Trend Alert: Green Credentials
Can the fashion industry really be sustainable?
Did you know that the fashion industry is the 2nd most polluting industry in the World? Denim itself is a huge contributor to this shocking statistic, being a really filthy business!
Cotton, water and chemicals are the main culprits. The manufacture of textile fibres uses 1 trillion gallons of water per annum with denim production using dangerous chemicals to grow cotton and creating millions of gallons of wastewater in the dyeing and make process of both denim and jeans. The denim industry uses a lot of water but manufactures products in places that don’t have enough water! Places such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Mexico where the droughts are notorious.
Why are countries without much water making denim and jeans?
The brands and retailers know there is limited water where their jeans are made but they seem not to care because the price of the jean forces them to manufacture in countries with low labour costs regardless of the water supply.
We are told that the consumers demand everything to be done as cheaply as possible whereas it is the retailers who wish to make things cheaper and ever cheaper to capture a higher margin for themselves whilst retaining or increasing their market share by advertising ever low cost jeans. This encourages the consumer to buy more and dispose of more.
I wonder what would happen if the consumer had an informed choice of the global sourcing strategy of many top jeans brands?
So what of sustainability…
Read more at www.thedenimeye.com
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