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What we wear has a direct impact on climate change.

Ethics is a buzzing word in one's life. Now, this word has entered the fashion industry too. Yes, it's a generation of 'Ethical Fashion'.

But why this ethics in fashion?

Do you know: The fashion industry is one of the largest polluting industries in the world just after the oil industry.

Fashion industries are growing and glowing. It is blooming rapidly on a large scale.

Fashion and environment Impacts:

  1. Fashion industry make-up more than 10% of carbon emissions.
  2. It dries up the water bodies.
  3. 200 tons of freshwater are used up per ton of dyed fabric. Approximately 20,000 liters of water is used to produce just 1 kg of cotton as it is grown in warm and dry areas.
  4. Microplastics: Found in synthetic fibers and detergents. 75% of textiles go to the dump. Washing clothes send some amount of microplastics to the ocean. Microplastics are making way from smaller fish to bigger fish thus entering our food chains.
  5. Greenhouse gases: Textiles generate greenhouse gases and methane gas which are toxic. Chemicals and dyes reach into the groundwater and soil. Air pollution is on rise due to booming fashion industries.
  6. Wastewater from textiles contains lead, mercury, arsenic, and other harmful substances that impact aquatic life and river banks
  7. Continuous accumulation of cheap garments causes serious consequences on our health, environment, and garment workers' lives.
  8. Waste problem: Old clothing directly goes to a landfill and is incinerated. Synthetic fibers are plastic fibers and cannot be degradable.
  9. Chemical pollution: The main components of our clothes are chemicals. They are used in fiber production, dyeing bleaching, paints on cloth, etc. They cause soil degradation and water pollution which is toxic to the consumers. Pesticides used in growing cotton, and greenhouse gas emissions during manufacture and transportation are adding to the havoc.
  10. Synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon, and acrylic made from fossil fuels are facilitating climate change.
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Eco fashion

Any brand which attempts to minimise the impact on the environment and protect the help of the consumers contributes to eco-fashion.

It reduces "carbon footprints."

Natural fibers like organic cotton (made from plants) and Tencel (made from wood pulp) are more sustainable than man-made fabrics like polystyrene and nylon which are carcinogenic.

The manufacture, process, washing, discarding, and burning of clothes all have an unseen impact on the environment.

What can we do?

Image by waldemar-brandt-unsplash
  1. Choose your wardrobe carefully.
  2. Minimise the wardrobe.
  3. Let's reduce and recycle.
  4. Buy less.
  5. Buy clothes from sustainable brands like Patagonia, Zara People tree, etc.
  6. Look out for recycled textiles.
  7. Avoid dry cleaning.
  8. Avoid burning clothes, instead, recycle.
  9. Water and air must be treated properly before release.
  10. Consume less share better.
  11. Go for the weavers or handmade garments with natural dyes. 

Fascinating fact:

Biomimicry fashion aims at applying processes and organisms to materials that reconnect our bodies to nature.

We have so much power to change the world. Let's rethink and reduce. Let's endorse 'Ethical fashion.'

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References:

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