Overview of the environmental issues directly related to fashion and presenting of alternative, less environmentally damaging fabrics and new ways of thinking

1. SUSTAINABILITY
ISSUES IN THE
CONTEXT OF
FASHION
PRCA - Breakfast Briefing
Christian Smith

2. OUTLINE
 The State of Fashion
 Fashion and the Environment
 The way Forward

3. WE ONLY HAVE ONE…

4. THE STATE OF FASHION
 Global fashion and luxury sector generated revenues of $1.334.1
billion in 2008
 UK fashion industry directly contributed some £21billion to the UK
economy in 2009 and some £16billion through other industries
 In the UK, it employees nearly a million people and is the 15th
largest industry alongside food and beverages
 Between 2002 and 2006, there was an increase of 33% in the
amount of clothing bought

5. FAST FASHION
―…the culture of "fast fashion" encourages consumers to dispose of
clothes which have only been worn a few times in favour of
new, cheap garments which themselves will also go out of fashion
and be discarded within a matter of months.‖
(Select Committee on Science and Technology, 2008)

6. MORE VISITS, MORE SALES
 Topshop and Esprit now restocking their stores with new products
every four to six weeks
 Zara, new stock enters as often as twice a week while some
fashion houses may offer as many as 18 collections a year
 Inditex - Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oyosho, Uterqüe
and Zara Home

7. THE WASTE
 average person goes through
about 35kg of textiles a year,
most of which is clothing and
is thrown away within a year
of purchase
 in 2005 this resulted in 1.2
million tonnes of clothing
going to landfill

8. UNDER PRESSURE
 rise of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) from
mere producer and supplier countries
 rise in oil prices and unrest in the Middle East has made it more
problematic to transport goods around the world
 has also increased the price of oil based materials on which the industry has a
remarkable reliance beyond transportation costs
 polyester and nylon
 women‘s tights, zips, flip flops, fake fur and sneakers
 viscose is a plant based material made mainly from wood pulp but
the high water use combined with the emissions from the
chemical processes needed to dissolve the cellulose and create
the filaments make it an equally damaging material

9. A VERY THIRSTY INDUSTRY
 the textile industry is the third most water intensive industry in the
world
 the cotton industry evaporates 210 billion cubic meters of water
while at the same time polluting 50billion cubic litres
 This figure represents 3.5% of global water usage for crop production
 60kg of water is used to create a cotton t-shirt, from cultivation of cotton
through to production
 An additional 45kg is discharged as waste per kg of output
 Does not take into account the use of water once owned by the consumer.

10. THE ARAL SEA
 Aral sea now just 15% of its
original size
 loss of water also affects the
livelihoods of all those using
the sea, which was at one time
home to 24 native species of
fish providing 40,000 tonnes of
fish a year
 surrounding biodiversity
severely damaged with only
an estimated 15-20% of the
Tugai Forests remaining –
home 29 plants species
endemic to central Asia

11. ARAL SEA NOW(ISH)

12. A PAIR OF JEANS AND A SHIRT
Jeans
Shirt
 1 kg of final cotton textile, one




requires 11,000 litres of water
therefore 2700 litres for 1 cotton
shirt.
45% is irrigation water consumed
(evaporated) by the cotton plant
41% is rainwater evaporated from
the cotton field during the growing
period
14% is water required to dilute the
wastewater flows that result from the
use of fertilisers in the field and the
use of chemicals in the textile
industry

13. THIS IS WHERE WE ARE!

14. ALTERNATIVES/DIVERSIFICATION
 Flax - The plant from which cellulose linen fiber is obtained. Linen is
used in apparel, accessories, draperies, upholstery, tablecloths, and
towels.
 Nettle - This plant grows in almost all types of soils and it requires
very little fertilization because the minerals are not leached out of the
ground. Can be more finely woven than cotton and can have the
gloss of silk. The fiber is hollow and this makes it possible for nettle
fabric to breathe and be insulating at the same time
 Lenpur - novel textile fiber from a renewable resource: cellulose
carefully selected from the branches of special trees. main
differences in Lenpur compared to other cellulose fibers is its
softness, its absorption capacity, its ability to release dampness (as a
yarn or fabric), its deodorant properties, and its absorption
characteristics

15. ALTERNATIVES/DIVERSIFICATION
 Milk - liquid milk is dried and its proteins extracted. The separated proteins
are then dissolved in a chemical solution and placed into a machine that
essentially whirls the fibers together. The fibers can then be spun into yarn
and woven into fabric. Milk fabric holds dye, is breathable and it captures the
moisture to make skin tender and smooth like after taking a milk bath.
 Banana - The raw materials come from the stem that farmers leave in the
garden after a banana harvest. The tree stalks and leaves are removed and
processed into a pliable fibre. Different layers of the stem yield fibers for
specific uses: the outer layer's fibers are generally used for tablecloths while
the third layer makes the finest, silkiest fabric, suitable for kimonos and saris.
 Fish Skin - Fish skin is regarded as industrial waste: after it‘s separated from
the filet for consumption, it normally gets thrown out. But now the skins are
dried, bleached and eventually turned into leather. Fish skin is extremely
versatile—it‘s lightweight, warm, durable, thinner and softer (yet stronger!)
than cow and goat skin.

16. ALTERNATIVES/DIVERSIFICATION
 Flax - The plant from which cellulose linen fiber is obtained. Linen is used in
apparel, accessories, draperies, upholstery, tablecloths, and towels.
 Lyocell/Tencel - is naturally derived from cellulose which is extracted from
managed trees. It is one of the softest and most elegant fibers available.
 Hemp - A long and very strong ‗base‘ fiber, hemp fiber has been used for
thousands of years to manufacture clothing. Its rapid growing qualities and
resistance to most pests make it an ideal organic crop. Hemp has natural
anti-mildew, UV protection and thermodynamic as well as hypoallergenic
properties.
 Pineapple - Pineapple fiber or Piña is a strong white or creamy cobweb-like
fiber drawn from tall leaves of an indigenous pineapple plant. The fiber is
hand stripped from the leaves in lengths of about 18 inches to 3 feet, sunbleached, hand knotted and spun. As piña fiber recovery is only about 1%, it
can take six months to gather enough fiber to produce two pounds of spun
piña.

17. ALTERNATIVES/DIVERSIFICATION
 Bamboo - Bamboo is the fastest growing wooden plant in the world;
it grows in many different countries and climates. Its quick growth (up
to 3-4 feet a day) and its resistance to bugs and sickness make it an
ideal eco crop. However, there is a lot of debate on whether the
processing of the bamboo plant into fabric is truly sustainable.
Bamboo fabric is made of 100% bamboo pulp fiber. The fabric is
naturally antibacterial and eco-friendly. It breathes easier, is cooler
than cotton in warm weather and has been said to feel like a cross
between cashmere and silk.
 Soy - An eco-friendly fabric made from a by-product of soybean oil
production. It‘s a sustainable textile fiber made from renewable and
biodegradable resources. It‘s part of an effort to move consumers
away from petrochemical textile products and turn waste into useful
products.

18. Blue sky thinking
Catalytic Clothing - explores how
textiles can improve ambient quality
and came up with the world‘s first airpurifying dress,

19. And jeans

20. WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY

21. 3D PRINTING

24. A MESSAGE FROM KATE MOSS