Growing up in a consumer led world it's truly hard to avoid the endless advertisements, films and consumer goods which plague our vision each and every day. It's now become part of the norm within society to buy clothes on a regular basis, invest in consumer goods and fully immerse ourselves in the lifestyle in which the power brands of the world would like us to live. However what people forget to consider when purchasing many of their goods is how that products production effects the world that so kindly lets us make our lives within it's arms. In one of our lectures, the theme was whether the fashion industry does more damage than good, it was led by Michelle Hoines-White (Creative Director of Frontcover Cosmetics), the lecture had a really big effect on me and I haven't fully been able to gather my thoughts together about it until now.
Growing up in the countryside gives you an unavoidable appreciation for nature and your surroundings. It's something that I'm so grateful my parents have allowed my siblings and I to do. To be able to breathe fresh, crisp air each and every day and literally have the world as your playground growing up has been an absolute dream come true. So when I hear about how the subject I'm studying has such an awful effect on it all, it breaks my heart a little.
I cannot say that I'm not just as guilty as every other person on this trial. I have lusted after a new coat many a time. Convinced myself that a new pair of jeans is exactly what I need, or that top with the colourful embroidery is exactly the thing to lighten my mood. But clothes don't just appear on the hangers in the store. They are farmed, laboured, shipped, advertised, worn then thrown away like a piece of trash. There is no value any more. At one point you would know exactly who had made your clothes, and now all i know is that the jumper I'm wearing was made in China, shipped to England then displayed on a hanger in Zara until my eyes met with it's knitted coziness and I grabbed it and quickly headed to the counter. The whole process sounds so wrong and unsustainable, but how else are we supposed to live when we haven't been properly taught otherwise. So here's a bit of education.
This image to the left shows the East river in XinTang, otherwise known as 'the denim capital of the world. That dark patch of colour you see isn't some huge carpet, it's the devastating effects of dying jeans and this ultimately shows where the excess dye is disposed off, straight into the water. There are roughly 260 million pairs of jeans made each year and the more we buy, the more we pollute the waters of XinTang. With fashion having faster deadlines than ever before and some high street stores producing collections just 6 weeks after catwalk shows, the pressure is put on factories in places like XinTang to get their work done.
The people living close to the rivers have to wade through the contaminated water and eat produce from contaminated land so there are no safe water or food choices for them.
This boy is working with his parents at a small jeans workshop in Dadun Village in Xintang. He earns 0.15 yuan for snipping loose thread ends off one pair of jeans; in one day he can do about 200 pairs.
However it's not just denim that causes such devastation within the environment, it's also that much beloved material we've all worn called cotton. The image to the right shows a satellite view of the Aral Sea in central Asia in 1989 (left) and 2014 (right). According to Katherine Hamnett, an English fashion designer, conventional cotton is one of the most unsustainable materials in the world. It takes 2700 litres of water to create one cotton T-shirt. 2700 litres of water which could be used to feed, bathe and help keep a family going, but instead goes into just another cotton T-shirt which will no doubt be thrown into the draws of some unbeknown human. The devastation caused by the disappearance of the Lake meant that families had to move away from their much loved homes because there was no longer a source of water, not only for the humans but also for the livestock they needed to feed of. This meant that the animals died too. Not only that but cotton production uses pesticides which are said to kill 350,000 farmers each year as well as the million farmers who are hospitalised during the production process, all for the benefit of the consumer within us.
As you can see, the fashion industry is far from innocent. So next time you go into a shop to buy a new top, some new jeans or a new dress, just think to yourself 'do I really need that?' because more often than not, the answer is no, no you really do not. I'm not trying to say 'never buy an item of clothing again' because let's face it, that's just not going to happen . I'm trying to put across the message that we should be more thoughtful and conscious when buying new products. Brands need to become more aware of how their product production if effecting the environment and educate people all over the world to become better managers. If we educate site managers and workers, the problem of pollution could be decreased significantly. If you have any excess clothes hanging around which you're keen to get rid of, don't just throw them away, donate them to charities, recycle them or give them to the homeless. Likewise, when buying clothes, consider browsing eBay, depop or nip into your nearest charity shop for a browse, there are gems lurking behind every unturned stone. We need to become more aware of how our actions affect what's around us. Humans helping humans is what the world needs to see more of.
In the fast paced fashion world we live in I know that it's hard to avoid the clothes in the shop windows, but there is only going to be change if the consumer stops it from the bottom up and always remember that the mouse can always do more damage than the elephant.
Just because you can't see these things happening in the world does't mean they aren't going on.
As a fashion student myself, it hurts to know that the course I'm studying has such a damaging effect on the world in which we live, so I can only hope that in the future, a new breed of creatives will recognise and work towards a more sustainable industry. I know i'll be one of them.
This is a video which I've loved for many years, it shows how we've become so disconnected from nature, and the only way we will start to properly appreciate it is when it is nearly destroyed. So start helping the planet now by becoming more sustainable with the clothes and products you use.
Thanks for reading,
Alexa
WE MISS YOU from Hanna Maria Heidrich on Vimeo.
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