WALK THE WALK TIP #3

HEY TEACHERS, DON'T JUST TALK THE TALK!

WALK THE WALK TIP #3

STOP BUYING FAST FASHION!

"The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combined."

That’s because ‘fast fashion’ now emphasizes quantity and speed instead of quality and environmental protection.

Let’s take a look at jeans - they have democratized the world and everybody loves to wear them, but do we have any idea what the REAL cost is?  

According to a new documentary, RiverBlue our ‘passion for fashion’ is impacting both people and the environment – 65% of the chemicals used to make jeans  (cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead, copper and manganese) are absorbed into our skin.  These chemicals don't stay put. They can also be transported to our North American oceans, atmosphere and food chains and accumulates in places far away from their original source

Watch the powerful trailer here: (RiverBlue)

Here are some interesting facts about ‘fast fashion’:

Clothing manufacture has roughly doubled since 2000 and now we only keep our clothes for half as long.  

In Europe, fashion companies went from an average offering of two collections per year in 2000 to five in 2011.

A lot of this clothing ends up in the dump. The equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is burned or dumped in a landfill every second…..up to 85% of textiles go into landfills each year. 

Washing clothes, releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year — the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.  And by the way – many of these fibres are polyester which releases 2 to 3 times more carbon emissions than cotton.

But we can make a difference:

• Ask before you buy – for instance, there are clothing manufacturers who are making distress jeans in innovative ways.  Watch out for Jeanologia and Boyish Jeans.   
• Try cutting down on the new clothes you buy – just think of the money you could save and what you could do with it instead.  No one actually needs 4 pairs of new jeans a year (this adds up to 6 billion pairs of jeans a year world wide).

• Become a ‘thrifty.’ You’d be amazed what you can find in consignment and thrift stores and what’s more, it’s fun!

• And if you haven’t got time to go consignment shopping try buying online with these online retailers trying to change the world of FAST FASHION:

35 Ethical & Sustainable Clothing Brands Betting Against Fast Fashion

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