog
• Do not destroy root systems or land when grazing, trap grass without pulling from the root
• They do not live in a fragile ecology
• They consume a small amount of water (compared to goats)

Rayon/Viscose

Modal

Lyocell/Tencel®

Leather

vs

Pleather

• Durable
• "Timeless"
• Tanning uses heavy metals and other carcinogenic chemicals
• workers often suffer respiratory illness
• Animal welfare concerns
• High water use
• Biodegradable

• No animals are directly harmed
• PVC pleather
• most environmentaly damaging plastic
• Non-biodegradable
• PU pleather
• less toxic to manufacture than PVC or traditional leather
• can be made to degrade

Silk

• Low chemical use
• Very low yield per acre
• one shirt/acre compared to cotton 900 shirts/acre
• Animal welfare concerns
• Mulberry silk
• Peace Silk
• Cruelty free Tussar silk

Berlin (2010) “My Jeans are Very Thirsty” EPA Blog blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/06/my-jeans-are-very-thirsty/

Challa, Lakshmi (ND) The Impact of Textiles and Clothing Industry on Environment http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/1709/impact-of-textiles-and-clothing-industry-on-environment?page=1

Chapman (2012) Mistra Future Fashion: Review of Life Cycle Assessments of Clothing www.oakdenehollins.co.uk/media/232/2010_mistra_review_of_life_cycle_assessments_of_clothing.pdf

Claudio, Luz (2007) “Waste Couture: Environmental Impact of the Clothing Industry” Environmental Health Perspectives. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1964887/ Retrieved 2015/12/27

Drumond Chequer et al (2013). Textile Dyes: Dyeing Process and Environmental Impact, Eco-Friendly Textile Dyeing and Finishing InTech, DOI: 10.5772/53659.www.intechopen.com/books/eco-friendly-textile-dyeing-and-finishing/textile-dyes-dyeing-process-and-environmental-impact

Farr (2016) Good on You Material Guide: “Is Silk Sustainable?” https://goodonyou.eco/is-silk-sustainable/

Greer (2015) Clean by Design, Apparel Manufacturing and Pollution

https://www.nrdc.org/resources/clean-design-apparel-manufacturing-and-pollution

Hymann (2016) Good on You Material Guide: “How sustainable is hemp?” https://goodonyou.eco/material-guide-hemp/

Jackson (2014) “Assessing the Environmental Impact of the Fashion World” Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/2014/10/06/assessing-the-environmental-impact-of-the-fashion-world/

Jones (2017) “How Much Cotton Does it Take to Make a Shirt?” https://www.livestrong.com/article/1006170-much-cotton-make-shirt/

Kayton (ND) Silk Thread and Cloth

http://www.suekayton.com/Silkworms/cloth.htm

KEMI (2014) “Chemicals in Textiles: Risks to Human Health and the Environment”

https://www.kemi.se/files/8040fb7a4f2547b7bad522c399c0b649/report6-14-chemicals-in-textiles.pdf

Kumaresan et al. (2008) “Performance of Large Scale Farming in Sericulture –An Economic Analysis” https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/204606/2/06-Kumaresan.pdf

Meeghan (2013) “Pesticide Poisoning: Confronting the hidden menace” www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/aug/02/pesticide-poisoning-hidden-menace-ghana

Messinger (2016) “How your clothes are poisoning our oceans and food supply”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/20/microfibers-plastic-pollution-oceans-patagonia-synthetic-clothes-microbeads

Natural Resources Defence Council (2012) http://www.nrdc.org/international/cleanbydesign/files/CBD-Fiber-Selection-FS.pdf

O’Connor (2017) “Will clothes companies do the right thing to reduce microfiber pollution?”

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/may/13/clothes-companies-microfiber-pollution

Park, Chung Hee; Kang, Yun Kyung; Im, Seung Soon (2004). "Biodegradability of cellulose fabrics". Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 94: 248. doi:10.1002/app.20879

Pesticide Action Network (2010) “Communities in Peril” http://www.pan-germany.org/download/PAN-I_CBM-Global-Report_1006-final.pdf

Rae (2017) “How Viscose Rayon Fabric Masquerades as Bamboo Clothing” https://bthechange.com/how-viscose-rayon-fabric-masquerades-as-bamboo-clothing-b-the-change-media-89f0e3038179

Statista (2017) Cotton yield per harvested acre in the U.S. from 2000 to 2017 (in pounds) https://www.statista.com/statistics/191494/cotton-yield-per-harvested-acre-in-the-us-since-2000/

Thompson (2008) “The Aral Sea Crisis” http://www.columbia.edu/~tmt2120/environmental%20impacts.htm

University of Plymouth. "Abundance of microplastics in the world's deep seas." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 December 2014. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141216212253.htm

WWF (1999) The Impact of Cotton Farming on Fresh Water Resources and Ecosystems

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/freshwater_problems/thirsty_crops/cotton/

World Health Organization (2016) “Public Health Impact of Chemicals: Knowns and Unknowns” http://www.who.int/ipcs/publications/chemicals-public-health-impact/en/