Ancillary 1: Sustainability in the textile industry, approached globally

An issue that can be solved globally is pollution, and specifically pollution created by the textile industry. Unsold clothing often ends up in landfills; meanwhile on other parts of the planet people cannot afford to buy clothes. Companies like Burberry will also burn leftover stock rather than sell clothing at reduced prices in order to upkeep brand image. There is a massive misallocation of resources and overproduction in textiles due to overconsumption in first-world areas. Companies like Fashion Nova, Shein, and Forever 21 are all guilty of furthering this unsustainable lifestyle — by providing cheap, low quality clothes, they force consumers to buy new clothing more often, and increasing the amount of clothing that’s thrown away. This overproduction leads to burning of unsold textiles in landfills. Even the way we wash our clothes can introduce microfibers into oceans, which poison ecosystems and negatively impact industries that depend on fish. Our atmosphere and oceans are shared with the rest of the globe; thus, this issue created by overproduction requires a global solution. For example, even if Japan cut down on it’s textile waste, the fish in the ocean that is needed for sashimi will still have microfibers from American overwashing low-quality synthetic fabrics.

The most important aspect to fix a global issue is collaboration and to set goals that are attainable by each country. Every country must come together and willingly agree that textile pollution is an issue they will put an effort into eliminating. Once group norms are set, we can work together to implement new logistics systems, worker protections, and manufacturing methods that can create more productive uses of otherwise waste material. Some countries will carry more responsibility than others — for instance, the United States has a culture that embraces fast fashion and seasonally cycling wardrobes. In order to cut down on the overproduction of resources, the United States would need to implement national policies that phase out the overconsumption of clothing. Meanwhile, countries that produce the clothing can also help by implementing more worker rights and setting higher standards for clothing. This way, clothing will be higher quality — and also we can limit child labor and miniscule wages that textile workers often get paid.