How Yoga pants Destroy the Ocean
It wasn’t the mention of microplastics that got my attention. Microplastics are mainstream discussion these days, as they should be. It was the fact that eight pages into the book I was reading, I learned that most of the microplastics ingested by sea snails in the deep arctic are fibers shed from yoga pants. That. I read it again. A mollusk minding its own business in the depths of the remote arctic, far away, and probably in a site much more peaceful than that of my New York City apartment, is unintentionally consuming threads shed from Lululemons.
That was the first exclamation point that lingered in the back of my conscience as I read The Sound of the Sea, Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans by Cynthia Barnett.
The second came 200 pages later. “Pacific oysters in the northwestern United States have been found with an average of eleven bits of microplastic each — mostly micro-threads that shed from yoga pants and fleece jackets in the wash.” That was the straw (no plastic pun intended) that broke the camel’s back.
I spent years as a trainer and yoga instructor and a great deal of my life involved in athletic endeavors. I thought about all the performance-friendly fabrics that came my way over the years that successfully pulled sweat away from my skin. I thought about the fit-fluencers of social media with their butt-lifting leggings, smoothies in hand, with zero clue that their sponsored outfit probably choked an oyster to death somewhere.
Some might think — who cares? Are oysters really animals? Seashell-inhabiting beings don’t even have central nervous systems. But if they are consuming microplastics, then whatever eats them consumes microplastics and this pattern moves up the chain until we consume microplastics. Everything is cyclical. Everything comes back.
Eco-conscious activewear is consistently on the rise, but what makes it eco-conscious? Is it actually helping the environment in some way or at least not killing unassuming, soft-bodied animals?
“Well, if we get-holier-than-thou about it,” Great Eagan tells us in Wear No Evil, A Guide to Sustainable Fashion, “eco-fashion has been here since the beginning. And even though it feels snobby to say such a thing, that is the truth. The way clothing production started was very sustainable. It started at the hands of skilled men and women who devoted their lives to their craft — reusing materials, patching pieces, dyeing with natural pigments they found in the fruit, vegetation, and soil around them, and carefully tailoring the fit and passing items down.”
Then, in short, the industrial revolution and many of the make-fast chemical processes that came with it, contributed to the tons and tons of clothing waste that don’t degrade every year.
During one early morning Spanish lesson, I attempted to find the correct vocabulary to describe this issue of environmentally-friendly clothing with my teacher, who I knew worked in fashion before.
I understood that she left the industry, one reason being that what was advertised was not what was happening behind the scenes. The clothing was labeled sustainable “pero no era asi!”
I am at a point in my life when I want my dollars going toward what I think they are. If something is labeled “eco-friendly” or “not harmful to the environment.” I want that to be true and I don’t want to have to be an expert to figure out what that means. I’m already doing some heavy lifting in the face of convenience. Yes, I have my own reusable shopping bag. I carry my own coffee cup and ask the barista to fill it. I have punctuated drink orders with “no straw”, which usually still doesn’t happen. I’m tired. I don’t want my sports bra to give a clam an ulcer. Just give me something environmentally friendly, affordable, and of course, suited to the purpose.
Perhaps it seems more difficult to make concessions about activewear and performance related clothing. They need to be high quality and most importantly, they need to get the job done. Wicking, (pulling away moisture from the body), is an important function, as is the ability to stay in place, not ride up or cause distraction.
It is, maybe, not a surprise that the mollusks across the planet are eating yoga pants specifically, since polyester and synthetic fabrics are typical for sportswear. And this is why, activewear is commonly upcycled or recycled “and the tag often boasts how many bottles the item has ‘rescued.’, Kate Black mentions in Manifeco, Your Head-to-Toe Guide to Ethical Fashion and Non-toxic Beauty.
Recycled polyester or “RPET” has more become the norm in athletic clothing. Nike has its Move to Zero effort, Adidas calls their movement End Plastic Waste and Lululemon, the poster child for chic yoga pants, lists Be Planet, their friendlier approach to manufacturing, in their yearly Impact Summary.
The Honest Consumer, an online guide to sustainable and ethical living tips us off, “Using recycled instead of virgin polyester reduces our dependency on fossil fuels, requires less energy, and produces fewer carbon emissions. By using plastic bottles, fishing nets, and textile waste to make RPET, waste is diverted from oceans and landfills.”
Gazing into my closet, a microplastic-y sea of black leggings, I wonder if recycled polyester sheds as much microplastic as if it were brand new. It seems that while it is good to continue using what we’ve already made, one problem is momentarily diverted while another pervades. If it is now recycled polyester micro threads that are ending up at the bottom of the ocean, and mollusks and other marine life are still absorbing them, then we still have the same issue.
“Recycled polyester still releases microplastic, no more or less than virgin polyester does.” The Honest Consumer tells us. But there are ways we can reduce the amount floating out into the oceanic ether.
“Only do laundry when you need to,” they suggest. “Wash laundry at lower temperatures, as this releases fewer microfibers.” And this one I had never heard of but am putting on my immediate shopping list, “Buy a washing bag that filters microfibers, purchase a CORA ball, or install a microfiber filter that does the same job.”
The description for CORA ball, the microfiber collector to throw in with your laundry, notes in its description, “It’s [even] estimated that NYC alone has 6.8 BILLION microfibers flowing into its harbor each day.” That sounds like a lot, so I searched for more information about it and discovered that PBS reported in 2017 that 300 million microfibers were flowing from the Hudson River into the Atlantic daily. A lot indeed.
The Guppybag, a washing bag that reduces evil by collecting micro threads while you wash your clothes, notes that microfibers collected in the bag from laundry should be disposed of with the residual waste. “It is best to collect and dispose of the collected fibers in a closed container. This reduces the chance of the small and very light synthetic fibers being blown away during waste collection and ending up in the environment.”
So, activewear or any wear that is made from synthetic material, polyester or recycled polyester needs to be managed really well. What are the natural fabric options for active folks who don’t want shell-dwelling organisms to eat their choices? After all, I am most of the time, giving in to a mainstay of NYC culture — drop off laundry. Even if I bring a microfiber filtering bag, I can’t be certain they would use it.
Blue Associate Sportswear, a company that creates customized activewear among other products for their “eco-conscious clients looking to produce recycled polyester or sustainable sportswear” informs us of some eco-friendlier fabric options, with cotton, bamboo and hemp as top natural alternatives.
A renewable resource, natural fibers are, at best, “carbon neutral; processing can lead to high levels of water pollutants, but they consist mostly of biodegradable compounds… at the end of their life cycle, natural fibers are 100 percent biodegradable,” I recall reading in Magnifeco.
It seems easy enough to find activewear made of these options given how many “top 10 eco-friendly activewear” listcles a simple Google search pulls up. I investigate the top choices.
Bamboo
Bamboo has a sordid reputation due to its energy guzzling properties during manufacturing, but it has made its way into the world of sustainable activewear. Naturally moisture wicking and odor resistant, it’s an ideal player in this space.
The authors of Sustainable Fashion, Past, Present and Future share with us, “its method of production is commonly adapted from rayon,” a process that is “especially polluting, chemical laden and energy intensive.” This is the unfortunate truth of us trying to do the best we can. There’s a plot twist at every junction. I let out an annoyed sigh.
“Mold and bacteria do not easily affect bamboo,” they, thankfully, continue. In spite of manufacturing issues, it remains “a highly regenerative fiber with many ecological benefits.”
This is consoling, at least for the moment.
Hemp
It doesn’t take long to learn that hemp is touted as moisture wicking, protectant against harmful UV rays from the sun, and antimicrobial. The hemp clothing company Asatre lists these among hemp’s top qualities as do many other eco-friendly fashion sources and hemp-based businesses.
It “offers a multitude of ecological advantages,” Sustainble Fashion reads. It uses far less water than cotton and “can thrive on land that has been polluted with heavy metals.”
It is also often noted, that it once had a reputation as being for hippies and those living an “alternative” lifestyle but that has changed. It has joined the ranks of those worthy enough to sport a model, who probably doesn’t actually work out, feigning sweat removal from her brow in a luxury setting.
Cotton
Cotton does get a bad rap for how much water is required to harvest it and “has long been both a celebrated and vilified crop,” the author of Wear No Evil so eloquently puts it. This topic really puts me down an exhausting rabbit hole and I feel like I need a nap after confronting all the information and controversy about it, ethics and whether or not 100% organic cotton is actually just that. What it is, is a very breathable fabric though not always a top choice for super intense activities since the wicking properties aren’t as strong as other textiles. It is gentle on the skin and, at the end of the day, when organically produced, will not show up in the fossils of marine organisms long after the last tidal wave takes the planet out.
There are a multitude of options and further textiles to consider when choosing sportwear but during this decision to overhaul how I purchase activewear, I’ve come to affirm the old adage, knowledge is power. People walking the streets of major cities might not have a first-hand connection of seeing how our cute yoga leggings purchases affect our oceans and planet. I can tell you as a New York City resident, there’s no one with their mind further away from it than that of someone crammed into a subway car, trying to grab a coffee on the way to work or holding their nose when walking past the smell of hot garbage while they run errands.
We create demand with our purchases and it’s unfortunate that we have to do the digging in order to learn what’s what. But once we know, we can purchase from a more informed place. We need to shift the guilt from us, the unknowing person who just discovered that microfibers from our leggings (that should be representative of a healthy lifestyle btw), are floating, literally around the world and slipping under the shells of scallops and into the stomachs of marine life. Manufacturers should take on the guilt for not providing sustainable, convenient options and reform the entire industry.
Sticking to natural textiles and treating recycled fabrics as what they are- made to last, when choosing gym clothes, is a big step in the eco-friendly closet of an active lifestyle. With this, hopefully, there will be less yoga pants showing up in mussel tissue (I couldn’t resist) across the ocean.
