Fast fashion has been getting bad press in recent years but sometimes we know it’s bad for the environment without understanding in what ways. It’s crazy to think that the fashion industry is the second largest reason for pollution after big oil. Here are ways it pollutes the earth and why you shouldn’t put it in your basket the next time you’re clothes shopping.
IKEA made history last month when it became the first major retailer to obtain 100 percent of its cotton from “more sustainable sources,” specifically farmers who “use less water, less chemical fertilizers, and pesticides,” according to the Swedish furnishings giant, which uses around 0.7 percent of the world’s cotton in everything from sofas to dishtowels.
Ethical e-tailer Zady has launched its first private-label clothing items for men. Featuring an alpaca sweater and an organic-cotton button-down shirt, both of which come in your choice of white or navy, the inaugural collection hews to the same standard of supply-chain transparency as the products that preceded it.
The ReWrap tree bag, which debuted at Dutch Design Week 2015 in Eindhoven, is not only chic, but also completely compostable. Made entirely from natural fibers, the savvy bag is also naturally waterproof. In addition to its overtly sustainable style, the bag is also ethically created, made in a small workshop which employs workers with disabilities with competitive wages.
Worldbeing provides an easy way to calculate and reduce your carbon footprint. Britain’s Layer Design Studio has created a wearable device that logs and explains each of our personal carbon footprints.
American Eagle’s latest line of jeans comes with a side of coffee—recycled coffee, that is.
The Adidas “Sport Infinity” initiative, announced recently and funded by the European Commission, seeks to create a new breed of sporting good, one that can be fully and repeatedly recycled while allowing for greater freedom of design.
Last week sportswear giant, Adidas, unveiled the “Futurecraft 3D,” a 3D-printed, customized running-shoe midsole designed to meet the cushioning needs of an individual’s foot. Hailing it a “production breakthrough,” Adidas says the concept piece will take the running-shoe standard to the “next level” by offering a flexible carbon copy of the athlete’s foot, down to his or her exact contours and pressure points.
Marks & Spencer is rolling out the green carpet for Livia Firth, staunch promoter of sustainable fashion. Together with her Eco-Age, her ethical-brand consultancy, Firth has pieced together a capsule wardrobe, derived from the British department store’s autumn collection, to “meet the working woman’s needs,” according to Marks & Spencer.
Last week in Uzbekistan, hundreds of thousands of people, including children, were forced from their jobs and schools and into the cotton fields, where they’ll spend the next few weeks picking the crop under hot, unsanitary, and often hazardous conditions for little to no pay.
