Water Pollution

Up to 3.500 Chemical Substances

Are used to turn raw materials into textiles.
Approximately 10% of these are hazardous to human health or the environment.
-
{`via Greenpeace Detox Campaign`}

including

Formaldehyde, chlorine, lead, and mercury are used in textile processing.
Of these, over 1,600 are used in dyeing processes, but only 16 are actually EPA-approved.
The leakage of sewage from dye houses can contain:
heavy metals, alkali salts, toxic solids, and harmful pigments.
About 40% of colorants used around the world contain organically bound chlorine.
A known carcinogen, it can cause cancer like tobacco, asbestos and DDT.

Synthetic Fibers

Clothing and accessories industry is the second largest and most damaging industry when it comes to putting plastic in the ocean.
...
Synthetic clothes are made with plastic and when you wash synthetics they shed small plastic pieces called:
...
M I C R O F I B E R S
...
Microfibers are too small to be filtered out by waste treatment plants, so they end up in our waterways and oceans by the billions.
Once in the ocean, they act as pollution magnets that marine animals mistake for food.
It is estimated that 100.000 animals die for water pollution.

Common synthetic fabrics include:

Polyester, Rayon, Spandex, Modal, Nylon, Lurex..

{`via Wikipedia`}

Water Abuse

Textile production it’s the third largest discharger of waste water in China, and the second largest consumer of chemicals. (https://www.nrdc.org/media/2015/150414)
We all know that the world is facing extreme freshwater scarcity - in fact over a billion people don’t have access to safe water.

Intensive Consumption

..
Manufacturing textiles is extremely water intensive. For example, producing one pair of denim jeans uses over 1,000 gallons of water. This amounts to over 450 billion gallons of water every year just to make the jeans sold in the US. According to the last report, the global fashion industry consumed 79 billion cubic meters of water, which is an enormous amount, more than electricity production, and is threatened by water shortages in cotton-growing countries.

CO2 - Emission

Production processes emit CO2 and other greenhouse gases which pollute our atmosphere and contribute to climate change. For example, cotton, leather and other raw materials grown in industrial farming operations create huge energy footprints. Also, polyester, nylon, and other petroleum-based materials emit harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas almost 300 times more potent than CO2. Nearly half of the ready-to-wear products Americans buy are manufactured in China, where the textile industry emits 3 billion tons of soot each year, greatly impacting both human and environmental health.

Air Polluting

The fashion industry is responsible for the emission of 1,715 million tons of CO2.
(https://www.copenhagenfashionsummit.com/pulse/)
One of the largest consumers of water.
Making fabric uses water, energy, chemicals, and other resources
that most people don’t think about, or ever see.
We think knowledge is power, so we talk about resource use,
climate change, and other impacts of fashion.

Solid Waste/Year: 92 Milion Tons

Fashion industry is responsible for 92 million tons of solid waste per year globally.
That is more than toxic and waste, than twice as much as supermarkets toss in food waste. Much of it comes from the cut-and-sew process.

Recycled fibers

Over 99% of the clothing thrown away in the US can be recycled or reused.
Sadly more than 85% ends up in landfills.

S O U R C E S

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