Glamour Without Guilt?

Samir Alam explains how sustainable garment production works, and why it is the need of the hour.

- Samir Alam

It may be surprising to know that the garment production and textile industries are the second most polluting industries in the world, the first being oil and petroleum. A single t-shirt or pair of jeans requires approximately 20,000 litres of water to produce. Moreover, there are over 8000 varieties of chemicals which are used to turn raw materials into finished clothing. These chemicals include various dyes, toners and finishing products, with agricultural practices using pesticides and insecticides, which are just as prominent. Apart from the production process, the garment industry is also notorious for its unsold or discarded goods towards the end of the product’s shelf life. These unused, unsold, damaged or unfashionable pieces of clothing are discarded into landfills and garbage waste dumps. This means that the entire production life cycle of fashion and textiles has a profoundly negative effect on the environment and its resources. In simple terms, the garment production industry is far from sustainable.

THE SCIENCE OF SUSTAINABILITY