Global water and your cotton tee shirt

With hundreds of thousands of environmental groups worldwide and in this space age of the internet, its sometimes disappointing to note how little attention is paid to the textile industry and its montrous impact on the planet’s water.

I put the blame on the fact that non of us are willing to acknowledge that we as green minded as we say we are, that if we acknowledge being a part of this monster, that it will somehow discredit the labels we have given to ourselves as friends of the earth, savers of the planet, lovers of the ocean and warriors for rainforests.

Yet,the facts are indisputable and it doesn’t take an industry expert or insider to find out about the environmental damage caused by textiles, in particular, water pollution which is a very visible factor.

Taking the world’s most popular fibre as an example, we will examine the impact of cotton on the environment. Starting with the cultivation of the cotton fibre itself. The amount of cotton used in a single tee shirt consumers up to 1700 litres of clean water and this is only in its cultivation! The natural flows of rivers and streams in cotton growing countries like India,China,Egypt and Uzbhekhistan have been diverted to feed this thirsty crop. Uzbhekistan in particular holds top honors as its cotton fields turned the world’s 4th largest lake into a salty puddle today. Note that organic cotton uses the same quantity of water to grow. Environmental impacts like these have caused many to challenge cotton’s claim as a sustainable fibre,including this incident where the UK ruled that the US cotton council’s advertising of cotton as “sustainable” was misleading.

From there, the the thirsty cotton tee continues to waste another estimated 1000 litres of clean water in order to process the cotton balls into the tee shirt you’re wearing today.Faced with accusations of irreparable damage to the environment, the cotton industry has responded with a limited use of closed loop production where the waters used in its processes are cleaned,filtered and in some cases,even reused but this process has yet to make a meaningful impact on its overall harm as its too expensive to implement and the net gains are neglible at best. Oeco Textiles, a third party certification group lists a whopping 2000 chemicals in use as part of the process of making textiles. How can you clean the waters when there is that much chemicals in use?

You can’t. This is why rivers in China run blue from denim factories along its banks. The Yamuna River in India also has clothing factories to blame for its toxic waters. Waters so high in toxins its not even considered suitable for farm irrigation. China has recognised the dirty nature of the textile industry and has in recent years, abandoned its policies of supporting this one product that helped it build its massive economy. When over 1 billion of us does not have access to clean drinking water, now is the time to rethink what we’ve done.

So what can we, as tree huggers, ocean lovers and planet savers do to reduce the impact of cotton? Buy less or if you have to buy a new tee shirt, look for one that has a reduced water footprint. Recycled cotton fibres is a fairly new product that has a greatly reduced water consumption. It may not have the sleek handfeel of combed cotton but its definitely not the water hog that virgin cotton is.

Eco clothing for the outdoor lover.

Most of us head into the outdoors to enjoy the wilderness of it all. The fresher air, the smells of new blooms and sounds that no audio system can reproduce exactly. We call ourselves nature lovers and for the most part, we are a crowd that is aware of the problems facing the natural environment including pollution and development that is increasingly narrowing down the green spaces that once was there.

Eco consciousness is a term used to describe this feeling and big business knows it. This is why the “Outdoors” market is booming in triple digits even as conventional markets continue to shrink from the depression of 2010.

Consumers however, are starting to wise up and question eco claims and in many instances, have had major brands changing their green tunes like this case of Porsche and its eco claims. The same backlash is happening to the Outdoors industry and the industry has responded with the creation of a group to set standards for its members. Aptly named the Sustainability Working Group( as in working towards sustainability ) the group covers every possible concern that could come out of any eco claims and provides guidance for its members who are cashing in on the Outdoors person and their love for nature.

The Eco Index is an impressive guide for their members and challenges all Outdoors brands and manufacturers to work towards the standards set here so that their products can truly be called eco friendly.

Looking a few of their key points :
-Select raw materials that require less energy and have a low carbon footprint throughout their lifetime.
-Select materials that minimize the amount of fresh water used and wastewater created through their lifetime.
-Select raw materials that contribute to significant positive changes in manufacturing and processing efficiencies.

The most common fibre used in Outdoor type apparel and gear today is polyester. The virgin stuff that’s made from oil and contributes hugely to pollution of air,land and water. To make it even more toxic, performance finishes are often added,whether to yarn or finished fabrics and anything that can repel rain water or food stains and block out wind, cannot be good for the environment. I’ve wondered about this for the longest time and have not been able to confirm what happens, when all this lamination and chemicals is boiled down and recycled into a new yarn that’s commonly known as rePET. Did the chemicals leave the sludge when it was boiled down? And how was the sludge disposed of? You’ll see guidelines in the Eco Index asking manufacturers to dispose of sludge responsibly. How is that done? If you bury it deep enough, it will disappear? Out of sight out of mind sort of thing?

Anyway, onto the next phase, now that the item has been produced and sold, the new considerations become care of the garment. SWG’s guide specifically advises members to “specify low impact care such as cold water wash, line dry and no dry cleaning!” The energy savings mentioned here are tremendous as the washing machine and hot air dryer are two of the biggest energy hogs in your house. More benefits like that amazing sundried smell and feel can be checked out on this laundry site.

Its easy enough if we’re dealing with a recycled polyester hoody or cotton tee shirt but what do you do with a fully lined and padded “eco outdoor” jacket? What’s a nature lover to do?

The true nature lover will reject products like these.Any product that calls for dry cleaning should be avoided at all costs. In our opinion, the nature lover will go back to the days when clothing was made simply and as naturally as you can make it. None of this performance,rain repellent,stain resistant product that leaves such a heavy imprint on the environment.

When the winds blow cold, the nature lover will add on a scarf and another layer of clothing to keep the warmth in. Not add on a synthetic layer of cloth that will wreak havoc on the environment in its manufacture, in its use and in its end fate.

Is there such a thing as eco outdoor clothing??

We're preparing to introduce what will be world's first eco outdoor clothing collection using our recycled fibres.

Working with the Sustainability Group out of Europe gave us a lot of insight into what other brands are doing wrong and how not to greenwash. A lot of clothing brands have already cashed into the outdoor lovers desire to be ecofriendly and to support eco clothing. HOwever, most of the brands and products talk up a good green talk without supporting product.

Recycled polyesters are great if you don't end up redyeing them! Polyester is one of the harder fabrics to dye and takes extreme high heat and toxic dyestuffs to color the yarns, even the newer generation rePET yarns that are supposed to be easier to dye. Even with the introduction of closed loop production, where dye waters are supposedly treated before being released back into the world, the dye houses are not clear as to what they do with all the sludge that is created from the inert dyestuff.So its buried somewhere and hope no one sees it?

One of the all time favorite beefs has to be the performance finishes that are added. You simply cannot have eco outdoor clothing that has had nano finishes or repellent chemicals added to make the clothing water or wind repellent. Such a product maybe a performance product and great for keeping the elements out but it is not an eco product!

In our opinion, the outdoor lover,whether its a weekend camper or day hiker, is prepared to make some sacrifices for personal comfort so that they can be truly friendly to the earth. Bundle up and pile on the layers to keep the wind out!The trees and the streams will love you for it as they would have seen that the clothing on your back did not cause any trees to be cut or waters polluted.

The great thing about making eco clothing from recycled cottons is that the process uses no new dyestuff. All the colors come from first life cotton clippings that are picked off factory floors and sorted by color before being processed.Less energy.Less water.Less emissions.Less chemicals. How much more eco can you get?

With the technology that is now available to make use of 100% recycled fibres, there are no excuses to take small steps in the right direction. We have arrived at the end of the journey for eco clothing and coming for the Fall 2010 season, we will show the world how a truly eco friendly outdoor clothing collection is made.Love green.Go recycled.