Collateral Damage

Shopping bags brimming with new purchases, the feeling of success that I’ve found that perfect dress, the most adorable pair of jeans that fit perfectly and that scarf… well it will go with everything! And did I mention they were on sale. At home I stand in my closet a little overwhelmed by the amount of cloths that are stuffed away in every inch of this space. How did it get this way? I should buy new hangers or maybe just clean out a few items or see if a friend may want anything or even better just sack it up and give it to charity.

Did you know that the average American discards 68 pounds of clothing and other textiles each year? We live in a disposable world or so it seems. Fashion is all around us and some would even say it consumes a large portion of their life. A big part of fashion is actually being able to keep up with the latest trend and making sure one is staying “fashion forward.” We’ve all heard the phrase: out with the old and in with the new. While this practice may be beneficial for people’s personal lives, it does not generally have positive results for the environment.

                 

Unfortunately with each step of the clothing life cycle, fashion is generating potential environmental and occupational hazards to our environment. The apparel industry is well aware of this current cycle and has chosen to ignore them by continuing to create non-biodegradable clothing with materials such as polyester. Polyester, the most widely used manufactured fiber, is made from petroleum. With the rise in production in the fashion industry, according to several studies the demand for man-made fibers, especially polyester, has nearly doubled in the last 15 years. Making polyester uses large amounts of water for cooling, along with lubricants, which can become a source of contamination and is a very energy intensive process.

Non-biodegradable materials are in-organic or man-made matter that will not decompose. Any material that is considered non-biodegradable does not decay or break down in to simpler forms of matter.  When materials are disposed, nature cannot reuse these materials to fuel the cycle of life and it will remain as pollution in the environment causing the resources and energy used to make the material trapped within the waste.

According to the article Fashioning Sustainability, increasing amounts of clothing is ending up in landfill when it could be recycled or reused. The relocation of UK clothing production has also removed industries which may have been able to reuse or recycle used clothing. We purchased approximately 1.9m tons of textiles in 2005, and in the same year discarded 1.2m tons in which 68 went to landfill or was incinerated. Only 0.3m tons were resold or recycled through charities.

The book Ecosystems and Human Wellbeing, states that globally humans use slightly more than 10% of the available renewable freshwater supply through household, agricultural, and industrial activities. The apparel industry is aware that they take part in this problem and have not made the proper steps to converting their practices to more eco friendly alternatives.

Awareness of the relative importance of recycling clothing is low. As a recent report highlights, “Most people in the UK believe that recycling is good for the environment and will generally sort out glass or recycling carefully, without recognizing that it takes ten times more energy to make a ton of textiles than a ton of glass.” In recent years sustainability has emerged as one of the main streams in the area of design. I think we can all agree more research knowledge is needed on how to implement sustainable textile and clothing design and further how sustainable design can influence into sustainable consumption.

A Finland designer asks the question, can we create design systems which encourage sustainable consumption. The focus is in a multidisciplinary approach of research fields such new sustainable design strategies, system thinking, new eco-materials, green economic systems, Product Service System thinking PSS and Sustainable Consumption Production approach SCP. Regulations and standards, coupled with increasing consumer awareness about less toxic and sustainable products, may provide some motivation to revolutionize the garment industry.  But until many of these revolutionary ideas are implemented industry wide the environmental problems will still remain.

So to answer the question, is the apparel industry complicit in the issues involved with our environmental problems? Yes they are and there is overwhelming evidence. However the biggest impact for increasing sustainability in the clothing industry rests with you and me, the consumer. Purchasing fewer and more durable garments and recycling these garments into the used clothing market or into other garment and non-garment products all would contribute to increasing sustainability. Consumer awareness about the fate of clothing through its life cycle may be the best hope for sustainability in the fashion industry.