Do you ever wonder how it's possible that clothes haven't become more expensive over the last few decades?
One of the main reasons is cheap labour. Fast fashion brands, which mass-produce garments and operate on a rapid consumption model, have made it possible for prices to remain low. But there is a hidden cost to these low prices that we often forget about: the welfare of the garment workers.
Many people have gotten used to the idea of buying clothes at very low prices. However, this mindset comes at a heavy cost to the workers who produce these garments. The factories where they work are often at the mercy of big international brands, which squeeze them for lower prices. This, in turn, leads to low wages for garment workers and shoddy working conditions.
In many Asian countries, the minimum wages to be paid are much lower than the living wages. In India for eg. the minimum wages need to be increased 2.8 times so that the worker and his family gets a dignified livelihood and covers the basic cost of living. In addition to low wages, there is not much job security as well. If the orders to the factories dry up, these daily wage earners would not get their wages.
https://cleanclothes.org/poverty-wages
One of the most well-known examples of the consequences of this exploitation is the Rana Plaza disaster. Exactly 10 years ago, on April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,138 garment workers and injuring over 2,500. The building, which housed several garment factories, was not structurally sound, and workers had been reporting cracks in the walls for some time. However, they were forced to continue working by their employers, who were under pressure to meet tight production deadlines for big international brands.
Despite this tragedy, not much has changed in the garment industry. Many brands still prioritize low costs over the welfare of their workers. In fact, some brands have even been accused of using forced labor in their supply chains, which is a clear violation of human rights.
As a brand, it is important that worker welfare is not compromised to achieve the profits they desire. They need to come out with alternative business models that are not based on deep discounting and exploitation of resources and labour.
As consumers, we have the power to make a difference. By choosing to buy from brands that prioritize ethical production, we can encourage change in the industry. We should also consider paying more for our clothes so that garment workers can earn a living wage. We can also pressure brands to improve working conditions and ensure that workers are treated with dignity and respect.
It's time to prioritize the welfare of garment workers over our desire for cheap clothes. By making conscious choices and making brands accountable, we can create a fashion industry that is both ethical and sustainable.
At Earthy Route, due to smaller batches of production, the price to get a garment ready is higher than big brands. But even as we get scale, our endeavour would always be to provide fair compensation to our factories.
]]>If you do, unconsciously or subconsciously, you are exercising your belief that your brand new shirt might crumble or shrink or fade after some washes. Worry not, for this article will help you to take care of your dark shirts so that they stay new for a long long time.
Check out our TENCEL™ Lyocell Jet Black Shirts here
Every problem has a solution, so leave your worries behind. Read through these ways you can take to prevent your black shirts and other dark-coloured clothes from fading:
We have curated a small list of short and powerful videos (out of the many amazing documentaries there are) on Fast Fashion. These videos will definitely provide you food for thought and change your perspective about clothing.
Ugly Truth of Fast Fashion - Hasan Minhaj (The Patriot Act)
In this episode of Patriot Act, Minhaj spoke about the Ugly truth of Fast Fashion. In his usual witty style, he outlines topics like our changing fashion habits, how fast fashion started, what are the harmful effects of fashion on the planet and what can consumers do to consume better.
One stat that he mentioned blew my mind! – An average American bought 12 new articles of clothing in 1980. This has gone upto 68 new pieces a year!
This episode is an eye-opener and fun to watch at the same time.
The Lifecycle of a T-shirt
Ever thought about what goes behind the making of that single white cotton T-shirt? It’s not as harmless as it looks. That T-shirt has used up a lot of water, pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals before it comes to you in pretty packaging. Be it a cricket match or a get-together, wearing uniform t-shirts has become a trend now. But is this trend worth following? This short video has the answers.
H&M and Zara: Can fast fashion be eco-friendly?
Sustainability is the new buzzword in the fashion industry and all brands, big or small, are trying to portray themselves as sustainable in some or the other way. Both these brands are making the right “noise” in terms of sustainability but what is the truth? Are they really using a lot of sustainable fabrics? Or are their recycling programs really successful?
Unsurprisingly, both of these giants don’t talk about the real problem of modern fashion i.e. overproduction and overconsumption of clothes.
Are the claims of H&M and Zara real or are they just Greenwashing? Watch this video and find out for yourself.
How fast fashion adds to the world's clothing waste problem
Ever wondered what happens once you discard your clothes? All the big fashion brands in the west have a clothes collection bin where they collect used clothing. They even reward people who donate their clothes in their bins with a discount code. Most people feel that their donated clothes end up with the needy but, the reality is far from it. Most of the clothing produced get’s exported to poor countries. There are far more clothes than people in need. And recycling is still in its infancy.
If you see any of these videos, you may realise one thing - That the problem fashion and the solutions provided by Fashion companies are completely different. The problem with Fast Fashion is over production whereas the solution offered is sustainable fabrics, recycling etc. Till the time the Fast Fashion industry doesn’t fix the broken economic model, it will be very difficult for the Fashion industry to be sustainable in the true sense.
Hope you found this useful. Do let me know in the comments about what you think about this topic.
Also Read:
What are Fast Fashion hauls and why are they dangerous for you and the planet?
]]>But do they really end up being useful?
The answer seems to be a big No.
We are consuming textiles at a rapid pace. Our clothing utilization, which means the number of times a garment is worn, has decreased by 36% in the last few years. This means we are discarding clothes at an alarming rate and this has become a huge environmental and waste management problem.
Huge piles of clothes discarded get exported from the developed world to poor countries. And along with it the problem of waste management is also exported.
Let’s take a look at 4 of the many places in the world where a good chunk of the world's clothes end up.
The Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, is the largest second-hand clothing market in West Africa. It sees 15 million garments coming through it every week, in a country of 30 million people. Over a three-year study, it was found that 40% of the clothing that is unbaled in Kantamanto leaves the market as waste. They end up at landfills and in bodies of water, polluting entire ecosystems. Most of the clothes coming in are fast fashion items which are of cheap quality. As per second-hand clothing traders, this cheap quality clothing difficult to sell and is hurting their business.
Panipat is known as the world's "cast-off capital". Every day hundreds of tonnes of clothes from across the UK and the US, and other countries, arrive in Panipat. Clothing are sorted based on the colours and then ripped into smaller fabrics. These are then converted into yarn which are used to make cheap blankets. These blankets are often used in Disaster reliefs and exported to poor African countries. However, in the past few years, so much discarded clothing has arrived that Panipat’s landfills are falling short.
Chile has long been a hub of second-hand and unsold clothing, made in China or Bangladesh and passing through Europe, Asia or the United States before arriving in Chile, where it is resold around Latin America. Some 59,000 tonnes of clothing arrive each year at the Iquique port in the Alto Hospicio free zone in northern Chile. Clothing merchants from the capital Santiago, 1,800km (1,100 miles) to the south, buy some, while much is smuggled out to other Latin American countries. But at least 39,000 tonnes that cannot be sold end up in rubbish dumps in the desert.
In 2019 Kenya imported 185,000 tonnes of second-hand clothes, with about 30 to 40% clothes having no market value. This means around 55,500 – 74,000 tonnes was textile waste. Every day about 150 to 200 tonnes of textile waste – between 60 to 75 truckloads – ends up dumped, burnt, or sent to overflowing dump sites. Traders complain that most of the imported clothes are unusable and have no market value. The unsold clothes are piled up along river banks and flowing downstream.
The problem of discarded clothes is going out of hand. All possible solutions ranging from – consuming less, utilizing our clothes more, responsible disposal, circular business models by brands, and recycling programs are the need of the hour to put a halt to this vicious problem. And for that, all stakeholders – brands, consumers, investors, and policy-makers have to act together.
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Earlier ‘Pooh’ used to keep a tab of your clothes and now your Camera and Instagram do it for you!
Despite having more than 10,000 decisions to make daily, we are stressed about repeating outfits. Why? Because – Log Kya kahenge. We have come to believe that others care about our outfits and we try to take immense care about what we wear. This belief has been fed by our paparazzi who don’t think much before shaming a celebrity for repeating an outfit.
In addition to Mental health, not repeating clothes is bad for our bank balance too if we continue buying new outfits for every occasion. Buying new clothes all the time is not good for the Environment also!
When buying a new outfit, use the 30 Wear Rule. This means to buy the outfit only if you are likely to wear it at least 30 times.
If anyone asks you how and why you repeat your outfits
Accessorize, Mix N Match – keep experimenting with your style. Try to pair the same top with Jeans, a skirt or shorts and you would be surprised to see how many different looks you can create.
If royalty i.e. Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton is not shy to repeat outfits why are we being shy?
Check this blog out as she styles the same outfit multiple times. We hope more influencers will take note of this eventually!
If someone calls you out for repeating the same outfit, smile and reply to them like Anne Hathaway in the meme.
You may end up changing the other person if you are very lucky.
Save yourself a load of mental stress & financial loss and end up doing the environment a big favour by just – Repeating your outfits!
Fear of Missing out (FOMO) is one of the most powerful emotions that makes people do things that they wouldn’t have otherwise done. Viewers feel compelled to buy the products that the influencers proudly showcase. It is difficult to resist and the young generation especially feels the need to buy these clothes to fit in. Many youngsters even undertake hauls of their own and put them up on social media to show off. This puts further pressure on their peers to undertake such hauls and creates a feedback loop.
The main problem of hauls is not the purchasing of Fast Fashion but the promotion of mindless consumption. It normalizes shopping in large quantities. Many purchased clothes are not even worn and are discarded. It normalizes a use-and-throw culture. Never mind the impact on the planet, this excess shopping puts pressure on youngsters’ bank balances as well.
The sad part is that despite there being more environmental awareness in Gen-Z, they continue to be the biggest consumers of these hauls. This shows how deep-rooted consumerism has become in our societies.
Fast Fashion has a huge negative environmental footprint. From production to manufacturing to disposal our clothes harm the planet. Fast fashion companies have been accused of low-quality clothing and poor treatment of workers among other things.
Check out our blog on Fast Fashion - How it negatively impacts the environment? to know more.
Influencers depend on the likes, comments, and engagement to understand if they should continue making that content. If as social media users, we start to disengage from such content and give negative comments or downvotes, it will provide a signal to the influencer and other social media users.
Start following more sustainability influencers. You will find out that sustainable fashion is not just better for the environment but also your pocket. Sustainable fashion doesn’t just involve buying new garments but also includes aspects like lower consumption, repairing, borrowing from friends and family, and thrifting.
You can follow our Instagram page for tips on sustainable fashion and can visit our website to check out our range of Sustainable Clothing.]]>Discounts and Sales are exciting but are they really worth it? In our blog, we’ll explain more about its origin, environmental impacts and some tips to avoid temptation.
We’ve all heard about Black Friday Sales but what is it and how did it come to be?
"Black Friday" was first used by the police in Philadelphia in the 1950s. Visitors flocked to the city for the Army vs Navy football game and for holiday shopping which led to chaos and traffic on the day after Thanksgiving.
Despite several attempts by retailers to modify the name to Big Friday, the term Black Friday became popular by 1961. By the 1980s, Retailers, however, discovered a method to redefine Black Friday, turning it into something that reflected positively on them and their customers. The word had spread across the country, and shops had turned it into a marketing tool.
The Monday, post Black Friday has become popular as Cyber Monday which is the Online shopping version of Black Friday.
Days such as Black Friday promote over-consumption and consumption of things that are unnecessary. This wouldn’t have been a problem if we had unlimited resources to produce goods and easy ways for the disposal of products without impacting the environment. But unfortunately, this is not the case.
80% of Black Friday purchases are discarded after only one or zero usage. Imagine the amount of resources, plastic packaging, transportation emissions that would have gone in getting the products to the consumer, just to be wasted!
Read more here
Even still a lot of people are protesting against consumerism and the exploitation that comes in hand with buying products.
Check below to know more:
It's not easy to avoid buying stuff when the prices are so low, but there are few tips which can help you during this Black Friday sale:
In addition to having negative impact on the Environment, such days also have a negative societal impact. These Days promote mindless consumerism and there are enough articles available showing negative impact of consumerism on mental health. Even in “developed” societies like the US, people fight with each other to get their hands on a few products.
It also has negative financial impact since you end up buying things that you don’t need (even though they are at a discount). So, if you buy a useless item for Rs. 1000 at 40% discount, you haven’t saved Rs. 400; but you have spent Rs. 600.
As many things from the West, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have started gaining traction in India as well. Many big retailer’s online as well as offline have started marketing 26th Nov as Black Friday in India. And the sale is not restricted to a particular day but is held over a number of days.
As consumers, we vote with our money. Lets us then vote so that on this Black Friday, the impact to the environment, our mental health, our society and our finances is minimal. 😊
]]>This is where Green Marketing comes in the picture. What is wrong with Green Marketing? Nothing. But if it is used to deceive people into buying products, Green Marketing becomes “Greenwashing”.
Cambridge Dictionary says greenwashing is designed “to make people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is”. It basically means falsely claiming (intentionally or unintentionally) that you are eco-friendly when you are not. It is evident if a company is spending more time and money claiming to be “green” than actually being so.
It misleads consumers into buying the “greenwashed” products as opposed to genuine eco-friendly ones. Since sustainability is trending now, all companies are jumping on this bandwagon. So the ones with the highest marketing budgets and consumer reach win (and not the ones that are genuine) defeating the whole purpose.
Some examples:
1. A large Indian conglomerate which portrays itself to be sustainable has launched a super fast fashion brand which has T-Shirts available for less than Rs. 200. This clothing chain has become quite famous now!
2. A big coffee chain - In 2018, in response to increased calls for banning plastic straws, this coffee chain introduced a new straw-less lid that actually contained more plastic by weight than the old straw and lid combination.
3. A big burger chain - In 2009, this chain changed the colour of their logos from yellow and green; a spokesman for the company explained that the change was "to clarify [their] responsibility for the preservation of natural resources."
4. A Fast fashion retailer – This retailer launched their sustainable clothing series and even though the proportion of their sales through this series would be minuscule, it helps in marketing themselves as a Green company.
Greenwashing is difficult to spot and now becoming more sophisticated. In some cases, greenwashing is unintentional, where companies who market the product may not be completely aware about the negative aspects of their products. But in many cases, greenwashing is used to change the image of the company and drive more sales.
Be a bit skeptical
There are a lot of words which are thrown around loosely like, “All Natural”, “Organic”, “Vegan”, “Eco-Friendly”, “Green”, “Sustainable”, “Compostable”, “Bio-degradable” etc. There are no set definitions for these terms and may not carry much substance other than to induce you to consume that product. Be skeptical about such marketing and try to judge the genuineness about the claims.
Don’t get carried away by the environmental imagery used on the product or marketing. Having forests and mountain photographs on the package make it more eco-appealing but it might just be a distraction.
Certifications
Look out for Third party certifications and labels on the product. For example, Organic cotton can be relied upon if it has been certified as either ‘GOTS’, ‘BCI’ or ‘OCS’. ‘Energy Star’ is one such certifications for electronics.
Get aware & spread awareness
Check out for product reviews before making a decision. Additionally, provide reviews so that others can make an informed decision too.
]]>In simple words, Fast Fashion refers to bringing latest fashion styles to the public at an affordable price. This can be achieved by rapid production and low quality materials. In short, Fast Fashion is like Fast Food – Tasty, Cheap but Unhealthy. Why unhealthy? You will find out later ahead. Although we have covered only garment industry in this article, Fast fashion also extends to footwear, bags, accessories, etc.
Fast Fashion traces its roots to around 1960s where Zara created supply chains enabling them to replicate new fashion trends within couple of weeks. Till then, the fashion industry used to design clothes only for four seasons of the year. In addition to Zara, brands like H&M, Forever 21 were instrumental in the growth of Fast Fashion. Brands like Pantaloons, Fashion at Big Bazaar, AJIO, Myntra, Reliance Trends, etc are torchbearers of Fast Fashion in India.
From 2000 to 2015, clothing sales have doubled which translates into a yearly growth of 4.7%[1]. To put this in context, in the same period, World economy grew by only 2.7% [2].
Clothing utilization, measured by the number of times an item is worn, has reduced from 200 in 2002 to around 128 times in 2016 i.e. a reduction of 36%[1]. This is mainly led by the surge in consumerism among the Chinese. This utilization would have most likely fallen further post 2015 considering other Emerging countries like India are becoming increasingly aspirational & consumption driven. In short, our clothing consumption is rising at an alarming rate.
Prima facie, why would Fast Fashion be harmful? It looks like a win-win for all. The consumers win because they can buy fresh designs inexpensively. And the producers win because they can increase their turnover & hence their profits. It also employs a staggering 7.5 Crs people in the supply chain![3] But doesn’t this look too good to be true? Like we said earlier, Fast Food is cheap, tasty but it is also very Unhealthy. The same with Fast Fashion. So, who is it Unhealthy for? The labourers manufacturing garments & the environment. Other than that, synthetic clothing is also not good for our skin. A garment worker’s health is constantly at risk due to long hours of work at meagre pay, exposure to harmful dyes and chemicals and shabby working conditions. The collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in Bangladesh in Apr’13 killing 1,132 people and injuring many others is an example highlighting their poor work conditions [4]. There have been many such incidences of such sufferings. Now coming to environment. At all stages of cloth production, from production of fibre to the manufacturing of the final product, environment is impacted. The environment also gets impacted during usage and disposal of garments. The textile industry uses significant amounts of resources – Water, Land, electricity, chemicals throughout its value chain. It also releases huge quantities poisonous chemicals and dyes back into land and water, polluting them. The environment is indeed paying a huge cost for our insatiable hunger for clothing.
At the end of the blog, we have listed a few but very pertinent facts about the impact to environment during the manufacturing process.
With the advent of E-commerce, supply chains and logistics have been developed to make it simple and super convenient for people to consume. But the logistics for people to dispose and recycle are not in place. And till the time these develop, our clothes will continue to be landfilled or incinerated. There are few upcoming ideas, which if successful, can reduce the number of clothes we buy. Services like Short term Rental clothing, Garment Swapping and Rental Subscriptions are few of them. Short term rental service, for example, can be brilliant for party wear. It can also be useful for a tourist who wants winter clothing for a very short term.But in order for these ideas to be successful, it will require a big mindset change among consumers. A lot of consumers may be sceptical about wearing used clothes. But mindset can be changed, as evidenced by Uber and Ola in the car rental space. The clothing space might be tougher, but we are hopeful.
But in the meanwhile, what can we as Consumers do – we can adopt #SlowFashion
We need to be more mindful and less impulsive while making purchasing decisions. The idea is not to stop consumption, but to consume with conscience. These few pointers maybe helpful in adopting Slow Fashion.
Fabric Selection Cotton, though biodegradable, is not the most eco-friendly due to it being water & pesticide intensive in its production. Polyester is worse considering its input is crude oil and hence is non-biodegradable. It is difficult to avoid clothing made of cotton, but we can try to minimize polyester consumption.There are alternative fabrics like Organic Cotton, Bamboo, Hemp, Linen, Lyocell, Modal that are available. These alternatives are not just environment friendly but also tend to be more comfortable and durable. Unfortunately, these fabrics are expensive as compared to traditional fabrics due to a lack of supply chain.
Conscious Purchases While planning to purchase clothes, we need to think consciously whether we actually require them. Though it is difficult to not be lured by the marketing campaigns to make us consume, we need to resist the urge. Also, less consumption of clothing means less consumption of packaging. “We have so much power to change the world by just being careful in what we buy” - Emma Watson (Actor, Model & Activist)
Durable Options While evaluating the choices at the time of purchase, in addition to the design and the cost, consider options which are more durable. Look at factors like thread count and type of fabric. Durable clothes might seem expensive but if seen on a Cost per wear basis, they would end up much cheaper. For example, If you buy a garment worth Rs. 1000 and wear it only 2 times before discarding, then the cost per wear is Rs. 500. Whereas, if you buy a garment worth Rs. 2000 but wear it 8 times, the cost per wear is Rs. 250. If low quality materials are used in garments, cost per wear would definitely end up higher.
Spread the Word Fast Fashion is as important as any issue that we discuss. Awareness is a catalyst for change and more people need to become aware that our consumption patterns have severe ramifications. If we demand a change, slowly but surely, will we get one.
Below are some facts and figures to highlight the extent of resource utilization and the pollution created in various stages of textile production, its usage & disposal. These examples are by no means exhaustive.
Fibre Production
Cotton needs a lot of water to grow. 1 Cotton T-shirt requires 2700 Litres of Water to produce which translates to 2.5 years of drinking water for 1 person[5]. Cotton is usually grown in hot regions where water scarcity is already an issue. Cotton production just compounds that.
Even though, globally, Cotton is grown in around 2.5% of arable land, but 16% pesticides are used for growing cotton. In India, 50% of all pesticides used are for cotton production[1].
Clothing Production
The production of 1 Kg of cotton garments uses up to 3 Kg of chemicals. For eg., to achieve crease-resistant ‘non-iron’ garments, clothing is often treated with formaldehyde – which has been classified as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and is also linked to allergic contact dermatitis[1].
20% of industrial water pollution globally is attributable to the dyeing and treatment of textiles[1].
Usage
Microfibres are released from synthetic clothing items during every wash. These then mix in water and with aquatic life and get then consumed via drinking water and through seafood. Each year, 0.5 million tonnes of plastic microfibres – equivalent to more than 50 billion plastic bottles[1] – are estimated to be released into the ocean. And this number is just going to rise!
Disposal
Across industries, only 13% of the total textile material input is in some way recycled after clothing use [1]. The rest is either landfilled or incinerated.
1. Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future, (2017, http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications)
2. World Bank
4. International Labour Organization- https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/geip/WCMS_614394/lang--en/index.htm
5. World Research Institute - https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/07/apparel-industrys-environmental-impact-6-graphics
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