A pair of Jeans needs nearly 4000 liters of water, from the production of the cotton to the delivery of the final product to the store...
Below are statistics, published by the UNEP and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, to give us an idea of environmental cost for everything else in our wardrobes:
Instead of letting the above staggering statistics, weigh down and crush our Green Hearts, here's what we as Consumers can do:
First and foremost, buy only what you need; avoid impulsive purchases. If purchasing clothes online, give that cart a few days before checking it out.
Choose Quality over Quantity; cheap clothing often doesn't survive the wash cycle. With fast fashion and availability of cheap and rather poor quality clothing, clothing has almost become another disposable item
Consider environmental sustainability of clothing; choose natural fibers like hemp, cotton, linen, wool, bamboo and avoid or at least minimize usage of fabrics made entirely of polyester, nylon, acylic. Though fabrics like polyester can be made from recycled plastic bottles, may lower the use of virgin materials and divert some plastics out of landfills, it is not a sustainable textile and it could still contribute to microplastic pollution.
Repair and reuse clothing; repurpose clothing when they could not be mended. This can assure they stay out of landfill. Several creative ways to upcycle and repurpose clothing exists. For instance, making grocery bag out of an old T-shirt, create duvet covers using some of your old favorite pieces of clothing or simply use worn out clothing as kitchen towels /rags
Donate unwanted clothing; most clothing in decent shape could be resold at thrift stores within a limited time frame of a few weeks after which unsold clothing gets sold to textile recyclers; they would then be recycled and be used to make carpet padding, insulation, etc except for unclean, wet, mildewed clothing that is likely to end up in landfills.
Composting fabrics can also prevent unnecessarily taking up space in landfills but it should be your last resort; and it also comes with one big caveat. You need to be very selective when it comes to composting fabrics. Only natural fabrics such as hemp, cotton, wool, linen, silk, bamboo, preferably free from dyes, should be shredded then be composted. Synthetic materials should never be composted. Also be certain to remove clothing tags, buttons and zippers before composting
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