Is the carbon footprint of your closet bigger than your plate?

How sustainable is your closet? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to improving your carbon footprint, especially of your wardrobe since fashion is rarely discussed within the context of climate change. Read on to learn of “fast fashion” and how you can become a smarter apparel shopper.

We have more options for environmentally and ethically produced products than ever before. Although agriculture has been a central focus in the debate about climate change, you might be surprised to learn that 60% of the fabric used to manufacture clothing is synthetic. Because synthetic fabrics are derived from fossil fuels, their production is dependent on a finite resource. Considering that the US apparel market is projected to reach $390 billion in value by 2025 and apparel spending in China is projected to reach $391.7 billion by next year, the damage can really add up.

As fashion changes from season to season and year to year, many people have a tendency to clean out their closets and discard their unwanted items without considering the environmental cost. During the 1990s, Americans grew their annual average garment consumption from 40 garments per person to 65 garments per person by the end of the decade. 

Although the trend towards stuffing our closets with the latest trends is declining, we should still be cautious about our apparel purchasing decisions. Wardrobe turnover has a critical impact on environmental health. A staggering 85% of textile waste created in the US is unable to decay due to the materials used. This does not take into account the substantial amount of chemicals used and pollution created when manufacturing these fabrics. 

Sustainable clothing is the next big trend - if consumers are willing to pay more

Environmentally-savvy consumers are adding sustainability to their list of apparel must-haves at an increasing rate, according to a 2019 report by McKinsey and Company on the future of the fashion industry. As a testament to the burgeoning sustainable fashion movement, Google searches for “sustainable fashion” tripled between 2016 and 2019, the report notes. 

While most survey respondents between 16 and 24 years of age in large cities expressed a desire for sustainable clothing, most of them aren’t sure how to spot sustainable fashion on the clothing rack. This is likely due to the lack of a standardized framework for determining what is - or more importantly, what isn’t - sustainable when it comes to creating apparel. Today, much of the wool, silk, cotton, hemp, and flax produced globally lacks a framework for environmental stewardship. 

As apparel manufacturers are faced with the choice of becoming sustainable or losing market share, this trend will likely change. At the 2019 G7 summit, for example, 32 major companies agreed to a set of environmental and sustainability objectives. When surveyed, executives responsible for sourcing textiles and apparel inputs listed resource efficiency, sustainable materials, and transparency as their top priorities. 

Serious challenges lie ahead for fashion’s attempt to clean up its environmental act, however. Although 52% of consumers are eager to purchase sustainable apparel, only 29% are willing to pay more for sustainably-made versions of the same products. The success of the industry’s sustainability efforts may, therefore, depend on just how willing consumers are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Here are three examples of apparel companies aiming to make your closets more sustainable:

1. Eileen Fisher & The Savory Institute

Apparel manufacturer Eileen Fisher and The Savory Institute have announced a new partnership that will prioritize sustainable land practices to generate wool.  

Eileen Fisher has become a Frontier Founder under Savory’s Land To Market program. This program uses a Savory Institute created a methodology called Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV). This system allows producers to measure soil health and the environmental impact of their practices.

“For an industry where human rights and sustainability are not the effect of a particular initiative, but the cause of a business well run. Where social and environmental injustices are not unfortunate outcomes, but reasons to do things differently,” stated Eileen Fisher in a press release announcing the new partnership.   

2. Timberland

Timberland is making efforts to source its materials responsibly by teaming up with an organization called Other Half Processing, which is dedicated to producing “identity-preserved, high-value byproducts from grass-fed, organic, and other more sustainably raised animals.” Timberland’s goal is to use materials that come from ranchers using regenerative grazing methods. These methods help to build soil, simultaneously sequestering carbon while increasing drought resistance. Timberland has a plan to have products that are manufactured using hide from regeneratively raised cattle in stores by Fall 2020.    

3. Fibershed

There have been some trade group efforts to improve textile sourcing in the apparel industry, as well. Fibershed partners with small producers with a goal to decentralize the textile industry by creating local supply chains that have been lost. It also hopes to foster environmentally sound fiber production practices while improving local economies. 

The ongoing efforts of groups that conceive and help implement better land management practices, teaming up with fabric producers and clothing manufacturers, will result in textiles and garments that are produced in a way that is in harmony with the natural environment. This is great news for today’s consumer, who has become increasingly more aware of humanity's impact on the planet and strives to make that impact a positive one. 

How your clothing can support the case for better meat

When buying clothing, shoes, handbags, and other wearable items, there are seemingly endless options: wool, nylon, silk, polyester, pleather, hemp, cotton, flax, and leather to name a few. For environmentally-conscious consumers, it often comes down to choosing between natural and synthetic fabrics. 

Although natural fabrics have the ability to decompose, textile sourcing methods can still have dark underbellies like child labor or poor working conditions for laborers.

And just because it’s a natural fabric it doesn’t necessarily mean that it was produced in a regenerative manner. Wool and leather can come from animals that are being overgrazed, thereby damaging ecosystems and emitting excess carbon. Cotton, in particular, is one of the world's dirtiest crops, with an estimated 48 million pounds of pesticides being used on cotton grown in the United States alone in 2017. It is estimated that the global production of cotton emits 220 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. 

Although it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to improving the carbon footprint of your closet, there are a few ways to become a smarter apparel shopper. Most companies throwing their hat in the sustainable fashion ring will pronounce it loudly in their marketing campaigns and on their clothing items’ tags. Some quick internet research can help you find sustainably-minded brands while vetting whether their claims check out. Greenwashing has become all too common in the sustainability world, which involves situations where a company makes its image look “greener” than it actually is just to turn a better profit. Good On You, for example, is a website that provides ratings on thousands of clothing brands based on their treatment of humans, animals, and the environment.

Roxanne Ahern is a writer, regenerative homesteader, certified permaculture designer, and holistic nutritionist. She’s a contributor to the forthcoming documentary and book project “Sacred Cow: The environmental, nutritional, and ethical case for better meat” and raises katahdin sheep, Nigerian dwarf goats, fruit, and vegetables on a 44 acre homestead in the Southeast with her family. Find her at www.happyholistichomestead.com and follow her on Instagram @happyholistichomestead.