Sustainability in the global fashion industry
Ethical fashion is a way of making and wearing clothes that looks at how we treat people and the planet. It moves away from the "fast fashion" model, where clothes are made quickly and thrown away just as fast. Instead, it focuses on quality, fair pay, and reducing the harm done to our air, water, and soil.
Raw materials and land use
Most of our clothes start in a field or a lab. [https://www.worldwildlife.org/our-work/food/sustainable-agriculture/cotton/#:~:text=Diversion%20of%20water%20and%20its,Asia%2C%20the%20Indus%20Delta%20in Cotton is one of the most common fabrics], but growing it often uses a lot of water and pesticides. About 2,700 liters of water are needed to make just one cotton t-shirt 1. Ethical fashion often swaps this for organic cotton or hemp, which grow with less help from chemicals.
Synthetic fibers [https://goonveanfibres.com/news-insights/news/the-pros-cons-of-polyester/#:~:text=Polyester%20is%20a%20synthetic%20fibre%20made%20from%20plastic%2C%20meaning%20it,more%20prone%20to%20static%20and like polyester] are actually types of plastic made from oil. When we wash these clothes, they shed tiny bits of plastic called microfibers. These travel from our washing machines into rivers and oceans, where fish and other animals eat them.
Water and chemicals
The clothing industry is the second-largest consumer of water globally. Dyeing fabrics is a heavy part of this. In many places, the leftover colorful water is poured straight into local rivers. This can turn water toxic for the people and animals who live nearby. Ethical brands try to use "closed-loop" systems, where water is cleaned and used again instead of being dumped.
Waste and the "circular" idea
Right now, the world produces about 100 billion garments every year. A huge amount of this ends up in landfills or is burned. We can change this by thinking "circular." This means designing clothes to last a long time, making them easy to repair, and eventually recycling the fibers into new yarn.
What we can do
We have the power to shift how this works. By choosing better materials and buying fewer, higher-quality items, we reduce the pressure on our environment. Supporting brands that are open about where their clothes come from helps build a system that respects both the workers and the Earth.
References
https://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam-in-action/oxfam-blog/ethical-fashion-charity-shop-clothes/
https://www.worldwildlife.org/our-work/food/sustainable-agriculture/cotton/#:~:text=Diversion%20of%20water%20and%20its,Asia%2C%20the%20Indus%20Delta%20in
https://goonveanfibres.com/news-insights/news/the-pros-cons-of-polyester/#:~:text=Polyester%20is%20a%20synthetic%20fibre%20made%20from%20plastic%2C%20meaning%20it,more%20prone%20to%20static%20and
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200710-why-clothes-are-so-hard-to-recycle