Clothing

Introduction

Clothing drives significant ecological impact including water pollution, air pollution, and even slavery.

Clothing and fashion in general are a huge burden on the planet, from the fossil fuels used to create synthetic fibers like polyester and nylon, to the fuels used to grow natural fibers, not to mention processing, shipping, packaging and the pollutants dumped into rivers by factories.

The industry produces more emissions than all flights and maritime emissions combined!

Before factories were invented, most people only had a handful of clothes, including underwear, a coat, work clothes, and if lucky a set of Sunday best or special occasion clothing. These clothes were durable so they could last many years, or even decades. It was normal for clothes to be mended over and over with darning, patching, and other techniques. In the 50's and earlier, it was common for people to only buy new clothing a few times a year.

These days the average piece of clothing is only worn 7-10 times before being thrown away, with Americans buying an average of one piece of clothing per week each. The quality has dropped significantly in the last 15 years, since they are so cheap they often break within the first few wears, while others are discarded due to poor fit, which has led to an approximate doubling of clothing consumption.

As clothing becomes cheaper, fashion companies are lowering the quality and effort they put into making decent clothing in an attempt to boost income via encouraging people to buy far more clothing than any of us actually need.

Order of Topics

This page lists actions to focus on in an order that should help maximize your impact. 


By refusing to overconsume clothing in the first place, we can male a faster, greater, and long-term impact, while end-of-life choices such as upcycling and recycling may have a much smaller ecological impact, and are only applicable as the clothing eventually gives out. 


End of life choices can also be further limited by your access to the necessary tools and skills, or local recycling drop off locations and recycling facilities.


Underneath these we have resources such as Organizations and Grants which focus on helping people, communities, and organizations help reduce the impact of the fast fashion industry, or even help support alternatives such as "cottage industry".

Refuse

Certain textiles especially cause massive ecological harm as well as harm to the workers who produce those textiles. We can maximize our impacts by avoiding the worst textiles as far as ecological and ethical impacts.

Synthetics


Polyester and other Plastic-Based textiles require petroleum and help support the fossil fuel industries. Even worse is that the microplastics that are shed every time those clothes are laundered end up washing out to our oceans where they line beaches and enter the food chain.


Leather


Leather not only uses an incredible amount of resources to produce, often requiring multiple animal hides to make a single product, but the tanning process requires dangerous chemicals and work conditions which harm the adults and children who often don't have safety equipment or proper medical care -https://www.trustedclothes.com/blog/2016/02/23/24811/


Wool

Demand for wool has helped spur deforestation in places such as the UK which once had lush forests (including rain forests), but now only has small pockets of trees which are still under attack from sheep. Countries like Mongolia are witnessing their once-lush grasslands turn to desert under the heavy grazing of the wool industry.

To make matters worse, there are a variety of welfare concerns such as mulesing (NSFW!) which are done without vet supervision, without pain relief, and without proper medical after care. Then there are the ecological issues from sheep dip which contains a mixture of toxic chemicals, not only endangering sheep and their handlers, but also the soil and water effecting people and wildlife nearby and downriver.

Leather


Leather not only uses an incredible amount of resources to produce, often requiring multiple animal hides to make a single product, but the tanning process requires dangerous chemicals and work conditions which harm the adults and children who often don't have safety equipment or proper medical care -https://www.trustedclothes.com/blog/2016/02/23/24811/


Wool

Demand for wool has helped spur deforestation in places such as the UK which once had lush forests (including rain forests), but now only has small pockets of trees which are still under attack from sheep. Countries like Mongolia are witnessing their once-lush grasslands turn to desert under the heavy grazing of the wool industry.

To make matters worse, there are a variety of welfare concerns such as mulesing (NSFW!) which are done without vet supervision, without pain relief, and without proper medical after care. Then there are the ecological issues from sheep dip which contains a mixture of toxic chemicals, not only endangering sheep and their handlers, but also the soil and water effecting people and wildlife nearby and downriver.

Reduce

By practicing minimalism tricks such as shopping less and creating our own custom "capsule closets" from things we already own we can save money, save space, and always feel like we have "something to wear" with little to no effort. By buying less often, we save enough to buy quality pieces that we know will coordinate well with the rest of our clothing. Another benefit is that we end up with less laundry, only washing clothes when we need to, and in manageable amounts instead of accidentally creating overwhelming mountains of clothes that go unworn and often forgotten about. Instead of many clothing you only sorta like, you have the joy and confidence of constantly wearing your favorite, and most comfortable clothing.

Unsubscribe

If you frequently get any type of subscription box, junk mail, coupons, these will just encourage you to buy things you otherwise wouldn't have even known existed. These are all sneaky methods companies use to keep people buying long after they have "enough".


Email

Most emails now come with an "Unsubscribe" button, usually near the bottom. These let you reduce your junkmail flow very quickly. You can also search for the company name in your mailbox, and select all to delete all the old adverts too, which will reduce the clutter in your mailbox, making it easier to find the genuinely important things you receive.

Post/Mail

Check out our Deforestation page to learn about the different ways you can slow or even end the amount of junk mail trying to sell you things you don't need. You may also be able to write the company a letter, email, or fill out a form on their website to end the junk mail. Some offer a phone number so you can talk to someone about being taken off their mailing list.

Capsule Closet

Capsule closets can be any style from goth or punk to business casual or cottage core. Once you get used to the idea, you can help others including children and your shopaholic friends or relatives learn these useful tricks and confidently use them in their own lives.

If you whittle your closet down enough to just things you genuinely like/wear/use, then it gets a lot easier to remember what you already have, and therefore easier to avoid buying items that don't fit with the rest of your style.

Creating a capsule closet with base colours (black bottoms/skirts can go with pretty much anything, but other colours like navy blue, brown, grey, khaki can also be good starting points). You can start with one base colour, or build capsule closets around 2-3 of these colours to create interchangeable outfits.

When you're working with just 1-2 major colour pallets, it's a million times easier to ensure anything new you might buy in the future will go well with pretty much anything else you already have.

Try Before You Buy!

This might sound simple, but I used to get rushed by my mum into grabbing some clothes off the rack without trying them on. Over and over again I'd go home only to realize that they didn't fit right, making me feel terrible about my body. Those clothes would either continue to make me look horrible, or I'd never wear them again, which also created a sense of guilt, because we almost never took the time to return those items. These days I live by a personal rule to always try clothes on if possible, and only buy them if I feel confident, comfortable, and attractive (or neutral if I'm in a pinch or don't want to stand out) in the clothing. This has saved me a ton of money, and prevented me from refilling my clothing collection with pieces that make me feel bad about myself.

Try WITH Capsule Clothing

If you are working on building up a capsule closet (and still have clothing that don't fit in with the capsule), assess which pieces will be your core clothing and wear them when you go shopping to ensure whatever you are adding will fit your new collection. 

Doing this helps ensure that your new sweater, jacket, coat, etc. will match the style and fit into the colour scheme of the long-term items you plant to build your closet around.

Reuse

One of the best ways to reduce the impact of our clothing is to take care of them so we can use them as many times as possible. You can work out how much value you get out of your clothes by dividing the price, by the number of times you wear it. Similarly the impact can be calculated by the emissions and resources that went into growing/producing, shipping, and packaging, divided by the times you wear each item. The impact of an item that is worn once and thrown away is significantly higher than something you wear often and for many years.


Proper Cleaning & Care

Follow the instructions on your clothing to help them last as long as possible. If possible, wash on cold, and line or rack dry to avoid additional wear on the clothing as well as harmful emissions. Many clothes labeled as hand wash only or dry clean only can in fact be washed in a washing machine, but they'll last longer if put on the gentle cycle, with cold water and other precautions like turning items inside out, or making sure you don't have rough surfaces like sequins in the same wash as delicate lace.

Long-Lasting Products

Costumes & Special Outfits

These can be expensive and are often made from less-sustainable materials. Plan ahead when investing in expensive costumes. For example you might want to build up over time with pieces that mix and match if you often go to festivals, dances, conventions or fairs.

Capsule Closet Method

To reduce our impact we can use the capsule closet tricks of only owning 1-2 special outfits which we rotate between special occasions. This can work especially well with any custom made pieces, and with something simple like dress pants or a black dress, you can easily mix and match with different tops, shoes, belts, and even jewelry to shake up your look each time.

Rent-to-Wear

I tend to pick up my fancier clothes from thrift shops, but you can also rent expensive pieces like tuxedos, dresses, and fancy costumes, which will massively reduce your ecological impact, and save you the stress of storing expensive or bulky clothing long-term.

Repair

Repairing clothes can add years or even decades to the lifespan of a piece of clothing. Not only does repairing help keep our things our of landfills, but when our things last longer, we can avoid new purchases for longer. Repairing, and re-dyeing our things can hep save us money, even if we choose to outsource the labor to local businesses like tailors and cobblers.

DIY Repair

Many repairs can easily be done at home such as replacing a lost or broken button. DIY repair also gives you the flexibility to try and make the piece look like new, or you can be artistic and turn an old moth hole into an excuse to decorate your clothing.

Darning

Darning knitted items like socks can actually strengthen those clothing articles. You have the choice between matching the original color or having fun with new splashes of color.

Dye

Sometimes our clothing fades in places or all over. If you want to make your clothing look fresh and new, or maybe the bright/garish colour doesn't suit your style, you can use synthetic or natural dyes to upgrade your clothing. If you want to get creative, try only dipping certain parts like the bottom of a dress or top, plus the bottom of the sleaves. You can also tie the piece in creative ways before dying for interesting effects and patterns.

Lost or Broken Buttons

Many shirts come with an extra button or even a packet of them hidden inside the clothing when you buy it. If you run out of buttons, you can also buy some new, and save the old buttons for future repair jobs. 

Patches

Simple options like ready-made or DIY patches can be ironed and sewn on. These can be plain and boring, or you can search your local craft shop for iron on decals which can give you all kinds of fun or fancy looks.


Sashiko

This Japanese needlework method is not only beautiful, but it strengthens the cloth it is done on. Best of all, you don't need a needlework hoop to work, like you do for European-style needlework.


Visible Mending vs Invisible Mending

Communities like r/Visiblemending  and r/sashiko are not only full of inspiring examples of at-home repair, but the communities there are always happy to give suggestions and share techniques.

Outsource

There's zero shame in paying someone else to repair your clothing if you don't have the skills, time, tools or other resources to do the work yourself.

Support your Cobbler

Are you boots or shoes starting to fall apart or even squeak? If you can't repair them yourself, search your local area for a cobbler, who has all the special equipment, supplies, and training to make your favorite footwear look and feel like brand new!

Support your Tailor

Tailors can help make badly fitting clothes look like they were specially made for you. This can include shortening extra long legs or sleeves, bringing in the waistline after you lose weight, and much more. If your clothes are damaged, a tailor or drycleaner can often fix your clothing in shop, or can help connect you with someone who specializes in repair work.

Donate

If possible, donating can give textiles a second chance at life, but damaged clothes and over supply of donations vs. lower consumption rates/higher manufacturing rates, means that many charities end up throwing away large amounts of what we donate. Only donate things if they are in good enough condition that you would be willing to buy the item yourself, otherwise the next best option is to recycle.

Upcycle

Upcycling uses less energy and less resources that breaking down products to be fully re-cycled. Dad's old shirt can become anything from a cleaning rag to a throw pillow, baby clothing, dog coat, or a new stuffed toy. An old curtain can become a prom dress or reusable shopping bags. Mum's stained or torn dress can be used to make reusable period pads, or a smaller set of clothing for a smaller family member. 


Dress Up

Some of my favorite dress-up clothes as a kid were "fancy" hand-me-downs like old night dresses and scarves/shawls that have since served my siblings and cousins for many an imaginary adventure or tea party.

Recycle

This may be the hardest step listed, since we throw away such large percentages of items like clothing, rugs, and furniture, but very few systems exist to handle textile recycling. In fact, since COVID began, many recycling drop offs have closed with no plans to open in the foreseeable future. 

To anyone wondering what kind of business they should start to help the environment, please be aware that this would provide jobs, reduce pressure on our landfills, save resources, AND fill a desperately needed niche that is necessary for a truly circular economy.

Clothes & Textiles

Click the Clothing button to learn more about specific types of materials, understanding what makes clothing "quality" vs just badly-made fast fashion, and more!

Sustainable Materials & Brands

Quality

Impact of Poor Quality Clothes

Quality in important because it effects the longevity of  clothes, forcing you to buy clothes more often as clothing companies allow quality to steadily decline. By using/buying/making less clothes, but with better quality, consumers can save money while reducing the amount of resources consumed, emissions created, and landfill space used.

Identifying Good vs Poor Design

Buttons

Buttons can be made of many things which are generally as sturdy as any other. The critical point of failure is generally in the thread that fastens it to the apparel. Make sure that the buttons press against the fabric they are sewn to, and that the threads are fairly tight. As soon as even 1-3 threads start to peel away and come loose, the thread will continue to unravel until the button is pulled off.

Poppers/Snaps/Grommets

These are generally pretty reliable, but you can check around the edges to make sure the fabric these have been punched through or sewn onto are properly attached all the way around. If a tooth or small section is loose, then it will cause structural damage over time.

Seams

Clothes used to be sew by hand, then sewing machines which could sew many types of stitches much faster than anyone could by hand. Using a sewing machine gives a seamstress a lot of control over how far the stitches are from the edge of the seam. 

Now modern companies have moved towards using a new machine called a serge, which cuts seams at the same time as sewing them. The problem with this is that the cut is right at the edge of the area that is sewn, which might look prettier than sewing further away, and is thought to save the company some millimeters of fabric, however it appears to be the primary source of seam failure since this method of clothe manufacturing became popular. 

This isn't based on solid statistics, but years of dress making with other methods and having the serge/factory-made clothes give out in the seams at a noticeably higher rate. Click here or the link to the right to see some examples of a surged seam vs a better alternative.

Zippers

Always pick metal over plastic zippers. Check that the fabric either side of the zipper isn't too baggy which can get it caught, and jam up the zipper, potentially ruining the garment.

Guide for Non-Native Speakers

Some of the words here are switched around to make the page more engaging for native speakers. The following info might be helpful if you are not familiar with these words.

Clothing = garments = apparel

Textiles can include the above terms for clothing, but can also include curtains, pillows, carpets, and wall art.

Poppers (UK English) = Snaps (USA English)

Grommets are round pieces of metal that are punched through a piece of fabric for decoration or to protect the fabric from strings. You can see them on shoes with laces, some bags, some backpacks, on the neck of hoodies and on some coats.

Eco-Friendly Clothing Companies

Europe

Sweden