YARNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Fast fashion has changed the textile production and consumption drastically. Clothing has gained importance, since the past two decades, with the trend of having a different outfit for every occasion, setting, and mood set in with the advent of social media, which created and boosted the fast fashion business. People want to keep up with the looks and styles advertised by their favourite celebrities and brands. It has become a way of making an impression and being fashionable. As a result, the textile industry has doubled it’s production in the last 15 years. At the same time, people’s use and throw of garments has also declined by almost 50%. Textile is the second largest polluting industry, as textile waste contributes largely to environmental pollution, that is costing the global economy more than $400 billion every year, according to a recent World Economic Forum report.
Textile production and manufacturing has a huge environmental, economical and social impact.
Textiles utilize huge quantities of natural resources like land, water and soil. The crops (cotton, flax, hemp) that are used to make fabrics require a lot of water. According to the World Resources Institute, it takes 2,700 litres of water to make 2 metres of cotton fabric which is enough water for one person to drink for 2 1/2 years. A lot of toxic chemicals are also involved in the production that release huge amounts of greenhouse gases in the environment. The carbon footprints of the textile industry account for about 10% of global carbon emissions and nearly 20% of wastewater. Farmers use pesticides and herbicides to protect the crops which in turn harm the soil and release methane which is harmful not only for the soil but also human beings; it is a major contributor of global warming. The fabric dyes used pollute the water bodies with devastating effects on aquatic life and drinking water. Around 70 million barrels of oil is used per year to make polyester fibres which when washed shed tiny plastic fibres called microfibres, a form of microplastics which represents a serious threat to the aquatic life as it carries contaminants such as toxic pesticides and industrial chemicals which cause bio-magnification in the food chain.
Due to fast fashion, the fashion cycles are increasing at a rapid pace. The brands, driven by the need to deliver, form supply chains that put profits ahead of human welfare. The brands, with the need for cheap labour, hire contractors in developing countries where the labour is cheap and working conditions are hazardous.
But it’s not just the textile production that is harmful, it is also what’s thrown out during the production and consumer use processes. Unfortunately, millions of tonnes of fabrics are discarded every year. Due to fast fashion, consumers have started to discard their clothes at a much faster pace. In 2017 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated a total of 16.9 million tons of textile waste generated by the United States. Out of which only 15.2% was recycled, which resulted in 11.2 million tons of textile waste ending up in landfills, which further takes 200+ years to decompose. During the decomposition process, textiles generate greenhouse gas methane and leach toxic chemicals along with dyes into the soil and groundwater. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that every year around $500 billion in value is lost in the textile industry. It also estimated that if things don’t change, more than 150 million tonnes of clothing will end up in landfills or be incinerated in the year 2050.
Upcycled Handbags: The Vision of the New World
While researching about textile waste, I came across a fashion designer, Eileen Fisher, who started an initiative, called “Waste No More”, where she upcycled the used clothes collected by her buyback program and converted them into fashion and lifestyle products. Inspired by her work I went to the local clothing stores in my city to look and understand the textile waste situation at a local level. The amount of waste fabric (katran) I came across was unnerving; it brought the alarming reality into focus. Fabric dumping, though not as much discussed as the clothes that are thrown out, is just as much a byproduct of textile production and just as much responsible for textile pollution. A group called Reverse resources have created an online platform to connect factories and designers for reuse of production leftovers. They released a study in 2016 that higlighted the fact that garment industry creates almost enough leftover fabrics each year to cover the entire republic of Estonia with waste.
Having witnessed the severity of the situation myself, I tried to think of something that can help in minimising the waste produced at these local shops. Keeping this in mind, I came up with the idea of collecting these scraps from the local shops and upcycling them into bags that can be used for various purposes like grocery shopping. The initiative is to supply these bags at a reasonable price to the people in my locality as well as different local marketplaces. So instead of buying single use plastic bags, people can buy these bags and can then reuse them several times. By reusing and upcycling, the textile waste will be diverted away from landfill and will also prolong the lifecycle of the textile material.
Considering this, I stitched the fabric scraps (katran)collected from the local stores into handbags. It took me 15–20 minutes to cut the fabric and stitch the bag. The bags are easy to make and can be used for a long time.
Switching to reusable bags and using them consistently, will ultimately be better for the environment.These bags are a small step in providing a more sustainable future by minimizing the textile waste and plastic usage. It will also have a positive impact economically and socially in my locality. This can provide employment opportunities to men and women, who are not professional workers but have the basic skill set required to stitch, which will improve the economic condition of some of the people. This is a small but an important step in providing a more sustainable future. Don’t throw it away, use it!
