Devil wears cheap threads

EARTHDAY.ORG published a report, Broken Threads & Twisted Yarns: Legislating the Reform of Fashion, tracking the most recent legislation in the US, Canada and the EU, aiming to put an end to fast fashion. Without much fanfare, the laws that the EU adopted and proposed last year were truly historic. For the first time legislation began grappling with the enormous harm the fashion industry inflicts on the planet and by default, many of us.

WHY DO WE NEED THIS LEGISLATION?

Because without any legal restrictions, brands (that began in the 1990s to migrate to the Global South) have been able to operate with impunity – finding the cheapest materials possible (think synthetic textiles made from plastic materials like nylon and polyester) and the places with the most highly exploitable workforce – the poor.

Let’s not blame consumers however. Brands are highly adept at inveigling customers into buying fast fashion with dirt cheap prices, aggressive marketing, the use of algorithms, timed discounts, using armies of ‘influencers’, greenwashing and, most importantly, changing styles to create trends that vanish practically before they’ve even begun.

None of what is happening to the Earth or to the millions of workers who make our clothes appear in their advertising and promotion. So, let’s take a look at what we’re wearing and some of the facts around our clothing:

1. Dyeing for blue jeans

Blue jeans are denim and dyeing cotton for denim produces millions of gallons of hazardous chemicals. Tons (84,500) of sodium hydrosulfite and tons (53,500) of caustic soda are used each year for the dyeing of denim. Some of these synthetic poisonous, carcinogenic or mutagenic chemicals bypass treatment plants. They poison groundwater and affect agriculture and nearby populations.

The dyes and auxiliaries required for dyeing contain heavy metals like lead, chromium, cadmium, copper and nickel that can affect multiple organs in the body. In short, the production is hazardous to everything and everyone.

2. Colourful can mean chemicals

Azo dyes make up 60-70 per cent of fabric colourants and are responsible for the vivid colours that can be seen in many textiles. Azo dyes can quickly come off fabrics and, once in contact with the skin, break down to release chemicals called aromatic amines, causing skin allergies and dermatitis. Some of these dyes, however, cause cancer.

Dye wastewater is now a key environmental pollution form . In humans, azo dye benzidine is associated with bladder cancer with high risk for dye workers. In one study, 40 different aromatic amines from 180 parent azo dyes were found to be mutagenic (meaning they can cause changes in our DNA that harm cells and lead to cancer).

The concern is that combined exposure to a number of aromatic amines in garments is a danger to those who wear them. In the European Union, 22 azo dyes are outlawed. None of these dyes are restricted in the US.

3. Farmed cotton depletes natural resources.

Cotton is grown on nearly 35 million hectares in over 100 countries. Conventional cotton cultivation severely exhausts soil.

Intensive irrigation and continuous monocropping damage soil structure over time and lead to habitat destruction as farm fields are forced to expand into new areas.

Exposure to pesticides is hazardous to farmers and nearby populations. Pesticides runoff can contaminate freshwater sources affecting entire ecosystems.

In cotton producing countries with water scarcity, cotton farming can use as much 13,696 litres per kilogram to produce one kilogram (approx. two pounds) of cotton. The depletion of this amount of water threatens the environment and all living things that rely on clean water sources.

4. Polar fleece leads to micro-fibre releases

Polyester does not break down in the environment – in short, “nothing eats it”, Including clothes moths! That is a BIG problem. Polar fleeces are made with recycled polyethylene terephthalate plastic bottles melted down to make polyester fabric. According to a study funded by Patagonia and other brands, a kilogramme sample (approximately 2 pounds) of polyester fleece released as much as 4.5 million fibres in a single wash!

In the Arctic it was discovered that almost all the microplastics filling the waters were made of microfibres and of these almost all were polyester. Of the 171 trillion microfibres in the ocean, 35 per cent are from our washing machines.

5. Athletic wear is plastic

Garments that are made with anything more than 10 per cent spandex (elastane) cannot be recycled. If less than that, they can be downcycled into things like insulation, carpets, or the interiors of automobiles.

If only two to five per cent spandex, they can be mechanically recycled but that requires the addition of virgin polyester to give the material strength. Some new startups can chemically extract spandex from existing textile materials – if there is less than five per cent. But all of this takes more energy and resources.

6. Viscose rayon is “in” but the process of making it is toxic

In the viscose fibre process, steam, pulp, and chemical pollution are the main contributors to the process’s environmental impact. Toxic chemicals involved such as carbon disulphide, zinc, and sulphuric acid escape the process, contaminating the air, water, and local food sources, endangering workers and local communities.

Carbon disulphide has been linked to higher levels of coronary heart disease, birth defects, skin conditions, and cancer. Repeated exposure to zinc can cause skin cancer. A zinc free process was patented in 1983, however zinc sulphate is still commonly used in the process today.

7. Leather from the Amazon jungle

The cattle industry is the biggest source of deforestation in the Amazon. In 2021, Brazil exported a total of 395.6 thousand tons of leather with a value of $1.41 billion. Over 100 brands have supply-chain links to these Brazilian leather exporters for footwear and high end fashion products.

When forests are cleared for cattle ranching, the exposed soil is more prone to erosion, reducing fertility and crop yields. When trees are removed, soil washes into nearby waterways leading to downstream sediment buildup and damaging watersheds.

8. Are we wearing cotton harvested in China?

China has committed genocide against the Uyghur population. The US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R. 6256/S.65) has amended the 1930 Tariff Act to deny entry at the ports of the United States anything mined, produced or manufactured in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China or by persons working with the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region government.

Nevertheless, in 2022, laboratory testing of cotton for Bloomberg News found cotton from the Xinjiang Uyghur region in Shein’s clothing. And a separate digital vetting platform found that Temu has offered for sale in the United States various items that were made or sold by businesses located in XUAR.

9. Garment workers in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, India and Pakistan live very different lives

Labour in the fashion industry is referred to as ‘modern day slavery’. Garment workers are paid poverty wages, in some cases less than a country’s minimum wage, significantly less than a ‘living wage’ and sometimes in ‘slave-like’ conditions. Before workers’ protest in 2023, Bangladesh workers made $75 a month. After the protests, wages rose to $113 which is half the amount constituting a ‘living wage’ in Bangladesh. Child labour and indentured servitude exist. An Oxfam report found that 91 per cent of garment workers in Bangladesh cannot afford enough food for themselves or their families.

Additionally, 25 per cent of Bangladeshi garment workers experience some form of abuse. Women garment workers suffer the most, facing gender-based harassment, violence, and, in some cases, resorting to sex work or forced into it to support their families.

WHAT’S THE ANSWER TO ALL OF THIS?

The answer for all of us is to remember what the “true cost” of our clothing is and to shop for what we really need and not here today and gone tomorrow fads. We should buy clothing that we will wear many times. In other words, what is durable. Favour beautiful styles that endure. Take care of your clothes and be rewarded with a closet of really great things that can be mixed and matched and fool the people hoping to catch us in the same outfit twice on Instagram. BTW, don’t we all have better things to do with our time?

Shelley Rogers is fashion for the Earth coordinator at EARTHDAY.ORG Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com