The Life Cyce of a Garment
When we preach our motto #begreenbuyvintage, it’s because we want you to ask questions about your closet. “Who made this? What is it made from? How did it get to me?”
When we ask these questions about the things we buy, we are one step closer to building a beautiful wardrobe with intention, and at the same time we are building a fashion structure that is not harmful to humans and to the Earth. So, we want to walk you through what it really takes to make a garment. We believe education is key to making any kind of change we want to see in the world.
As you can imagine, this process gets ugly. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing to be done. We will also touch on all the ways you can help make the fashion world more sustainable.
Designing the Item
The environmental impact overall of a designer's work is minimal. But the designer of a garment chooses the fabrics and colors that it will be made of, and as we will get into at a later stage, this makes a significant impact on how the production process of a garment affects the environment. If the fashion designer is not intentional with their choices of product, there will be an environmental domino effect as the clothing comes to life.
Producing the Raw Materials
There are two main steps in the life cycle of a garment that make the heaviest impact on the environment, and this step is one of them. It affects the climate the most: Energy consumption from the production of synthetic fibers and industrial washing, and in addition, fuel consumption from shipping the materials to the necessary locations. This is often done in unfathomable quantities, especially in fast fashion industries.
This stage also affects the water from cultivating cotton which requires a ridiculous amount of water irrigation. Ecosystems are affected due to the pesticides required from so much cotton cultivation, and finally, tons of wastewater is produced from all the toxic chemicals from fabric dyeing and synthetic fiber production.
Making the Garment
Cut and sew factories are where the magic takes place in making the item of clothing and usually is the most labor-intensive step. It takes a lot of people to produce thousands of pounds of clothing at such a speed that is necessary for fast fashion companies, so the wage of factory workers is sometimes never disclosed to the buyer. On the environmental side, spinning natural fibers and producing synthetic ones take up incredible amounts of energy consumption. And the waste keeps piling up, as up to 15% of the fabric cut on the factory floor is wasted.
Shipping Your Clothes
When you think about the environmental impact of planes, trains, and automobiles, that is majorly increased in the fashion industry. Moving these garments from place to place and country to country uses a significant amount of carbon emissions.
Airfreight (moving items from [statistically] China to U.S. retail stores) is the main form of transportation for major fast fashion brands like Shein, DollsKill, Forever 21, and so many more. This is not even to touch on the amount of waste that is produced when each retail item is individually wrapped in non-compostable plastic.
Wearing and Washing
This is the second most impactful step. Studies show that 60-80% of the water and energy production that is experienced within a garment’s life is from the consumer washing their clothing over and over and over again.
The climate and water impacts come from washing and tumble drying, and in addition, wastewater is produced when synthetic fibers like polyester (the synthetic fabric most used in fast fashion brands) are washed. This is because little pieces of plastic tear away from the garment and go straight into our water supply.
Reusing and Disposing of Your Clothes
Although statistically the disposal of clothing has less of an environmental impact than other stages like the production and washing, it still makes a big difference. Especially when literally plastic clothes (polyester) end up in landfills and take decades to decompose, or when the apparel is incinerated and creates harmful fumes into the air. The best thing to do at this stage is keep the garment for as long as possible, and when you don’t want it, give it to someone you know will give it a good second life.
So, what can I do?
Based on studies, the top two ways the environment is impacted by the life cycle of a garment is when the raw materials are produced, and when the garment is cleaned. We would say shipping is up there as well. The best ways to move forward when you buy a new item of clothing is to buy it ethically; whether that be second hand or vintage, which is the easiest step, or we encourage you to do your research on a brand before purchasing. Where is it made? What are the materials used? How will this be shipped to me? Stuff like that.
The second thing to do is to clean your clothes less often, because as we said above, up to 80% of water waste during the life cycle is used when the consumer washes the apparel multiple times a week.
Where to Learn More
If you'd like to learn more, we’re excited to introduce you to Amanda of Clotheshorse podcast next week on the blog! Amanda’s podcast dives into all the issues in the fashion world. This post about the life cycle of a garment is just the tip of the iceberg, and Clotheshorse is the real thing beneath the surface. Check out Clotheshorse here, and be sure to keep an eye out for our one on one with Amanda next week!
