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How ‘Forever’ Can Be Destructive
How does fashion impact our oceans? If we were to take five minutes to research ‘plastic’ we would face a variety of information. Ranging from positive and negative stories, these few minutes can educate us on how we are affecting the oceans. With documentaries, news articles, and publications providing us different viewpoints of it. Through just five minutes, we can see the dangers it can pose to our environment. From affecting marine life to covering beaches with trash, plastic has increasingly been mass-produced for our use. Creating a cycle of pollution that seems never-ending, forever can be destructive until we start to do something about it. Netflix documentaries Netflix released…
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Is Our Health Paying the Price for Our Fashion?
Fast fashion Fashion is a multi trillion dollar industry that continues to grow. The global shift East has led to cheap and fast fashion with polyester being used in 60% of clothes, and our reliance on polyester is one of the reasons why the fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world; both in terms of its emissions-heavy production and the non-biodegradable waste it leaves behind. The use of such materials in clothes consequently causes microfibers to be released in both the production and the usage of the item. Pollution of the oceans Plastic particles washed off from products such as synthetic clothes and textiles contribute…
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How fashion brands have become more eco-friendly to protect our oceans.
Each year, over 8 million tons of plastic waste enters and pollutes our oceans. This pollution poses a dangerous threat to human health, the marine ecosystems and the planet as a whole. Unlike natural materials, plastic in the ocean does not biodegrade. Instead it breaks down into smaller pieces and is consumed by the sea life, meaning it is in turn consumed by us too. The plastics are also an immense source of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, emitting more and more gas as they degrade over time – damaging our environment and contributing to climate change. Recent research has also strikingly shown that by 2050, there will be more plastic waste…
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Sustainable Brands to Watch in 2021
Textiles like polyester, acrylic, and nylon are the main source of microplastics, resulting in 34.8% of international microplastic pollution. Consequently, Microfibres enter our sewage and are unable to be fully extracted by wastewater treatments and thus wind up in our oceans, killing fish, destroying ecosystems, food chains, and livelihoods. Sustainability is critical to the survival of the human race. Increasingly, consumers are attempting to lower their effect on the earth and, as a result, an expanding amount of sustainable fashion brands are emerging to meet the need for ethical and sustainable fashion. The health of our oceans is a growing concern as drinkable water scarcity is increasing. Sustainable fashion brands…
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New Fashion from Ocean Recycling
Can we recycle the ocean’s waste for new fashion? Fashion is the second largest water polluter in the world. Water that’s used in fashion production becomes polluted with dyes and plastics. From rivers and streams, the water then ends up in our oceans, causing major problems for the environment. Plastic pollution particularly causes risk to sea life as the plastics are not biodegradable, as they can be consumed by fish leading to death. “[Finding] ways to get plastic out of the oceans without harming sea life is the ultimate challenge.” Cyrill Gutsch, Parley for the Oceans Founder Who turns ocean waste into fashion? Parley from the Oceans came up with…
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Microfibers are Becoming Macro Problems for the Fashion World
The issue at hand Climate change has been an extremely hot topic in recent years. Activists like Greta Thunberg, as well as pressure groups such as Extinction Rebellion have been almost unavoidable; reminding us on a daily basis of the damage we are causing the world. We see images of forest fires decimating rural areas, turning the green wilderness into hot visions of red. Images of polar bears perching onto the last shrivels of icecap in the Antarctic, unaware they are about to drown in the icy depths of their once home. We see images of birds, covered in silky oil. and beached. They are struggling to survive and swamped…
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Under the Sea
I know I’m not the only one guilty of buying a new wardrobe every season, especially with lockdown and plenty of time to scroll through copious amounts of websites. However, what effect does this fast fashion lifestyle have on our oceans? Well, a majority of the fibers used to create these fast fashion pieces are collected from the Earth. In order to keep up with the high demand, the harvesting process is done by using toxic chemicals, which then run into our water supplies or into our soils. Around 17-20% of industrial water pollution comes from the fashion industry, which is the highest of them all. Some companies have decided…
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There’s More Plastic Swimming in the Ocean Than Animals
Come and meet the fashion companies that are saving our oceans. Over eight million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean every year. Making up 80% of marine debris, wasted plastic is dangerous because there is no way to extract the microfibres, and they’re then spread through the food chain. It’s also threatening for marine life as they become tangled in it, or digest it themselves which can lead to injury or even death. As a result of these statistics, many fashion brands have done their bit to try save our oceans, from donating profits to marine charities to creating sustainable clothing and accessories from the recycled plastic. Here…
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How Microfibres are Making Their Way into Our Oceans
One invisible polluter in our oceans are microfibres. By doing your simple chores you’re contributing to the build up of them into the ocean. Around 50% of our clothing is made of microfibres. And when we wash our clothes they are released from the items’ fabric, into the water system and eventually end up in the ocean. What are they? These are tiny synthetic fibres made from plastic. They are less than 5mm in length and thinner than human hair. When we wash our clothes, these microfibres are released into the ocean. The fashion industry is responsible for 35% of microplastic pollution. These microplastics are caused by the use of…
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Not All Heroes Wear Capes – Some Wear Thrifted
How thrifted clothing can counter the fashion industry’s growing problem I think it’s fair to say that the fashion industry has a problem with sustainability – and now is the time for a much-needed intervention. With environmental destruction and pollution being a part of our daily lives, there is a growing sense of collective responsibility to address this climate emergency. The damage as we know, has been a result of unsustainable practices, including the wide use of plastics, landfills, non-renewable energy, scarce resources, and more. This real threat to our environment, however, has been met with many encouraging interventions. Supermarkets have turned the tide on single-use plastic bags, eateries are…
