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Sustainable Fashion: The Dilemma

by: sahil | last updated: June 10, 2010
Category: Green Savings | Tags: Green clothing, sustainable clothes, clothes, fashion, sustainable fashion, eco friendly, eco friendly clothing, green

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Sustainable Fashion: The Dilemma

Sustainable fashion or eco-fashion can be defined as the process of making clothes that not only takes into account the environmental impact of such production but also considers other factors such as the health of consumers (by using the product), the fair and equitable wages of workers who manufacture such clothes, and also considers the carbon footprint of the product over its lifetime. A carbon footprint is nothing but the amount of Green House gases released by a product, person, or an entity.

Eco-friendly fashion is not just about avoiding animal furs and shunning edible products (animal or otherwise) made by exploiting endangered species. It is about incorporating practices from the start of the production process to the end of the life of the product so that the negative impact on the environment due to the use and production of the product can be mitigated. Moreover sustainable clothing also emphasizes that harmful chemicals and pesticides be avoided while coloring or producing the end-product.

The raw material used for such clothing is usually hemp, bamboo, and recycled polymers. Materials that can be avoided are crops such as cotton which consumes one fourth of the pesticides produced in the world. Instead of cotton recycled fibers can be used which are just scraps collected from clothing factories; however such type of production is relatively uncommon. Natural fibers are another option which is not petroleum based and is categorized into two groups: cellulose or plant fiber and protein or animal fiber.

Some organizations such as the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) are trying to reduce the harmful impact of production of cotton around the world. Many clothing companies have members on the panel of BCI so that production of cotton can be carried out in a less harmful manner and to provide alternatives such as clothing made from hemp which was recently sold by GAP. However it cannot be denied that deciding whether a product or jeans is “green” is difficult since many companies use “greenwashing” marketing. This means that for instance only some part of the fabric is recycled cellulose or there may be defects in the product.

The dilemma arises due to the fact that like any other product, clothes are also not made in one place. The production may take place in china and the marketing in United States and the processing in Japan. This means that moving the raw material around the world creates a problem as it increases the carbon footprint of the finished product and if not made in this manner, there would be negligible or even no profit for the producing entity or company. The process of mass producing clothes in one place without increasing the carbon footprint and incorporating sustainable clothing in our lifestyles seems to be a bigger challenge than previously thought.