CHEAP FASHION OR MOTHER NATURE, WHAT’S OUR REAL PRIORITY??

In the world of fast fashion, cheap fancy clothing's always lures us and we through away clothes after wearing it five times. Cheap clothing's are often made with Bio hazardous dye stuffs/chemicals and cheap fibers. As a result, we generate more and more textile waste. A family in the western world throws away an average of 30 kg of clothing each year. Only10% is recycled or donated, and the rest goes directly to the landfill or is incinerated. 

Man made fibers, such as polyester, are plastic fibers, therefore non-biodegradable and can take up to 200 years to decompose. Synthetic fibers are used in 70% of our clothing.

What would be the call of action?

• Choose natural or semi-natural fibers

In addition, Chemicals are used in every part of the textile production for making fibers, bleaching, and dyeing fabrics, etc.… When they arrive in the shops, our clothes still contain a lot of chemicals, even clothes made of "100% natural" fiber. Our skin is our body's largest organ and absorbs anything we put on it, including chemicals in our clothes. These can present a real danger to our health.

A Greenpeace study for the Detox Campaign has identified 11 chemicals frequently used to make our clothes that contain toxins, carcinogens, and hormone disruptors which should be banned, but currently aren't.

Some study shows that certain chemical substances contained in pajamas, can be found in a child's urine for days after wearing those pajamas for one night.

A recent study found hazardous chemical in 63% of the items tested from 20 different textile brands (including fashion giants). Textile waste water such as lead, mercury, and arsenic, among others. These are extremely harmful to the aquatic life and the health of millions of people

living by those riverbanks. The contamination also reaches the sea and eventually spreads around the globe. 

What would be the call of action?

• Look for garments with chemical content certification label such as OEKO-TEX?, GOTS, or BLUESIGN?.

 Besides, Huge quantity of fresh water is used for washing, dyeing, and finishing process for all our fancy denims and trousers.  As reference, it can take up to 200 tons of freshwater per ton of dyed fabric. In a recent search, it has been observed that the fashion industry has been the highest consumer of fresh water around the Globe.

What could be a call of action:

• Choose fibers with low water consumption such as linen, recycled fibers etc....
• Buy sustainable washed clothes which takes less/no order to wash & dye.

 Furthermore, greenhouse gas emissions from synthetic fiber (polyester, Nylon, Acrylic) producing industry are higher as they are made from fossil fuel which vigorous energy utilization. At present, Fashion industry is accused for 10% carbon emission. The temperature of whole world is increasing 5% each year.

What could be the call of action:

• Choose natural fibers.
• Buy less but quality goods. Do not buy CHEAP.

BUY LESS AND THINK TWICE BEFORE THROWING OUT YOUR CLOTHES. ALSO WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT SUSTAINABLE GREEN NATURE REFURBISH YOUR CLOTHES.

Thanks for reading.

Rehnuma Chowdhury