It’s no secret that the fashion industry is a destructive force on our planet. While there aren’t any quantifiable statistics publicly available to back the following claim up, the fashion industry is widely cited as the second largest polluter in the world, behind the oil industry. Regardless of its exact place on that undoubtedly dubious podium, most of us are aware of the general impact of the fashion industry. Still though, some facts bear repeating, as they are eye-opening.
In a 2017 panel discussion in New York, Nate Alden (senior fellow at the World Resources Institute) shared that the best estimate for the amount of Greenhouse Gases generated by the apparel sector is around 5%. While that number isn’t initially shocking, what brings it into clearer focus is that 5% figure is roughly equal to the entire greenhouse gas output of Russia, or the entire aviation industry. Another troubling statistic is regarding synthetic fibres used in our clothing, and how they end up in our environment. According to a study performed by the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2017, synthetic fleece garments release approximately 1.7 grams of microfibres every wash. These fibres end up in our streams, lakes and oceans, where they are easily consumed by fish and fowl. Compounding this issue is the fact that we are trending toward even more consumption of fashion. According to a report commissioned by the Global Fashion Agenda in 2017, we are expected to consume a shocking one hundred million tonnes of fashion in 2030, up 63% from 2017.
How then do we curb this astonishing impact on our planet? One way, according to Vincent Lai, General Manager and Head Buyer at Uncle Otis, a contemporary menswear store in Toronto, is to purchase clothing that is made to last instead of following the current trend of disposable fashion. “It’s something that I definitely try to be aware of,” he said, when asked if a garment’s durability impacts his decision to purchase it for the store, “not only in terms of the construction and fabrication, but the styling as well.”
Indeed, when you look around Uncle Otis’s new Chinatown location, there are many pieces that look as if they could have been produced 50 years ago. Even Maharishi, a British streetwear brand with very adventurous styling, has had a cult following for over twenty years. “While our price point is higher than any of those fast fashion brands,” Lai said, “we’re confident that these pieces are worth the investment.”
Many of the brands that Uncle Otis carries practice environmentally conscious methods. These are present in the materials that are used for construction, and most of the lines that the shop carries are composed of natural fibres like cotton and wool. Monitaly, another line that the store carries, opts to use Vancloth on many of their outerwear pieces. Vancloth, is an extremely tightly woven cotton sateen that was once a staple of military technical gear. The idea is that the weave is so tight that water droplets cannot get in, but because it’s a cotton fabric, it’s still highly breathable. This fabric was good enough for the majority of the world’s armed services for decades, yet the majority of garment producers abandoned it in favour of synthetic fibres.
In addition to using organic cottons and hemps, the aforementioned Maharishi also repurposes military surplus garments and fabrics for their own pieces, using the repurposed fabric for pockets, linings, and other notions. Because the founder of the brand, Harvey Blechmann is a pacifist, all former military materials are blessed in a traditional Hindu fashion, stripping them of any residual evils associated with their time in the military.
In addition to buying from brands dedicated to durability and lessening their environmental impact, Vince tells me that Uncle Otis also buys from brands that are socially responsible as well. “We strive to buy from brands that are committed to ethical manufacturing,” he tells me. “Wings and Horns is all made in their facility in Vancouver; all of Oliver Spencer & Universal Works’ stuff is made ethically in Portugal; Eastlogue is all done in California; …we have brands made all around the world, but the common denominator is that they all have ethical and transparent manufacturing practices.”
So how can we curb humanity’s destructive path that we wreak upon our world? The first step is awareness. We must be conscious about the potential impact of our purchases. We must ask the tough questions so we may understand what goes into the garments we purchase. As much as possible, we must try to buck the trends of fast fashion and buy goods that are made to last, and aren’t styled with inherent planned obsolescence. As consumers, we could do much worse than follow the example that Uncle Otis has set.
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