How Clothes Impact the Environment

When it comes to the environment, the fashion industry might not be a sector you immediately think of, but clothes impact the environment in a big way. Fashion is the world’s 2^nd most polluting industry after oil and has a significant impact on climate change.  

How Clothes are produced

The first way clothes impact the environment, is the way in which they are produced. The textile industry uses huge amounts of water. This water contaminates, pollutes & poisons the rivers & streams that many people rely upon for drinking water. The cotton plants themselves are heavily treated with fertilizers and the runoff waters from the fields pollute rivers. The textile factories often dump wastewaters from the dying processes directly into rivers, which then run into the sea. A massive 90% of the wastewater in developing countries, which is where most of our high street clothes are made, is discharged into rivers, without being treated.

So what can we do? Well firstly, we can consider our purchases very carefully. We can commit to buying fewer brand new garments, or better still, buying second hand. A huge amount of valuable resources goes into making every single clothing item. Buying things to wear just once is no longer sustainable. Did you know, it takes up to 2,108 gallons of water to make just 1 pair of jeans – that’s more water than you would drink in 11.5 years! Buy items that will last. Repair, re-use and recycle items. Swap, lend and borrow from your friends rather than buying new for a special occasion. Avoid ‘fast fashion’, which are cheaply made garments that won’t survive more than a few washes.

How clothes are disposed of

Clothes and textiles, should never be put in the landfill bin. Clothes release toxic gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane when they decompose in landfills, which in turn causes global warming.

Mending and re-purposing clothes are good options for extending their lifespan. Lily Fulops' book Wear, Repair Repurpose has some great suggestions.

Donating to a local charity shop so they can be sold on can also help. If they are beyond use, many charity shops will still take them as they can sell them on by weight as textile waste to be recycled. Textile waste can for example be repurposed as insulation.

How we wash them

When we wash garments, especially synthetic ones, thousands of microfibers are released into the water system. These microfibers are then carried to rivers & oceans and ingested by tiny aquatic organisms. They then work their way up the food chain, introducing plastic into the food we eat. A recent study estimated we each eat around 5g or one credit card worth of plastic every single week. (study WWFN 2019)

Reducing the amount of times we wash our clothes helps. Yes clothes need to be washed when they are dirty, but if my household is anything to go by, clothes end up in the laundry basket when all they actually need is airing on the washing line. A 'Guppy Bag' or 'Guppy Friend' can help capture the microfibers in your washing machine, preventing them entering the water system. Use as short a wash time as possible. The longer your wash cycle, the more clothing fibers break. Use your washing line rather than tumble dryer.

Do we need so many clothes?

Most of us could admit to owning too many clothes. Estimates of how much of our wardrobes we actually wear, vary between just 50% & 30%. The average household owns £4,000 worth of clothes! Could you examine your wardrobe today & commit to buying fewer clothes? For inspiration, you might like My 12 months buying no new clothes. How about shopping second hand, borrowing from a friend for that one off special occasion or even organising a Swishing event!