Become a sustainable fashion expert in five hours or less by reading these four articles to help master the topic of textile waste.
Our social media algorithms feed us endless repetitive, salacious and empty information. We consume the same content repeatedly, which makes us feel duller and more depressed rather than smarter and more informed. Put down the phone and pick up some reading.
Swap the doomscrolling, become a sustainable fashion expert
Start by pouring yourself a cup of your favorite drink and then swap five hours of doomscrolling with reading and devour these four excellent articles on sustainable fashion.
As a sustainable fashion expert, I’ve come to the end of the internet on all the reading. These four articles are the most comprehensive, informative, well-researched and clearly written resources regarding the textile waste crisis out there today.
Loved Clothes Last
Loved Clothes Last by the nonprofit group Fashion Revolution is a 130-page digital download that offers some history of fashion as well as a look at how consumers’ relationship to clothing has evolved over the decades.
The digital download explores waste and mass consumption in the fashion industry while offering quotable statistics about the impact of fashion production on the environment. The article makes the incontrovertible argument for reduced consumption and focuses on the idea of designing products for longevity and circularity. Loved Clothes Last also walks readers through the traditional lifecycle of clothing today starting from raw materials production all the way through where it “probably” ends up after you donate your clothing.
Graphics are engaging and fun, and the authors do a great job of bringing the reader along for the ride. The digital download challenges us to think differently about consumption, reuse, our relationship with marketing, how we sustainably obtain new fashion and how we can care for our clothing.
The brilliant authors behind Loved Clothes Last also offer a comprehensive section about cleaning our clothing, a topic that merits considerably more attention that it receives. They also explain the current status of textile recycling by region, and the authors make a case for thoughtful, practical legislation that could empower consumers to more easily exchange, repair and responsibly discard clothing.
Loved Clothes Last ends with an overview of the circular economy and offers a powerful reading list of their own. Dive into this fantastic digital download today.
Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable
The public think tank Hot or Cool created Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable, a 66-page article that offers an in-depth overview of the impact that global fashion production has on the planet and our climate.
You can find detailed information about per capita greenhouse gas emissions through fashion consumption by country as well as global consumption targets from the Paris Agreement. Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable offers a solid background on the Paris Agreement and what needs to change to reach the agreed upon targets.
The impacts of wealthier countries on the environment are outlined as well as the importance of modified consumption habits among the most affluent consumer groups throughout the world. This is the article that first stated that consumers should buy only five new articles of clothing per year and explains why that five is the ideal goal.
Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable makes a strong case for clothing exchange and repair. If you’re on a mission to become a sustainable fashion expert, this article will help you explain why reducing consumption among the most affluent people is critical.
Fashion’s Waste Crisis and How to Solve It
HEY FASHION! is a platform created by The Eileen Fisher Foundation and Pentatonic® dedicated to elevating the issue of textile waste in the fashion industry. Fashion’s Waste Crisis and How to Solve It is a 135-page study that gives a global overview of the waste crisis and a comprehensive look at leaders offering or studying solutions.
In addition to outlining the current waste crisis associated with fashion production volume and consumption rates, this report focuses on the changes needed for a sustainable fashion future.
Here are the eight systemic changes that are called out in the study:
- Scaling collection and sorting infrastructure
- Investing in recycling infrastructure
- Reducing production and consumption
- Establishing comprehensive cross-sector collaboration
- Designing for durability and recycling
- Promoting industry standardization and universal definitions
- Divesting from fossil fuels
- Changing the metrics of success
The team behind this study does a fantastic job sharing the research and data that set the foundation for change that needs to happen immediately. Fashion’s Waste Crisis and How to Solve It also details the movement of secondhand textiles around the world from the highest consuming countries downward. They also detail the significance of fiber in global garment production and its impact in natural resource use all the way through to the environmental impact of fossil fuel-based materials currently rotting in landfills.
The data and research in this article will provide an excellent foundation for anyone interested in becoming a sustainable fashion expert while highlighting the roadmap to change needed by all stakeholders.
Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of second-hand vs new clothing
Digital reseller ThredUp sponsored this report created by Green Story, a consulting firm that focuses on impact measurement for the fashion industry.
Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of second-hand vs new clothing performed the Herculean feat of running a macro life cycle assessment of global clothing production by product category. This helped them land on an estimate of the environmental impact of reusing clothing or buying pre-owned items rather than purchasing new.
This is a powerful, comprehensive analysis of all the inputs that determine the impact of a garment through its lifecycle.
For example, when the report references a cotton T-shirt, they consider transit of cotton to country of production, the estimated energy, water and chemical consumption for fabric production, the average distance a T-shirt travels from factory to distribution center and more.
If someone is on a mission of becoming a sustainable fashion expert and is hunting for data about the benefit of supporting a clothing reuse industry, this report released by ThredUp is where I recommend you start.
The first version of this report from 2019 is worth reading because it so clearly outlines the process of clothing production and ends with specific data on energy, water and chemical consumption for each type of clothing, which is the data we’ve used to help guide our impact calculator’s calculations. In a revised version released in 2022, ThredUp dug deeper into reuse impact through consumer interviews to learn more about what happens to textile products once purchased. For example, the number of times a pair of pants is worn is way different from the number of times a blazer is worn, so the impact is nuanced.
While this report is filled with a lot of data, and it’s likely much more riveting to someone like me with a sourcing background, the information included helps guide readers to becoming credible experts in the importance and impact of reduced new garment consumption.
Go forth, and read your way into being a sustainable fashion expert!
Download these papers, slip into cozy clothes and lock away your phone to avoid the doomscrolling. Set yourself up in your reading cocoon, and your mind will be blown by all the data, research and fascinating information from these four articles.
If you make it through all four articles on sustainable fashion, send me an email. I’ll give you a quiz, and if you pass, you’ll get a small prize along with the knowledge that you’re officially a sustainable fashion expert in my book.
