Breeona Boyd 

March 21, 2018

Sustainability and the Future of fashion: Blog Post 4

Professor Kennedy 

It is no secret that fashion is not the most earth friendly industry. In fact, the process of making garments includes using chemicals and dyes that are harmful both harmful and wasteful to the environment. Recently I watched an interview with Stella McCartney that was conducted back in 2015, where the interviewer read an alarming quote “... you know what color is in for next season based on the color of the rivers in China.” Whilst reading the quote a photo was shown of a river in China that was completely red, which came from the dyes and chemicals that nearby factories use to make our clothing. 

Stella, however, has proven that this does not have to be he case. She is able to make garments sustainable without wasting water or polluting it. One of her sustainability commitments is to preserve and protect water. 

“Water usage and water pollution are a concern at all stages of production. It can take more than 20,000 liters of water to produce 1kg of cotton, equivalent to a single t-shirt and a pair of jeans.  

Stella follows a list of commitments that she is committed to making sure that her companies lives by. To me, This commitment is of the more important on her list because of the fact that we only have a certain amount of water here in earth that is actually functional for human consumption and use; Fresh water that we drink and bathe with is only 3% of all the water on earth. Polluting and wasting it not only takes water always from humans but it also disturbs the eco system killing certain fish other animals that inhabit the waters that are being polluted. 

The good news is that slowly but surly companies are following Stellas sustainable lead, proving that a change can be made. In an article from 2014 on the thegaurdian.com I read that Levi’s made it a priority to make 100,000 pairs of jeans using 100% recycled water to get the ball rolling to this sustainable change. In doing this they saved 12m liters of water which is the equivalent of 5 Olympic sized swimming pools. From this practice and seeing how much of a difference it actually made Levi’s provides all of its supplier factories with technical guidance on revising and recycling water And has implemented a new water-saving standard which is a body of requirements the brand will share with other textile industry stakeholders.