Sustainable Fashion
- Created on Saturday, 08 February 2014 11:39
- Last Updated on Thursday, 27 March 2014 10:39
- Written by womanspanorama
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Sustainable Fashion
“Zero-waste design changes the way we use textiles and produces effective environmental results” -Ada Zandigton- Fashion Designer
“Zero-waste design changes the way we use textiles and produces effective environmental results” -Ada Zandigton- Fashion Designer
Can fashion emerge out of landfills? The most common answer to this note of interrogation may be no but it is an emphatic yes! Sustainable Fashion or “Zero-Waste-Design” now has gained a massive momentum all across the world, including India.
The basic principle of this is based on three ‘R’s’: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
The punch-line of this movement whose motto is to popularize “Eco-Friendly Dress,” is quite impressing: “Redress it, don’t bin it” or “Fashion Creation without Fabric Waste Creation.” The other global slogan fast gaining momentum is “Everything Old is New Again….” It is here where the success of current sustainable fashion movement globally lies.
Nearly 15% to 20% of the fabric and cloths used in the apparel industry (globally) ends up in thousands of landfills dotting the earth. And what is its outcome?
The outcome is very serious. The dress materials, cotton, wool and fabrics may be bio-degradable matters but on being thrown in the landfills, they are not able to rot or decompose due to lack of oxygen and light.
So what do they do? They keep on generating methane gas, pose threat to local ground water supply and contaminate ground-water (as hazardous chemicals, dyes and bleaches generated by the waste-fabrics/cloths/ wool/textiles keep on mixing with water).
| During the rainy seasons, these chemicals of textiles dumped in the landfills seeps into the earth. Due to rainfall, water gets collects at the bottom of the landfill. The chemicals drained from textiles dumps of landfills are 200 times more toxic that the sewage water. |
During the rainy seasons, these chemicals of textiles dumped in the landfills seeps into the earth. Due to rainfall, water gets collects at the bottom of the landfill. The chemicals drained from textiles dumps of landfills are 200- times more toxic that the sewage water. Textiles carcinogens are very dangerous and they keep on melting from the fabrics in a very slows process.
According to the global body “Textiles Exchange,” nearly 95% of textiles, cotton fabrics, wools and other apparel products dumped into the landfills every year can be reused as 70% of the world population still use second-hand clothing due to lack of purchasing power in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
QUANTUM OF TEXTILES WASTE
Quantum of textile waste going to landfills would give you no solace, for sure! Let us begin with UK. In UK, one million tons of textiles garbage are thrown in landfills annually. If everyone in UK purchases a minimum one reclaimed/ recycled woolen cloth annually, it would save an average 1,686 million litres of water and 480 tons of chemical dyestuffs thus adding tremendous impetus to sustainability.
| Another shocking fact emerges from Australia. In this country, people spend $12 billion a year on fashion items, but sends 4% to 5% of discarded dresses to landfills too every year. If we talk of fashion hub Hong Kong, we find that 217 tons of cloths, wool, textile and dress materials are thrown into landfills per day. |
In Europe, around 25kg of textile fibre is consumed per person per year. Another shocking fact emerges from Australia. In this country, people spend $12 billion a year on fashion items, but sends 4% to 5% of discarded dresses to landfills too every year. If we talk of fashion hub Hong Kong, we find that 217 tons of cloths, wool, textile and dress materials are thrown into landfills per day.
Coming to USA, the US Environmental Protection Agency says, the average person discards 70 pounds (32 kg) of clothing per year. Only 15% of this is reused and recycled. The Agency estimates 85% of these materials wind-up in landfills or incinerators. In USA, nearly 5% of space in all landfills dotting the country is occupied by textiles waste.
The U.S. government offers tax incentives for citizens who donate used cloths, woolen garments and household goods for recycling.
The environmental impact of reusing cloths is really stupendous. Can you believe, if you recycle just a kilogram of cotton (cloths/threads), you are saving 20,000 litres of waster annually? Cotton is a water-intensive plant.
The World Wildlife Fund has estimated that to raise just one kilogram of cotton lint, nearly 8,500 litres of water is needed. This one kilogram of cotton can make only a pair of blue jeans.
SUSTAINABLE FASHION MOVEMENT
Zero-waste fashion or sustainable fashion means creation of apparel with little or no cloth/wool waste during the process of production. The apparel makers following this design their dress in such a way that new textiles result zero waste and old cloths re-designed with no waste.
| The apparel makers following this design their dress in such a way that new textiles result zero waste and old cloths re-designed with no waste |
Their motto is not to send textiles waste to landfills and they ensure to create designs that leave no scrap of fabric on the cutting room floor. The sustainable fashion movement is divided into two parts: Pre-consumer zero-waste and Post Consumer Zero Waste. The buttons, zippers, elastic, lace and embroidered decorative touches are also reused. A number of global fashion designers including Mark Liu, Julian Roberts, Zandra Rhodes, Susan Dimasi, Chantal Kirby, McQuillan, Yeohlee Teng, Rissanen and Scott Mackinlay Hahn are into this eco-friendly movement. Among the Indian fashion designers who are spearheading this zero-waste fashion module are: Shreya Upadhyaya and Siddhartha Upadhyaya H & M, Denim, Lanvin and Patagonia are some of the global brands that have special section for re-used cloths. Wal-mart also is promoting this movement to maintain a “Green Earth.”
