How can I be more sustainable? That is a question I have been asking myself a lot recently. It can be really paralysing trying to be sustainable in a world that is so based in fossil fuels. What impact can I even make? One area I often find myself trying to improve on is my clothing. The fashion industry is the second largest contributor to climate change, producing ten percent of global carbon emissions. With fast fashion, a constantly shifting trend cycle, and endless amounts of plastic garments being produced, it seems impossible to avoid contributing to this industry. But let’s take a closer look at the impacts of the fashion industry and a few ways we, as consumers, can be more sustainable in the way we buy clothing.
One of the main reasons clothing contributes so much to climate change is fast fashion. Fast fashion, as described by Rashmila Maiti in an article for Earth.org, is “cheaply produced and priced garments that copy the latest catwalk styles and get pumped quickly through stores in order to maximize on current trends.” This results in the trend cycle speeding up and a lot of wasted clothing. Eighty-five percent of textiles end up in the landfill each year. Disposal of textiles ends up spreading microplastics through the environment; the equivalent of fifty billion plastic bottles worth of microplastics end up in the oceans every year, due to synthetic fibers. Thirty-five percent of microplastics in the ocean are from garments.
The first fast fashion brand was Zara, in 1990. Zara’s goal was to get a garment from the design stage onto the store rack within fifteen days. This time from design to store front is known as the lead time, which is only shrinking. One of the most notable fast fashion brands of today, Shein, has a lead time of only ten days! With the drive of capitalism it is projected that emissions from the textile industry will increase sixty percent by 2030. The fashion industry is also the largest consumer of water and the second largest polluter of water. Making a cotton t-shirt, from start to finish, uses seven hundred gallons of water, and a pair of jeans uses two thousand gallons. Leftover water from the process is dumped into water sources, along with all the chemicals used in the process.
Many of these impacts don’t even include the process of growing and producing the materials to create clothing. Leather is a significant contributor to the climate crisis through factory farming of cows, and the chemicals needed to treat it in order for it to be wearable. One of the worst contributors is cotton growing. Cotton accounts for about 2.4 percent of the world’s farmland. Cotton farms also use 4.7 percent of the world’s pesticides and ten percent of insecticides. Natural fibers such as cotton can decompose, but many companies blend cotton fibers with synthetic ones, making them impossible to biodegrade. Once fibers are blended in this way, attempts to separate them become futile. The current most popular fiber in the industry is polyester, as it is durable, cheap, and efficient, but it is also nearly impossible to recycle. Some polyester is made from recycled plastics, but much less than you would hope—only about fourteen percent. So the question is: how do we combat these countless environmental impacts?
One approach is in what fibers we should be producing. Fiber production accounts for fifteen percent of the fashion industry’s carbon emissions. One sustainable option is lyocell. Lyocell is very similar to rayon (a common fiber), as they are both made from wood pulp. However, lyocell is a much more sustainable alternative, as it can biodegrade in about a month, uses less harsh chemicals in production, and can be made in a closed-loop system. This means that the water and chemicals used to create and spin the fiber can be reused over and over again. One issue with lyocell is that a lot of raw material is needed in order to produce it. One proposed solution to this is using bamboo. Bamboo is a fast-growing crop that needs very few resources to grow. Bamboo has fibers that can be woven into a linen-like fiber, or spun into rayon or lyocell. Another proposed solution is using seaweed fibers. Seaweed is an abundant and valuable resource. Some species have been around for a billion years. The leading brand in seaweed fabrics is SeaCell, which weaves seaweed fibers into lyocell and requires less raw material. Kelp plants can grow up to a meter every day and are only harvested every four years, allowing the kelp to regenerate in a healthy and sustainable way. Seaweed fabrics are soft, biodegradable, and breathable. All of this means lyocell is a strong contender as a sustainable fabric.
Nicole Rawling, a Co-Founder of the Material Innovation Initiative, describes what she believes the future of sustainable fiber looks like: “Next-gen materials must be animal-free, high-performance and have a smaller environmental footprint than their traditional counterparts.” A fiber that meets all these criteria is made through gene editing. This process consists of scientists modifying genes of yeast or bacteria, which are then fermented to produce proteins to be spun into fibers. These fibers can be made into materials like wool, silk, or other animal fibers. One example of this is Squitex. Squitex is a silk replacement made in this way that requires zero pesticides and significantly less water than traditional silk. From the perspective of the company, this process is more efficient than growing fibers, and these next-gen fibers can be spun in many different ways, allowing companies to create many different textures and weights out of one material. Unfortunately, there is very little infrastructure in place to create next-gen fabrics like this. The current industry standard spinning machines do not work on these fibers, and other infrastructure is needed, such as fermentation vats. Once the industry shifts, this may be a promising path forward.
Fiber is only one of the contributing factors to fashion’s footprint. Another major contributor to climate change is denim. As Olivia Ferrari put it in National Geographic, “Blue jeans, one of fashion’s most classic wardrobe staples, also happen to have one of fashion’s biggest environmental footprints.” Billions of denim products are made every year and the denim industry was valued at sixty-six billion dollars as of 2023. The signature blue color of most denim is made with indigo dye and, because of the current demand for denim, the industry has shifted to synthetic indigo. That said, no matter which type of indigo is used to dye the fabric, many harsh chemicals are needed to bind the color to the fabric. Denim production uses fifty thousand tons of synthetic indigo every year and eighty-four thousand tons of sodium hydrosulfide, which can be toxic. The sodium hydrosulfide, along with the other chemicals used throughout the process of making denim, are added to water creating a corrosive alkaline and very hard solution—meaning it has a high mineral content from passing through deposits of things like limestone—that ends up in the waterways near denim factories, disrupting the ecosystem around it.
Recent research from a lab in Denmark has come up with a solution to the harmful process of indigo dyeing. By using indican, a compound of the indigo plant, scientists have found a way to reduce the amount of water and harsh chemicals used. In the past, scientists have created bacteria that secrete indican, making it a more renewable alternative to indigo. There are two ways to use indican to replicate indigo. One technique is to use an enzyme found in indican. The other method is by exposing indican to light. Both solutions make a significant difference compared to indigo. The technique using light cuts the impacts by seventy-three percent, and the enzyme cuts them by ninety-two percent. Both of these solutions decrease the pollution and water waste, and create a safer working environment. In addition, it is believed that using indican as opposed to indigo would cut three million tons of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere.
These are only a few of the current solutions to reducing the emissions of the fashion industry, but there are many others. But these are still expensive and daunting ways for us to personally lower our carbon footprint. There are some easier ways to have a more sustainable wardrobe. One way is to buy secondhand clothing, reducing the amount of new clothing bought, and reducing support for fast fashion companies. Recycle, donate, or upcycle your clothing instead of throwing it away. Another way is to rent clothing as opposed to buying it. Many companies offer a way to rent clothing to, again, reduce the amount of new clothing being bought, and if you fall in love with a piece you can always buy it. This is especially good for special occasions when you need a piece you will likely only wear once. While it may seem pricey, another option is to invest in higher-quality pieces. The key to reducing your carbon footprint in general is longevity. A well-made cotton garment can last up to sixty years; wool can last up to two hundred years, and linen can last up to a thousand years. Buy clothing that will last longer and reduce the amount of clothing that will end up in landfills. Overall, try to avoid buying fabrics made of fossil fuels and don’t support fast fashion. I know it may seem hard, but we can make a difference.
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