So, I know we’re two months into 2019 already, but maybe having to turn your calendar to “March” has made you think a little bit about putting some more work towards (or, honestly, getting a start on) some of our New Year’s resolutions. Maybe I can even predict a few of them – something about minimizing, maybe? Decluttering? Clarifying. Cutting the crap out of our lives. Simplicity. Rediscovering our style. New Year, New You – right? Granted, I’m just rattling off a list of Winter 2019 marketing Buzzwords, but I’m sure some of them hit the spot. There’s a reason our mailboxes are full of post-holiday sales promos from Forever 21, and there’s also a reason for Marie Kondo’s “Tidying Up” becoming a hit show on Netflix. Be it shopping for new clothes or throwing out old clothes, let’s go with I’ll bet I know how some of you spent part of the weekend.
And, why not? We’re pretty great at both! The annual US consumption for 2016 works out to every American on average buying more than five garments a month. And, since the “What goes in must come out” principle applies to our closets as much as it applies to our digestive systems (although maybe don’t mention that as a real estate agent,) it also means that Americans discard about 75 pounds of textiles per person per year – most of which ends up in landfills. Essentially, we’re great at turning Gucci into greenhouse gases.
Fast fashion is a largely a 21st century phenomenon, originally driven by international chains like H&M, Zara and Topshop, which usually takes the latest design trends and creates cheap pieces in those designs for quick mass consumption – a short production cycle that can take as little as a week. This lower-cost clothing is made to last only around one season, and the high turnover means customers are enticed to come back frequently to those stores to buy new clothes. Research collated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation suggests that global clothing production has doubled in the past 15 years, with garments on average being worn much less and discarded quicker than ever before; the average lifespan of a garment of clothing is now estimated to only be around 1.5 years.
A 2016 study found that the 15 million tons of textiles thrown away per year by the US alone accounts for over 9 percent of our country’s total unrecycled waste. Whether garments go directly into a landfill, as it is in these cases, or are processed by a problematic recycling program, the crisis is only getting worse as the population increases and demand soars. Worse still is that our knowledge of the waste is incomplete, as much of it is hidden along supply chains.
While textile waste is a worldwide issue, cities like Dhaka in Bangladesh see the worst of it. Factories in Dhaka produce clothing for many high street brands like H&M, Zara, Gap, and even Walmart. In turn, these areas have the worst air pollution in the world and are surrounded by water that can’t possibly sustain life. Clothing made from polyester, which is essentially a plastic, takes up to 200 years to breakdown in landfill. While natural fibres like cotton or wool can theoretically biodegrade and compost (although current production levels far surpass sustainable biodegradability), landfills are still not suitable conditions for the disposal of natural fabrics. Wool, for example, leaks a type of ammonia when it becomes landfill.
As New York Fashion Week drew to a close last week, the industry’s editors, designers, representatives, and influencers will flock to London, Milan, and Paris to continue the festivities of a month of fashion. However, our dedication to haute couture may very well leave us with a very hot planet – and one more distressed than any 400 dollar pair of designer jeans.
New York City – a metropolis famous for its influence in the fashion world- has taken some measures to diminish the negative environmental impacts of an industry our city is so well-known for supporting. Many innovative ways to encourage sustainable production and disposal of clothing have been developed. These range from sponsoring and providing tax breaks to sustainable fashion brands and designers, to programs such as ReFashion NYC, which is a city-sponsored free and convenient clothing donation and recycling service.
The recent New York Fashion Week has given me a chance to witness, or at least an inability to hide from noticing, the environmental impact of both the production and disposal of the creative, beautiful, and bizarre fashion that we all associate with the city we live in – be it sock-like Balenciagas in streetwear or Oscars-worthy ballgowns. I’d love to do a project focused on how the city that’s largely considered the fashion capital of the world can implement measures to ensure that the clothing we love to buy, take selfies in, and then “minimize” (and then post pictures of our new “decluttered” spaces….) does less damage in pollution and wasted energy. I’d also really love to partner with one of NYC’s many textile-recycling branches to perhaps organize a class, or Macaulay, or Baruch-wide clothing-recycling drive? It might be a good way for us to see some a bit of the “instant” result of the positive environmental impact on our city that this course is meant to instigate.
https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/downloads/pdf/promotional-materials/re-fashionyc-brochure-re-fa-f.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/dec/06/landfill-becomes-the-latest-fashion-victim-in-australias-throwaway-clothes-culture
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44968561
