The manufacture of any product unavoidably requires natural resources to some extent. The question is can it be done with the minimum impact considering what goes in and what come out of the entire process. Is environmental sustainability even possible in the clothing industry.<\/p>
In recent years the production of clothing has become more focused on being fast. Huge producers in countries such as China pumping out poor quality, wear once, fashion garments using manmade materials (plastics) for the lowest possible price to the consumer. Truthfully this is a devastating process and the world consumes about 80 billion new items of clothing each year, Shein alone creates an estimated 7000+ new clothing lines each day<\/p>
The textile industry uses masses, and I do mean masses, of water (think 7500 litres to produce a pair of jeans) in the production of garment.<\/p>
Growing cotton uses up a large proportion of productive farmland, or the alternative synthetic materials are mainly derived from the clearly non renewable petroleum and oil.<\/p>
The fabric dyeing process is a major contributor to the overall Pollution derived from the clothing industry with approximately 20% of the worlds water pollution being laid at the industry door.<\/p>
Cotton generally is the consumer of 6% of the worlds pesticide and 16% of the worlds insecticide<\/p>
Synthetic textiles are now known to produce microplastics in every wash, hitting the waterways and finally the ocean and the food chain causing who knows what health hazards for the future. 69% of all textile fibres are produced from fossil fuels. Polyester is the most common of these and is now found in over half of all textiles produced in the world.<\/p>
Designers and manufacturers are notoriously bad at managing what they create, leaving around 40% of all clothing never worn and hardly anything recycled. The clothing industry creates and estimated 92 million tons of waste each year, less than 1% is recycled into new garments, leaving the rest to go into landfill or incineration often exported from the west to countries such as Chile, Ghana, Kenya and others to be dumped in the environment. Try this, that's one truck being dumped or burned every second. And we've not even mentioned the 10% of the worlds CO2 produced by this industry.<\/p>
Phew......<\/strong><\/p> We are partnered with Teemill, who, in our view, are making great strides to make better use of resources, minimise pollution and create less waste. How?<\/p> The overall approach is one that puts the environment first, utilising organic materials, renewables energy and designing clothing that can come back and be remade.<\/p> We don't have a pile of printed t shirts waiting for a buyer that may never come, everything is printed to order in real time when a customer wants it. Less waste. Then they are despatched in packaging made from plants not plastic, perfect to add to the recycling process<\/p> Organic cotton is produced in areas where monsoon rains mean water is plentiful and the dyeing process used allows the effluent to be recovered cleaned and reused. Literally clean enough to drink<\/p> Our clothing is designed to be remade, some of our lines are remade items, forming part of a circular system that enables a customer to return an item once it has worn out and it will be put back into the process.<\/p> Hopefully this has given a tiny insight into the way in which we are avoiding being part of the \"business as usual\" clothing production in the world today. We will continue to invest in and improve upon all areas under our control, while staying competitively priced. We will never be the cheapest, but we may well be the most environmentally supportive.<\/p> for more info on the topic of environmental impacts, try any or all of the below links, or google \"why fast fashion is environmentally bad\"<\/p> https:\/\/earth.org\/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment\/<\/a><\/p> https:\/\/www.plasticcollective.co\/how-fast-fashion-is-bad-for-the-environment\/<\/a><\/p>The Alternative.<\/h2>