Suck on this:
---The fashion industry accounts for about 10% of all global carbon emissions--more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
---The fashion industry accounts for about 20% of the planet’s wastewater.
--The UN estimates that a single pair of jeans requires a kilogram of cotton. And because cotton tends to be grown in dry environments, producing this kilo requires about 7,500–10,000 liters of water. That’s about 10 years’ worth of drinking water for one person.
---Jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss estimates that a pair of its iconic 501 jeans will produce the equivalent of 33.4kg of carbon dioxide equivalent across its entire lifespan – about the same as driving 69 miles in the average US car. Just over a third of those emissions come from the fibre and fabric production, while another 8% is from cutting, sewing and finishing the jeans. Packaging, transport and retail accounts for 16% of the emissions while the remaining 40% is from consumer use – mainly from washing the jeans – and disposal in landfill.
--Polyester, the most frequently used fiber in the fashion industry, takes 200 years to decompose.
---A single polyester garment can shed over one million microplastics each time it is washed.
---Every year a half a million tons of plastic microfibers are dumped into the ocean, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles. The danger? Microfibers cannot be extracted from the water and they can spread throughout the food chain.
--According to a report conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in 2013, a whopping 15.13 million tons of textiles ended up in the waste stream (landfills or incinerators). Of that, a mere 15.2 percent was recovered for reuse or recycling. In total, 12.83 tons of textiles--for perspective, the equivalent of more than two million male elephants--ended up in the waste stream in 2013. (And we can assume that the situation hasn't improved in the last decade.)
---Ponder this: there are only about 3500 tigers left in the wild. A century ago, there were 80,000. The finest minds and most august foundations in the world agree that pollution like that caused by the current fashion industry will be directly responsible for the disappearance of tigers from the planet. Experts in the field all sadly agree: tigers will be extinct within 10-20 years. And that is just one species. There are virtually an infinite number in jeopardy. There is a direct correlation between clothing pollution, climate change, and the coming extinction of the tiger--just one of many, many beautiful species we are slated to wipe out.
MORE HORRIFYING STATISTICS: https://woollygreen.com/fashion-industry-waste-statistics/
AND PICTURES HERE: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/great-pacific-garbage-patch-plastics-environment
BUT!! Good news@ There are recycling models that allow fibers to be broken down and given a new life in clothing that is as gorgeous as any ever made. This movement does not need to hurt the fashion industry: not its reputation, nor its production, nor its profits. The fashion industry itself can be the juggernaut leading us out of the Climate Change nightmare that is slowly engulfing us. And all by helping us to literally see trashed clothing in a different way. (With maybe a trip to Italy for the Fab Five thrown in?)
And more good news: a host of designers are jumping on the recycling bandwagon. Synergy Organic, Naadam, Zero Waste Denial, The Upcycled Closet, Urban Outfitters, Re/Done, Green Market Vintage, Broken Ghost Clothing, Arielle, KINdom. Outerknown, Bethany Williams, Ecoalf, Doodlage, Re;code, Zurita, Suave, Bundgaard Nielson, and more. Currently, about 13-15% of all clothing is recycled--it’s a start, but not nearly good enough. That’s where Queer Eye comes in, to entertain and inform.
And the business of using recycled materials doesn’t even begin to touch on the very marvelous, personal, creative world of “upcycling”, where fabric artists piece together bits from assorted pieces of clothing to create marvelous, pixyish, Bohemian fashions.
---The fashion industry accounts for about 10% of all global carbon emissions--more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
---The fashion industry accounts for about 20% of the planet’s wastewater.
--The UN estimates that a single pair of jeans requires a kilogram of cotton. And because cotton tends to be grown in dry environments, producing this kilo requires about 7,500–10,000 liters of water. That’s about 10 years’ worth of drinking water for one person.
---Jeans manufacturer Levi Strauss estimates that a pair of its iconic 501 jeans will produce the equivalent of 33.4kg of carbon dioxide equivalent across its entire lifespan – about the same as driving 69 miles in the average US car. Just over a third of those emissions come from the fibre and fabric production, while another 8% is from cutting, sewing and finishing the jeans. Packaging, transport and retail accounts for 16% of the emissions while the remaining 40% is from consumer use – mainly from washing the jeans – and disposal in landfill.
--Polyester, the most frequently used fiber in the fashion industry, takes 200 years to decompose.
---A single polyester garment can shed over one million microplastics each time it is washed.
---Every year a half a million tons of plastic microfibers are dumped into the ocean, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles. The danger? Microfibers cannot be extracted from the water and they can spread throughout the food chain.
--According to a report conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in 2013, a whopping 15.13 million tons of textiles ended up in the waste stream (landfills or incinerators). Of that, a mere 15.2 percent was recovered for reuse or recycling. In total, 12.83 tons of textiles--for perspective, the equivalent of more than two million male elephants--ended up in the waste stream in 2013. (And we can assume that the situation hasn't improved in the last decade.)
---Ponder this: there are only about 3500 tigers left in the wild. A century ago, there were 80,000. The finest minds and most august foundations in the world agree that pollution like that caused by the current fashion industry will be directly responsible for the disappearance of tigers from the planet. Experts in the field all sadly agree: tigers will be extinct within 10-20 years. And that is just one species. There are virtually an infinite number in jeopardy. There is a direct correlation between clothing pollution, climate change, and the coming extinction of the tiger--just one of many, many beautiful species we are slated to wipe out.
MORE HORRIFYING STATISTICS: https://woollygreen.com/fashion-industry-waste-statistics/
AND PICTURES HERE: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/great-pacific-garbage-patch-plastics-environment
BUT!! Good news@ There are recycling models that allow fibers to be broken down and given a new life in clothing that is as gorgeous as any ever made. This movement does not need to hurt the fashion industry: not its reputation, nor its production, nor its profits. The fashion industry itself can be the juggernaut leading us out of the Climate Change nightmare that is slowly engulfing us. And all by helping us to literally see trashed clothing in a different way. (With maybe a trip to Italy for the Fab Five thrown in?)
And more good news: a host of designers are jumping on the recycling bandwagon. Synergy Organic, Naadam, Zero Waste Denial, The Upcycled Closet, Urban Outfitters, Re/Done, Green Market Vintage, Broken Ghost Clothing, Arielle, KINdom. Outerknown, Bethany Williams, Ecoalf, Doodlage, Re;code, Zurita, Suave, Bundgaard Nielson, and more. Currently, about 13-15% of all clothing is recycled--it’s a start, but not nearly good enough. That’s where Queer Eye comes in, to entertain and inform.
And the business of using recycled materials doesn’t even begin to touch on the very marvelous, personal, creative world of “upcycling”, where fabric artists piece together bits from assorted pieces of clothing to create marvelous, pixyish, Bohemian fashions.