Fashion – The Yellow Bird

The United Nations outlined their twelfth Sustainable Development Goal as “responsible consumption and production,” a lofty goal to achieve by 2030. To achieve this goal, the participation of all stakeholders — from farmers to retailers, to consumers — is required.

SDG 12, Credit to Sustainable Development.

In my last post: The Cost of Being Fashionable, I talk about the many ethical and environmental problems with the fashion industry. The industry overall is toxic — to both people and the planet — but some companies are challenging that. Organic Basics is one of the brands showing that it’s possible to do better, here’s how.

Let’s start with production. Organic Basics lists on their website all the factories used in the production of their clothing and where the factories are located — one can also click on each factory to learn more about production capacity and employee benefits — this is a radical level of transparency not usually found in the fashion industry.

Organic Basics and its factories also take a radical approach to waste reduction. One of the Turkish factories used by Organic Basics, not only reduce fabric scraps through computerised pattern making – they also reuse and recycle all scraps into furniture upholstery.

Organic Basics also ensures that the materials used for their products are procured as sustainably as possible. Although not all of their materials are biodegradable, their nylon is recycled, and their SilverTech™ and Polygiene® are produced sustainably.

Organic Basics environmental impact from 2019. Credit to Organic Basics

According to Good On You, a website that helps consumers find sustainable and ethical clothing brands, Organic Basics, “encourages consumers to reduce their climate impact when using its products. Its use of eco-friendly materials reduces its climate impact and limits the amount of chemicals and water used in production,” and ships all of its products to buyers in 100 per cent recycled packaging, with carbon neutral worldwide shipping.

Once in the hands of the consumers, Organic Basics continues to keep sustainability in mind. The brand’s SilverTech™ and Polygiene® products are designed to be antimicrobial, reducing how often a garment needs to be washed, increasing its longevity and reducing its footprint.

Information on Organic Basics SilverTech™ fabric. Credit to Organic Basics.

It is also worth noting that Organic Basics offers Climate Credits which consumers can buy to invest in United Nations verified carbon reducing projects in developing countries.

When the time comes to discard a garment, all of the brands organic cotton, recycled wool and cashmere and Tencel™ are biodegradable and compostable, returning to Earth. As for the nylon — it is likely recyclable. Regarding Organic Basics SilverTech™ and Polygiene® products, I could not find information on whether the product is biodegradable, however, because it contains silver fibres, it may not be recyclable.

Organic Basics is one of many fashion companies putting sustainability at the forefront of their operations, but we still need more companies to do the same. Overall, the fashion industry is still extremely unsustainable, and this needs to change.

In the past, all products were manufactured from natural materials, and would return to natural material — cradle to cradle. We can do this again, and by supporting companies who strive to return to a circular economy, and avoiding those who don’t, we are doing our part to build a more resilient society.

Sources:

“Good On You: Organic Basics.” Directory.goodonyou.eco, directory.goodonyou.eco/brand/organic-basics. Retrieved Feb 20, 2020.

Holmes, Taylor. “The Cost of Being Fashionable.” The Yellow Bird, 24 Feb. 2020, theyellowbird.ca/2020/02/18/the-cost-of-being-fashionable/. Retrieved Feb 24, 2020.

“Home .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.” United Nations, United Nations, sustainabledevelopment.un.org/#. Retreived Feb 25, 2020.

Organic Basics. “Climate Credits.” Organic Basics, us.organicbasics.com/collections/climate-credits. Retrieved Feb 25, 2020.

Organic Basics. “Sustainable Practices.” Organic Basics, us.organicbasics.com/pages/sustainable-practices. Retrieved Feb 25, 2020.

“Sustainability in Textile, Environmentally-Friendly Fabric – TENCEL™ Fibers.” Tencel.com, www.tencel.com/sustainability. Retrieved Feb 23, 2020.

Category: FashionSustainability

Clothes found at the average mall are trendy and cheap, but at what cost? Although we may think we are saving by buying inexpensive clothing, the price of making inexpensive clothing is high.

Production

The problem starts at production. Cotton is water and pesticide intensive: excessive water use can put drought prone regions at greater risk, and pesticides have been known to cause cancer and birth defects and pollute the environments with toxic substances.

Dyeing and finishing materials also has serious social and environmental effects. Second to agriculture, the textile industry is the largest polluter of fresh water worldwide. Many of the chemicals used to finish textiles are hormone disrupting and carcinogenic, and workers as young as eight are exposed on the job to these substances without protective equipment.

Image of the textile effluent entering the Citarum River. Credit to: DW.

Not only does cheap fashion come at a steep environmental cost, but a great human cost as well. Brands including ZARA, H&M and Nike all use unfair labour practices. Slave and child labour are common in the textile industry, working over 14 hour days and in some instances being denied breaks. Two out of six textile workers are children.

Physical and sexual abuse are also problems in textile factories. One worker said, “They kick our chairs. They don’t touch us, so they don’t leave a mark that could be used as evidence with the police.” Workers in Britain demanded better labour laws over a century ago, but workers in nations like Bangladesh, China and many more continue to work in similar conditions.

Wear

After production, a garment will be shipped from its country of make to the store shelves, where consumers can purchase the product. Regardless of the material, garments shed tiny fibres into water when washed. Shedded fibres aren’t a problem on their own, but if the garment washed is made of synthetic materials that do not biodegrade, such as polyester, they contribute to micro-plastic pollution in water systems since.

Micro-plastics in water systems can be consumed by microorganisms, and can lead to bio-accumulation that ends with the top predator — which is often humans. One researcher reported to the Independent that “Microplastics were suggested to exert their harmful effects by providing a medium to facilitate the transport of other toxic compounds such as heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants to the body of organisms. Upon ingestion, these chemicals may be released and cause toxicity.”

Another impact during consumer use is water consumption, the average washing machine uses between 20 and 40 litres of water per cycle, and that water needs to be heated, using additional energy. It is important to take into account the impact of washing garments: larger loads, less often is most sustainable.

End of Life

If an item is unwearable it can be thrown away or composted depending on the material. When thrown away, synthetic garments will persist in the environment from anywhere between 20-200 years. Donation and recycling are options as well for garments as well, however, recycling and donating may not be as good as once thought, as this CBC Marketplace explains.

Clothing that’s donated to secondhand shops may be burned in landfills in countries like Kenya. Credit: CBC

Overall, the clothing industry is extremely unsustainable, but it wasn’t always. For centuries, if not millennia, humanity created clothing from natural material and dyes, wore clothing until it could no longer be repaired, and the garments would decompose once discarded. It is not unreasonable to suggest that humanity could return to a cyclical garment industry — coming from and returning to the Earth — but we must do our part. Vote with your dollar, support brands that respect the environment and shop secondhand.

Category: FashionSustainability