Anella
Personal Project Plan
My personal challenge will be related to not buy any new clothes or textiles. As part of this project I will also make a full outfit (at least a jacket and pants) that are made out of all recycled materials, including fabric, buttons, and zippers. I will also make it a goal not to use textiles that are still reusable in their current state. For example, I would prefer to cut up a stained blanket vs. a pair of jeans in good condition.
My main goal for these items of clothing will be to make them high quality, durable, and something fitting my personal style so I will actually wear it; even when using second hand fabric, a piece of clothing that sits in the back of a closet isn’t really an effective use of materials.
I will also estimate the weight of textiles that I bought in the last several months as a baseline measurement. If I do end up ‘breaking’ my goal and consuming any brand new textiles, I will record this weight or volume.
To accomplish this goal I will need sewing supplies and the right type of textile for the clothing I am trying to make. It may be difficult to find notions (things like snaps, zippers, buttons, rivets, interfacing) without purchasing any non-recycled materials. I will most likely not be able to find used thread, unless I can find some at a thrift store. Instead I will likely use thread I already have whenever possible.
While this project will not generate any textile waste, it will most likely require a significant amount of going to different stores to find the right materials. I will try to keep track of my transportation distances and methods to understand the trade off between consumption and energy use.
Every week I will document my progress through images and a short description of what I am working on, the challenges I am having, and how those challenges may or may not be related to the limits I am placing on myself for this project. I will talk about how the quality of the garments is or is not being affected by the fact that I am only using recycled materials, and I will show any ways that those limitations push me in a different creative direction I otherwise wouldn’t have gone in.
Week 1: No New Shoes
During this first stage of my personal challenge, I did not buy any new textiles. However, I did make a clothing purchase; I needed a new pair of tennis shoes since I finally threw away my old ones in August. I had bought that pair lightly used, and they lasted me most of a year. Finally throwing them out was a picture-worthy occasion because I wore them almost every day at work over the summer and they were falling apart.
I went on ebay and looked through used tennis shoes in my size. I wanted to get something I knew I would wear again and again, so I won’t end up buying more pairs of shoes than I need. I settled on a pair that’s almost the same as my old ones, but a different color. The cost with shipping was about $28.24, which is much cheaper than a new pair for about $100. I like that they’re simple but with a little bit of detail. The gold stripes aren’t as fun as the holographic material but I was limited by the options on ebay.
As you can see, there are a few scuffs, but the actual construction of the shoes isn’t falling apart, so they should last almost as long as a new pair. They were also quite clean when I got them, this picture is after a few days of wear.
Even though these shoes themselves are not made of new materials, there is still an environmental impact. I want to estimate the CO2 footprint of having these shoes shipped. Using the formula from Sifted.com, the Carbon footprint of a shipment is the weight of the package times the distance traveled times the CO2 factor for that mode of transportation (CO2 produced per mile per pound). I can estimate the carbon footprint of each type of transportation and add them up to get a total trip estimate.
The package was sent from Orange, CA. I am estimating that it had to travel about 15 miles by car, since the nearest airport is 10 miles away if you drive directly.
I don’t know what airport my package arrived at, but for this estimation I will assume it arrived to the Dane County Regional Airport. As a direct flight, that’s a trip of 1665 miles.
Finally, the package had to travel about 5 miles from the airport to my apartment. It may have gone to the post office first, so I will assume that there were about 10 miles of driving distance in Madison.
This table summarizes my calculations. The CO2 transportation factor for Airplane is significantly higher than that of Truck, so clearly the most important determinant of the CO2 cost of shipping a package will be the number of air miles. I calculated the total CO2 emissions contribution of shipping this package to be 1.72 kg.
A 2013 study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimated the CO2 footprint of a new pair of running shoes. They found that a pair of shoes has a ‘cradle to grave’ footprint of about 30 lbs of CO2, or 13.6 kg. In this case, the impact of shipping a pair of used shoes from California was significantly less than the impact of buying new shoes, and they are in almost new condition!
There is one more major environmental consequence of ordering my shoes; the packaging that they were shipped in. I forgot to save the bag to take a picture, but they were in a bubble mailer similar to this. I threw this packing in the trash once I got the shoes. I’m assuming that there was also more associated packaging in the shipping process that I didn’t see. I still think that buying these shoes was overall less environmentally impactful than buying a new one. And I know that I will wear them until they fall apart!
My main take away from this week is that once you know your shoe size in a particular brand and style, you can easily buy the same ones, or something similar, online and used. There's nothing wrong with wearing the same thing for a long time, and keeping it simple; that's a good way to avoid over-consuming and over-spending!
So far, it has been pretty easy not to buy any new clothes, but I wonder if a situation will come up soon that poses more of a challenge. In the coming week I plan on starting my search for fabric to make some no-new-materials clothes that will actually form a long-term part of my wardrobe. I think my first stop will be dig n’ save, but I may have to go to other stores as well. Once I have fabric, I will share my more detailed clothes plans!
Sources from week 1:
“Carbon (CO2) Shipping Calculator.” Sifted, https://sifted.com/carbon-calculator/. Accessed 17 October 2022.
Chu, Jennifer. “Footwear's (carbon) footprint | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” MIT News, 22 May 2013, https://news.mit.edu/2013/footwear-carbon-footprint-0522. Accessed 17 October 2022.
Week 2: Diggin' and savin'
Today I went to find some fabric, with two main goals in mind:
1) Find fabric to make a pair of pants and jacket, and
2) Find a vest for my halloween costume; preferably black leather.
My go-to store to find cheap materials is St. Vinny's Dig N' Save on park street. As someone who sews and upcycles clothes, and doesn't have a car or want to spend a lot of money, Dig n' Save is a blessing to have so close by. But there is an issue with having access to such high volumes of clothes so cheap ($1.25 per pound to be exact), and that is that I tend to buy a higher volume of materials than I otherwise would. If I am on the fence about buying a certain item, I usually just think "why not?"
I made my trip to the store by bike, which means this week my transportation was carbon-free!
The pants
I started my search in the home goods section. These bins have things like blankets, sheets, towels, and tablecloths. I found a grey and white plaid comforter cover that is made of soft cotton that I thought would work well as a lining, pocket material, and for patchwork details on the outside.
The other thing I wanted to find for the pants was some denim. There are plenty of good quality pairs of jeans at the store, but I didn't want to just cut up a perfectly good pair that someone else could wear as-is.
This pair of jeans was childrens' size, and aside from being ripped, someone had done a pretty bad job of taking them in in the back.
This pair is made of good quality material, and it's adult sized so there's plenty of material to work with. As you can see, there's a pretty significant rip in the crotch. The good news about these is that the zipper should be long enough to reuse for my pants!
The Jacket (/shirt?)
I didn't have a very clear idea going in of what I wanted the jacket part of my outfit to look like. I found a grey fleece blanket that should make a good lining. I was hoping to find a sturdy canvas-type material so that I could make a work jacket, but nothing good caught my eye. I picked up this green flannel sheet, and decided that it could be a good outer material for a lined button-down shirt. I have something similar in denim and I wear it all the time. The fun part now will be deciding how to add details or incorporate other fabrics to make it something special.
The Halloween costume
The last thing I was looking for today was a black leather vest for my Halloween costume (Harley mom!). There were plenty of nice leather jackets there, but once again, I didn't want to take a jacket in good shape and make it into trash. I found this fake leather jacket that is starting to disintegrate in a few places, including the collar, shoulder, cuffs, and along the hem. I'm going to seam rip the sleeves off of the body, bind the armholes, and use the sleeve material to add some fringe to the front and back. If I have time, I might try to patch the fraying parts by laying another layer of fabric on top and stitching back and forth.
Here's a closer view of how the fabric is deteriorating.
It's always fun to see other peoples' handmade items at the thrift store, especially when those were made of upcycled materials.
Today I saw this beautiful hand knitted blanket...
This cute kids dress with applique apples on the front...
And this strange but adorable caterpillar toy. It looks to me like old sheets or napkins. The 2 parts even separate via a snap!
That's all for this week! In the next week I plan to start piecing together and cutting out my pants pieces using a pattern that I've had a good experience with in the past. Hopefully I can also start drafting a shirt pattern, which I will be basing off of some clothes I already own.
Week 3: Sewing update and the environmental impact and durability of different fabric types
Last week I bought a leather jacket with the intention of making it into a vest for my halloween costume. The fabric, which was a fairly cheap fake leather, was flaking off in bits. (While I was working on the jacket, my room was full of them!)
I started by seam ripping off the sleeves, then cutting about 2 inches off of the shoulder width. I shortened the bottom and bound the armholes with black cotton (leftover from making curtains for my sister) to cover the raw edges.
I covered the shoulders, which had the worst flaking, with denim scraps and did some horizontal quilting to make it look more intentional.
I also took out the zipper and resewed the front seams. This was just because I wanted to save the zipper!
This is the zipper I saved from the vest. It was a metal separating zipper with a nice heavy pull.
In my experience, a lot of heavy coats have cheap zippers, even if the coat is expensive and the rest of the material is nice. It's frustrating when a zipper is the first thing to give out on an otherwise perfectly good item of clothing.
These are the types of zipper you should look for. The left one is heavy plastic, and the right one is metal. They both have metal pulls.
This is the type of zipper you want to avoid. It has skinny plastic teeth.
You can also test the zipper by opening and closing it a few times. Does it slide easily and have some weight to it, or does it get stuck easily?
Is it easy to put the two zipper halves together at the bottom, or does it take a few tries? Do the areas where the zipper is attached to the coat seem strong, or could they rip if pulled a certain way?
If a coat passes these tests, it will probably last a long time and is a good purchase!
Working on the fake leather vest made me think about the durability and repair-ability of different materials.
I eventually decided that the fabric was deteriorating so much that it was really beyond repair. The only way to salvage this material would be to re-cover the whole outside of the jacket, and it isn't really worth it because the lining is also cheap and it doesn't seem very warm. As you can see in this photo, I did a quick patch job on some of the flakiest parts, but it's not realistic to do this to the whole jacket since it's falling apart in so many places.
I decided to look into the manufacturing process of synthetic leather. I found that they are usually made of a layer of fabric coated with either PVC (poly vinyl chloride) or PU (polyurethane) (castingpapers.com). Both of these are synthetic materials which are made from petroleum.
According to Vinny R. Sastri, in the 5th chapter of Plastics in Medical Devices (Third Edition), PVC does not have any known toxic effects, it is durable and has a range of uses. It can be processed into a heavy plastic, to make pipes for example, or it can form a thin flexible layer, which is the purpose it serves in synthetic leather. This layer is then pressed with a casting paper, which gives it a pattern similar to real leather. LINTEC is a manufacturer of casting papers. Their website has a wide variety of textures and sheens available, as you can see below.
I actually think that the casting paper-imprinted leather pattern was part of the reason the jacket was flaking; it was mostly coming apart along pattern grain lines.
image: LINTEC manufacturing
I generally like to work with natural fibers, because they can withstand a lot of stitching and repeated repairs without the fabric getting weaker. I also like that natural materials generally get better as they wear in; think worn in leather boots or a wool blanket that's been washed many times.
Synthetic materials are often at their strongest when they are brand new, and they wear out over time. Patching these materials can sometimes just cause more rips, because the stress of more needle holes and stitches actually weakens the fabric. Nylon and polyester can be an exception to this if they are a heavy weave similar to canvas.
Cotton makes a good fabric to repair again and again. There's a reason cotton has been used as a fabric for thousands of years; it has long, thin fibers that mesh with stitching and patches to create an even stronger fabric. Case in point, this pair of jeans that I've essentially made into an ongoing experiment to see how many times a piece of cotton denim can be patched.
Cotton is renewable, and it doesn't directly use petroleum in the material. According to Tariq Banuri's 1998 analysis of the cotton supply chain of Pakistan, the main steps in cotton manufacturing are as follows:
Cotton processing requires water and energy, primarily in the form of fossil fuels, but cotton's most significant environmental impact occurs in the growing stage.
Cotton is an incredibly intensive crop to grow and harvest. According to cottonmill.com, a cotton fabric manufacturer, cotton picking is now fully mechanizesd in the US. Cotton picking machines come in 2 main types, pickers and strippers.
I found the listings for these machines on the John Deere website. Strippers are more efficient in the harvest stage, but they pull the whole branch along with the cotton, which makes the processing stages more difficult. These are mainly used in Texas. Heavy agricultural machinery uses a significant amount of fuel. John Deere claims that these machines are 15-20% more fuel efficient than other similar machines, but it is not clear where this information comes from, and the source is not listed on the web page.
According to this sign by the Mississippi Blues Commission, the first fully mechanized harvest of Cotton in the U.S. was in 1944.
Cotton crops also require lots of water. Each cotton plant requires about 10 gallons of water throughout the growing season. According to a 2002 horticultural study by the University of Georgia, cotton yield is maximized (1539 lbs/acre) when the plants are irrigated between 3 and 6 weeks after the first flower. This treatment required an average of 6.31 inches of combined rainfall and irrigation.
image: ABC news
To conclude, synthetic and natural materials both have different but significant impacts on the environment. Both require energy in the manufacturing process. Synthetic materials are made directly from fossil fuels and are a non-renewable resource. Natural fibers require land, labor and water inputs. If I had more space I would be interested in going more in depth into the environmental impacts of leather and looking into some alternative natural fibers that require less water and land than cotton, such as hemp and bamboo.
Synthetic fabrics are useful for lots of things that natural materials are not as good for. Almost any spandex-type material is synthetic, as well as elastic, raincoats, coat insulation, swimsuits, blended t-shirts... the list goes on. Synthetic materials are the reason we can wear athletic clothes and stretchy jeans instead of the highly-fitted cotton garments that were common in the 1940s and earlier.
I think that for some clothing purposes, synthetic materials will never be as high-quality as natural materials. Natural materials can be more prone to mold and mildew, but when cared for, they look and feel better and better with time. No pair of synthetic shoes has lasted me more than a few years, but my leather boots have already been worn for decades and are still going strong. My favorite jeans are heavy denim that has grown soft. It is difficult to directly compare the environmental impact of two different materials, but a long-lasting garment has a lower footprint that something that needs to be replaced after a few years.
Sources from this week:
“About Castingpapers | CASTING PAPERS R-series.” Lintec, https://www.castingpapers.com/about/. Accessed 31 October 2022.
Banuri, Tariq. “Pakistan: Environmental Impact of Cotton Production and Trade.” Edited by Shahid Zia. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pk_Banuri.pdf. Accessed 30 10 2022.
Dattel, Eugene R. “Cotton in a Global Economy: Mississippi (1800-1860) - 2006-10.” Mississippi History Now, https://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/issue/cotton-in-a-global-economy-mississippi-1800-1860. Accessed 31 October 2022.
“How is cotton picked today?” Cotton Mill, https://www.cottonmill.com/how-is-cotton-picked-today/. Accessed 31 October 2022.
Mississippi Blues Commission. Cotton Pickin' Blues. Historical Marker. Mississippi, United States, http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qujGtayDb7g/UO3zEIP35SI/AAAAAAAACdM/fXHmm9GaDg4/s1600/029.JPG.
“What is Faux Leather?” Mitchell Faux Leather Upholstery Fabrics, 7 April 2014, https://mitchellfauxleathers.com/Default/ViewPoint/Read/faux-leather-viewpoint/2014/04/07/what-is-faux-leather. Accessed 31 October 2022.
Final Report
Introduction
My personal challenge was to avoid consuming any new textiles and minimize my consumption of clothing, new or used. The goal of this challenge was to understand the environmental impact of the fashion industry, as well as to decrease my personal contribution to the destruction of biodiversity through the water pollution, solid waste generation, and fossil fuel consumption associated with clothing production.
Methods
Since my personal challenge did not involve direct data collection, I found online resources to be helpful for estimating the carbon footprint and environmental impact of different clothing purchases. Carbon emissions are a measure of a product's contribution to global climate change, which is a major cause of biodiversity loss globally. Textile production also consumes a significant amount of water, and runoff from cotton fields contains pesticides and fertilizers that can harm biodiversity in the area of production (Baudron et al 2009). I used data from Luo et al 2022 to compare the CO2 and water footprints of a new pair of jeans to the estimated footprint of my production process. I used water in my steam iron and washing machine to prepare the fabric and press it as I sewed. I used electricity from my sewing machine, washer, iron and dryer.
According to the US Energy Information Administration (eia.gov), in Wisconsin, 1 mWh of electricity produces about 1188 pounds of CO2 emissions, or 538.9 kg. I used this factor to convert my electricity usage from home appliances into kilograms of CO2.
My sewing methods involved a wide range of tools which can be seen in figure 1. Not pictured are my ironing board and cutting mat, and the jeans zipper. Note that the large spool of thread and bag of rivets were purchased new, but I already had them before starting this challenge. (Not really relevant for this project but my watermelon pink Brother is from the 1950s and my most prized possession!)
Figure 1. Tools and materials used for garment sewing.
Results
Figure 2 summarizes my CO2 production and water use calculations. The difference in CO2 emissions between the industrial production of a pair of cotton jeans and my at-home production was not as large as I expected; however, the emissions associated with my electricity use over the course of washing, ironing and sewing were just one-ninth of the emissions associated with commercial production (figures 4 and 5), even after considering that the cotton growing process is a net carbon sink (Luo et al 2022).
Water use is drastically different between the two production methods, due almost entirely to the fact that cotton is a water-intensive crop, as discussed in my previous post. I used some water in my steam iron and top-loading commercial washing machine, but these only equate to about 1% of the water required to grow and process cotton for a pair of pants. Figure 3 compares water use between the two production methods.
Figure 2. Estimated Carbon emissions and water consumed by commercial production of one pair of jeans and my at-home production of a pair of pants.
Figure 3. Water required to produce a similar cotton garment with two different production methods. The water required to irrigate cotton crops is so great that the water used in clothing production with recycled cotton is almost invisible. Industrial production data from Luo et al. 2022. At-home water use estimated based on water used in steam iron and washing machine water use estimates from siliconvalleypower.net.
Figure 4. Sources of CO2 emissions in at-home clothing prodcution. Energy use estimates for each appliance were converted to CO2 emissions based on average CO2 intensity per mWh electricity in the state of Wisconsin (eia.gov).
Figure 5. Visual from Luo et al. 2022 breaking down the carbon footprint of each step of cotton jeans manufacturing. Note that the growing stage is carbon negative.
Sewing results
I was mostly successful in creating an item of clothing without using any new materials; I used only recycled textiles, along with the pants zipper and button, but I ended up using thread and rivets that were purchased new (not specifically for this project). I debated using recycled buttons instead of rivets, and secondhand thread, but one of my primary goals was to make a long-lasting garment, and both of these changes would have decreased the quality. Figures 5 and 6 show two steps in my sewing process. The left image shows the front pieces after attaching denim reinforcements. The middle image shows the completed fly front, with a zipper taken from one of the two pairs of jeans I recycled. The far right is a closer look at the finished pants, showing the fly front, button, drawstring and front details.
Figure 5. Front reinforcements after hip pockets, topstitching and rivet application, before sewing side seams.
Figure 6. Completed fly front, knee reinforcements, and front pockets before adding the waistband.
Figure 7. Front of the finished pants. Note the combination of two waistband closures; fly front and zipper, which is typical of jeans and structured pants, and a drawstring, which is typical of flowy pants. The combination accounts for the different materials used in the front, back and waistband. Buttonhole and drawstring holes are fully bound for sturdiness.
These are two more views of the finished pants. The left image shows the fit when I am wearing them. The right is a close-up of the side calf, showing the combination of materials used.
Discussion
While making these pants, I tried to let the materials I was working with guide my design. I think the reason that they turned out well is because I didn’t try to force the fabric to be anything it’s not. The recycled plaid comforter cover worked well for drapey parts and the soft waistband and drawstring made this fabric hang well. I used denim for parts of the pants that I wanted to have structure; the backs of the calves, knee patches, top front and pockets. On these parts I used traditional denim construction details; double topstitching, rivets, and a fly front zipper. The combination of flowy pants and jean details is something that I would not have thought to do if I weren’t working with these materials, and I was able to work out the finer points as I went. The visible seams and fading on the denim, as well as the well soft and drapey feel of the plaid material, are definitely not something I would be able to get from brand new materials.
This project required a considerable amount of time and materials, but the final product had a significantly lower environmental impact compared to a new pair of pants, both when considering water usage and carbon footprint. I was also able to create a unique design that took advantage of the qualities of the fabric that I had available to me.
Sources:
Appliance Energy Use Chart. (2022, January 4). Silicon Valley Power. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.siliconvalleypower.com/residents/save-energy/appliance-energy-use-chart
Baudron, F., Corbeels, M., Monicat, F., & Giller, K. E. (2009, June 5). Cotton expansion and biodiversity loss in African savannahs, opportunities and challenges for conservation agriculture: a review paper based on two case studies. Biodiversity and Conservation, 18, 2625-2644. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-009-9663-x
Chico, D., Aldaya, M. M., & Garrido, A. (2013, October 15). A water footprint assessment of a pair of jeans: the influence of agricultural policies on the sustainability of consumer products. Journal of Cleaner Production, 57. Elsevier. 10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.06.001
Electricity Usage Calculator For A Sewing Machine | How Many Watts Does A Sewing Machine Use? (n.d.). Joteo.net. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://joteo.net/electricity-usage-calculator/electricity-usage-of-a-sewing-machine
Luo, Y., Wu, X., & Ding, X. (2022, January 15). Carbon and water footprints assessment of cotton jeans using the method based on modularity: A full life cycle perspective. Journal of cleaner production, 332. Elsevier. 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.130042
State Electricity Profiles. (2021, November 4). EIA - State Electricity Profiles. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/wisconsin/
Concluding essay
Throughout the course of my personal challenge, I was able to avoid buying new textiles, and I created a durable and unique garment out of recycled materials, greatly reducing the environmental impact. However, this process took a significant amount of time, tools and knowledge that most people do not have. On a large scale, upcycling textiles and repairing clothing could impact supply chains and reduce harm to biodiversity caused by the fashion industry. The challenge is making sewing and upcycling accessible to a large number of people. After undertaking this personal challenge, this is something that I am interested in pursuing further.
Other students taking on a product-consumption related challenge chose to focus on reducing their personal plastic consumption. Emelia created eco-bricks by compressing her non-recyclable plastics into a bottle. Since this was a short challenge, she did not end up with many of these eco-bricks, but I would be interested to see what they could be used to build in a large number.
I found it interesting to follow Eren's project, because she also chose to address a threat to biodiversity by creating with recycled materials, specifically plastic bags. This made me think about the possibility of building social networks centered around reusing materials. After all, you don't have to have the time, knowledge and ability to reuse everything; just the ability to reuse something and connections to people who reuse different materials. For example, if Eren were to continue to crochet with plarn, I could give her my extra plastic bags and in return I could repair and recycle her old clothing. This is just one of many possible ways that materials and skills could be traded in a more sustainable world. These solutions do not have to end at a personal level; I believe that the future of sustainability will require skilled, hands-on labor to use the materials we already have to create needed items. I plan on looking for ways to teach others the sewing and repair skills that I have learned over the years.
I did not find my challenge especially difficult; in hindsight, it did not require a drastic change in the way I live my day-to-day life. I chose an issue that I already think about frequently, and something that I felt I have interesting things to say about. However, Sam, Grace and Emelia all took on challenges that greatly affected their lives, including grocery shopping and daily habits. Taking on plastic and styrofoam use would likely have been more of a wakeup call for me, and it's something that I am inspired to think more about after reading about their challenges. Individual actions can feel pointless when the issues we want to address are happening on such a large scale. Seeing the class undertake their own personal challenges has been encouraging, and I hope that concern for biodiversity and the environment can continue to spread through community.