MATERIAL MATTERS AND WATER IS IMPORTANT

CONTENTS PAGE NUMBER1. Introduction 012. Key Facts 023. Water Waste 044. Clothes Consumption 065. Companies Dedicated to Sustainability 08 5a Sustainable Cotton Project 08 5b Better Cotton Initiative 09 5c Primark Sustainable Programme 096. Levi Strauss 10 7. Conclusion 118. References 12

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1. Introduction

It’s time to get thinking about the importance ofmaterial sustainability and water consumption in relation to garment production. We may not take time to think about how what we buy and where we buy it from affects the world around us, but everything has a cause and effect. After all, ignorance is bliss and it’s easier to turn a blind eye to issues that may not affect us, but which do affect people in other countries and future generations. This zine is here to provide information as to the problems fashion is facing currently. We will delve into interesting facts about water consumption and focus on the most popular material worldwide: cotton.We will discover brands and companies who are looking to create a brighter future for cotton farmers and create less pollution within their creations. This zine will change your perspective and makeyou more conscious about where you source your clothing and material from!Enjoy and learn!

2. K

ey Facts

•It would take 1.24 million

tonnes of basic jersey fabric to clothe

the 7 billion strong popu

lation with one t-shirt each (Drapers, 2012)

•Cotton is produced in more

than 100 countries worldwide, but China,

India, Pakistan, USA, Bra

zil and Uzbekistan contribute 80% of

production

•Cotton can absorb 27 times

its own weight in water

•Fibre from one cotton bale

can produce 215 pairs of jeans, 250 single

bedsheets, 1,200 t-shirts

, or 680,000 cotton balls

•Cotton dates from at least

7,000 years ago, making it one of the

oldest found materials (c

ottonaustralia.com, no year)

•After food, cotton is the

worlds most farmed plant

•Cotton requires 11,000 lit

res of water for every kilogram grown

•Cotton grows best in high

temperatures from 18-30 degrees Celsius

in dry conditions and sun

shine, with long periods of no frost

(about 175 to 225 days) (

Brooks, 2015)

•70% of earth is covered in

water but only about 1% is readily

available for human use

•97% of the world’s water i

s salty or undrinkable and 2% is in

icecap form

•Around 63% of daily water

consumption at home is use

d in the bathroom

•One cotton t-shirt has abo

ut 25 baths full of water embedded in it

(waterwise.org.uk, no yea

r)

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3. Water Waste Water wastage is a problem that is much bigger than the fashionindustry itself, aswater is something we simply cannot live without, and as aforementioned, only 1%of the water on the planet is readily drinkable (waterwise.org.uk, no year). The fashion industry is one of the biggest contributors to water waste and pollution because of processes such as dyeing, bleaching, and using pesticides and herbicides when growingcotton crops. According to WWF, agriculture wastes 60% of the water it uses each year, which accounts for 70% of theworlds accessible water. This agricultureincludes the growing ofcotton crops. In fact,

along with rice, sugarcane and wheat, cotton accounts for 58% of theworld’s irrigated farmland (WWF.org, no year). These figures are frightening to think about, when it issaid that 1 in 10 people in the world don’t have access to clean water (levistrauss.com, no year). The fashion industry should be responsible for creating new methods that use less water and create less pollution, as the world’s resources are slowly depleting. Later on we will discover some companieswho are taking the leapinto sustainable creation.

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4. Clothes ConsumptionFast fashion is potentially the worst thing to happen to the way we consume clothing. It is estimated that £1 billion worth of clothing goes to landfill each year (Brooks, 2015). With fashion cyclesof spring/summer and autumn/winter coming around quicker and quicker each year, high street companies such as Primark and New Look have to keep up with consumers wants and needs in order to make a quick profit. We are all guilty of buying clothes we don’t need, perhaps to make ourselves feel better after a difficult day, or if something catches our eye and we simply have to have it (even though there are approximately 3.5 other incarnations of this very garment already in our wardrobes). In fact, it is said that up 70% of the clothes in our wardrobes go unused (Brooks, 2015). What can we do to minimize the impact of our carbon Louboutin footprint?

Buy less. All it takes is an

easy thought process of “Do

I

need it? Am I likely to get

a

lot of use out of it? Do I h

ave

something similar?” Go to shops that are known for their ethical

trading. Shops that care about where they source

their materials and products not only will reduce

your carbon footprint, but it is good to know that

the clothes you buy are supporting the farmers and

factory employees who work so hard to make our clothes.

Buy clothes that will last longer.

Check the quality of your clothes.

If

a garment is made with a French se

am

or is lined, it will last that ext

ra

few years. And who knows, it could

become an heirloom item if it is r

eally

worth its dollar.

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Charity shops. Rather than let a good garment go to landfill, let someone else get some wear out of it. This includes swapping clothes with friends and handing them down to younger siblings. Reduce, reuse, recycle!

Sell on. EBay is your best friend. It is also not the

only option out there. In the age of technology, we can sell

our unwanted clothing on Depop, Etsy, and now even on Facebook!

It also feels great to make a bit of money from something

you don’t use anymore.

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5.Co

mpanies

Dedicated to Susta

inability

Some

fantast

ic companies have already taken it upon themselves to

tackle

fash

ions’ su

stainability issues head on. Here we are going to lear

n about

them

and cel

ebrate their brilliance.

5a.S

ustainab

le Cotton Project

Sust

ainable

Cotton Project was founded in 1996 and is based in Cal

ifornia.

They

are ded

icated to the production and promotion of sustainably

grow

cott

on fibre

, so they can reduce the affect that production proces

ses

take

on the

air, water and soil pollution.

They

have al

so created a program entitled Cleaner Cotton™. With th

isproj

ect they

are able to create cotton that is higher in quality f

ibre,

use

biologic

al farming practices and eliminate 13 of the most toxi

c chem

icals us

ed in conventional cotton cultivation. Cleaner Cotton™

yields

more

than 1,

250 pounds of cotton per acre compared to 925 pounds y

ielded

in a

verage i

norganic production.

5b.B

etter Cotton Initiative

The

Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) was founded in 2005 by the Worl

d Wide

Fund

for Nature (WWF). By using three main concepts of sustainabil

ity;

envi

ronmental, social and economic, they are a non-profit organisa

tion

who

want to create better global standard for cotton. They claim t

hat

“cot

ton supports 250 million lives” (BCI, no year), which proves t

hat the

cott

on industry needs to become better for the farmers and factory

staff

who

work as hard as they do. A few of the companies that they work

with

incl

ude big names; Levis, GAP, American Outfitters and Tommy Hilfi

ger.

5c.P

rimark Sustainable Programme

Prim

ark’s Sustainable Programme was launched in 2013 after the Ran

a Plaza

trag

edy in Bangladesh to help support the workers who make the clo

thes that

they

sell. Paul Lister, the lead of Primark’s Ethical Trading Team

says

that

Primark’s programme intends to “improve sustainable cotton pr

oduction

and

make meaningful difference to cotton farmers” (Hounslea, 2016)

. By

the

2nd year of the project, their cotton yields increased by 12.6

% while

fert

iliser use fell by 12.6% and pesticide by 53.3%. The programme

was so

succ

essful it was extended a further 6 years.

The

project has also been successful in improving the way factory

workers

are

treated and paid. The original project had trained 1,251 femal

e smal

lholders by teaching them to use better farming techniques. Th

e 6-year

exte

nsion intendeds to extend this figure to an extra 10,000 femal

e farmers

(dra

personline.com, 2016).

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6. Levi StraussOne of the biggest denim producers in the world, Levi Strauss is very conscious of the carbon imprint they cast on the world. As denim is usually made solely of cotton, they aim to minimise water waste in cotton production, and have created Water<Less™, a campaign that has saved 1 billion litres of water since it has started. On their website, Levis have created an infograph demonstrating just how much water is used in the creation of one pair of their 501 jeans- 3,781 litres! This is the entire process of creating and maintaining a pair of their jeans, from cotton growth to at-home cleaning. They also produce jeans using recycled material. They find that a pair of jeans created with at least 15% recycled cotton can save as much water as the entire manufacturing process consumes. Levi Strauss wants to prove that they are clean conscious by using practices to reduce energy and water use, and limit the use of chemicals in production (levistrauss.com/sustainability).

7.Conclusion So, what’s the verdict? Do you feel any more enlightened and learned? Are you going to make changes to your clothes buying habits and tell your friends about the current crisis we are facing with water and cotton? To make the impact that is so desperately needed, we are all going to need to make changes to the way we buy into fashion. But the onus isn’t just on us as the consumer, companies large and small need to focus on where they source their materials and fibres from, whether fair trade is being used, and whether the cotton they purchase for their designs comes from a reliable source. By altering these habits, we can revolutionise the clothing industry from the small cotton fibres and water droplets, to the the garments we see hanging in the stores. Be the change that is so desperately needed and

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8.References

Better Cotton Initiative. (no date) Better Cotton Initiative. [Online] [Accessed on 28th October 2016] bettercotton.org

Brooks, A. (2015) Clothing Poverty: The Hidden World of Fast Fashion and Second Hand Clothes. London: Zed Books.

Cotton Australia. (no date) Interesting Cotton Facts. [Online] [Accessed on 28th October 2016] cottonaustralia.com.au/cotton-library/fact-sheets/cotton-fact-file-interesting-cotton-facts

Hounslea, T. (2016) ‘Primark Extends Sustainable Cotton Programme.’ Drapers. 8th March. Pp 17-18.

Levi Strauss & Co. (no date) Sustainability. [Online] [Accessed on 28th October 2016] levistrauss.com/sustainability/planet

Levi Strauss & Co. (no date) Sustainability. Planet: Lifecycle Assessment. [Online] [Accessed on 28th October 2016] levistrauss.com/sustainability/planet/lifecycle-assessment

Sustainable Cotton Project. (no date) Sustainable Cotton Project. [Online] [Accessed on 28th October 2016] sustainablecotton.org

Water Wise. (no date) Fun Facts. [Online] [Accessed on 28th October 2016] waterwise.org.uk/pages/fun-facts.html

Wilson, A. (2015) ‘Field to Fashion.’ Drapers. 7th February. Pp 31-32.

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