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You Got the Freshest Threads on Road, but at What Cost?
The fashion industry is one of the most successful, with people constantly sporting a number of high end brands and always keeping up with the fashion trends.
However, what you may not know is that the fashion industry is the second most polluted in the world after the oil industry.
This is due to the water consumption and chemical use during the production of textiles, but one of the key reasons is one that you might not think of straight away; The throwaway culture that we’ve seemingly developed and all grown accustomed to over the years.
Statistics show that on average, people only wear around 20% of the items they have in their wardrobes.
So what happens to the clothes we don’t want/use? Well, it has been revealed that in the UK only 15% of the clothes we don’t want or use anymore are recycled or donated to charity, leaving a staggering 85% to be dumped in a landfill, around 80% of which are incinerated, which consumes energy and emits harmful chemicals into the atmosphere.
That isn’t all though, the initial production of the clothing is quite wasteful in itself. Each year, around 90 metric tons of fabric are produced around the world, consuming 1.5 trillion kilowatts of electricity. The table below, courtesy of British Gas gives us a general idea of just how much 1.5 trillion kilowatts is:
Brands such as Rose & Willard have one of the lowest carbon footprints in the industry, utilising sustainable and local sources in order to produce their fabrics, and is also designed and produced with high quality and endurance in mind.
One of the primary sources used in China & India is coal which is responsible for70% of each country’s energy needs and collectively they cover more than 50% of the world’s annual coal consumption which is primarily used to produce electricity.
So next time you go to buy some new threads, be sure to do some research first, take a look at the tag and make sure you're going to wear it more than once!!
Be sure to tweet and get the word out on social media at #LookAtTheLabel and #WearItAgain
