The Big Secret of The Fashion Field by Ayal Korczak
Exploring how the fashion industry is trying to change its environmentally-destructive ways…
Soon, millions of kids across America will hear those famous three dreaded words-- “Back to school.” (However, after the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be nice to return to the school year anew; and hopefully healthy.)
You know the routine…you head to popular shops or surf the web for some cool fashions. Then school finally starts and you get to strut down the halls in your new duds looking like a runway model from the lastest Parisian fashion show. It’s all really great--but is it?
The Truth
While it may sound benign to shop every fall for a new wardrobe, that activity comes with some costs. According to the UN, since 2000 consumers have, on average, bought 60% more clothes while at the same time keeping them for only half as long. That means tons of clothes are being thrown away. While companies like Nike make billions of dollars selling you their wares, there is a garbage truck full of textiles (that’s the fabric that makes clothing) being thrown into a landfill or burned every second. That’s over 15 million tons of waste a year.
Manufacturing the clothing has other negative environmental effects; even just washing clothes leads to millions of tons of microfibres being released into rivers and oceans everywhere.
Humans suffer too in the manufacturing of clothing. Sweatshop-like conditions still exist in many countries where workers toil for long hours under terrible conditions for meager pay. Recent documentaries have highlighted both the toxic chemicals involved in the production of most clothing as well the appalling number of deaths from fire suffered by factory garment workers.
The core problem is the business model itself. All these clothing companies need to make money to stay in business and pay their workers and to do that they have to sell more and more products. This means they have to keep coming up with new collections and so the number of collections companies release a year is increasing dramatically. For most of fashion history two collections were released every year: a fall and a spring collection. Today some companies release 5 or more collections a year. Fast fashion king Zara recently had 24 collections in a single year.
In other words, retailers don’t want you to keep your clothes for a long time; they don’t make money that way. Instead, they want you to throw out those old clothes and shop a lot each season for the latest fashions.
Changing For The Better
Despite all these problems, some companies have initiated amazing efforts to minimize fashion’s negative impact on the environment. There are new processes for dying clothing that do not involve as much water and recycled materials like water bottles are being used to create everything from carpeting and sleeping bags to fleece jackets and insulation. Another concept gaining in popularity is the idea of rental clothing, such as the dress company featured in this issue! Customers, instead of buying their clothes, pay a monthly fee and get a rotating wardrobe of fashionable clothes that they return after wearing for a period of time.
Entrepreneurs have also entered the game of friendly fashion. Plastic collected on beaches is upcycled by a Spanish company called Ecoalfinto clothing and shoes and a Dutch company makes rubber for shoes out of gum collected on paths and streets around the capital city. (In case you were wondering it takes around 2.2 pounds of used chewing gum to make four pairs of sneakers.) Even large retailers like H&M and Guess? have spearheaded efforts to offer discounts to customers who bring in used clothing which is then collected and sent to firms where it is reused, repurposed, and renewed.
What Can YOU Do?
As a consumer, there are a plethora of ways you can help minimize the damage done by your clothes shopping habits. One way is to buy goods that are warrantied for life so you don’t have to throw them out if they tear. Companies like Patagonia, JanSport, and Dr. Martens all repair their products for the lifetime of the item without a receipt. Shopping at thrift stores is also fashion friendly as is buying clothing made of organic materials. Even washing your clothes in cold water instead of hot makes them last longer and finally think about shopping less. Back to school is cool but you can be cooler by turning that old pair of ripped jeans into perfectly hip cutoff shorts, and you are helping save the environment!