While social convention dictates that we wear clothing, should we be destroying the environment for it?
https://www.ecowatch.com/fast-fashion-is-the-second-dirtiest-industry-in-the-world-next-to-big--1882083445.html
https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/07/apparel-industrys-environmental-impact-6-graphics
Article Waste Couture: Environmental Impact of the Clothing Industry
https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/1709/impact-of-textiles-and-clothing-industry-on-environment?page=1
How do you contribute to reducing the impact of the garment industry? Do you donate clothes? Do your children wear hand me downs? Or, do you change fashions with the seasons? Why?
If fashion trend is towards green or environmental friendly then no...
Hi Beth,
I think this is an important social question. I recently watched a documentary here in the UK called Stacey Dooley Investigates Fashions Dirty Secrets. Definitely worth a watch.
In a nutshell it talks about the UK's current trend of fast fashion which are cheap fashion items that can be bought from the High street or online retailers for a few pound and then thrown and replaced. The retailers regularly update a re-issue the clothing lines so unlike in the past were there was a spring summer and autumn collection there are now alot more collections produced throughout the year to keep the buying public interested. Its also powered by so called social influencers who the retailers use to push the new collections to the retail demograph.
What interested me was the manufacturing and environmental impact, especially considering my manufacturing background. A couple of the key things that this documentary bought out was a lack of regulation from our government on retailers to purchase garments that are ethically and environmentally manufactured aboard. Also the environmental impact of cotton production.
I suppose to answer your question - what am I doing:
I have stopped buying fast fashion items and will now buy garments which are quality and will last. I have bought fast fashion t-shirts and after a few washes the colour disperses and they look heavily worn. I take all of my old clothes, wifes and sons to Charity Shops, so they can be re-used. I sometimes keep t-shirts and use them to wash my car, change the cars oil, etc and then wash and re-use them. I often receive childrens clothing from my brother who has a son slightly older than mine.
Martin McKie
Thank you for your answer. I have a recent book chapter in which I talk about how some friends/colleagues reuse items. My friend's mother-in-law collected all of her favorite t-shirts and used them to make a custom quilt. Another reused jean materials to make aprons. So many things can be recycled or reused instead of being placed in a dump! I am glad to hear that the trend is moving towards sustainable clothing Neji Ladhari
Hi Beth,
Now you have mentioned it, I've seen a company that takes baby clothes and turns them into teddy bears and other soft toys, again another good re-use of used clothing items. Check out the website below:
http://www.babythreadskeepsakes.co.uk/
Best Regards
Martin
Means making ecofriendly processes, colour, dyes fashionable. By ididicating customers that ecofriendly recyclable materials and colors and shades more popular.
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