Roughly 50% of all fibres used in garment production are synthetic. Scientists now tell us these fibres will take anywhere from 20 – 200 years to break down in landfill.
Currently researchers predict by 2025 the world will be producing enough global waste to fill a line of garbage trucks stretching 5000kms – every single day. That is crazy!
The other scary fact is the natural fibre we all rely on, wearing day in day out, is one of the worst polluters in the industry.
Some little known facts I found about cotton:
- While cotton makes up almost 50% of all fibres used in making clothes, only 1% of it is grown organically.
- 4% of the world’s arable land is under cotton cultivation, yet the industry is responsible for 15-25% of the world’s use of toxic pesticides and insecticides.
- To harvest, the whole crop is removed, leaving large stretches of barren land, causing soil degradation and leeching of the toxic chemicals into underlying water tables.
- Cotton requires 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton – roughly a tee shirt and a pair of jeans. This is equal to 80,000 standard glasses of water. Only 1% of water on the earth’s surface is drinkable.
When people ask me what I do, and I say I design clothes made from bamboo, I get the craziest reactions. But when I starting reading these sorts of statistics, and realising how much the global fashion apparel industry was contributing to this toxic outcome, I knew as an Industry and as consumers we needed to change. We need outcomes that reverse the effects of pollution, not major contributors.
- Bamboo grows naturally organically, requiring minimal rainfall as its water source.
- As it grows it takes in 5 times the amount of greenhouse gases, and produces 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees.
- A naturally occurring antibacterial agent “kun” repels insects, negating the need for toxic pesticides.
- As a crop it is harvested at it’s base, leaving the root system in place to naturally regenerate, protecting the soil from erosion.
If you would like to know more, and learn how the plant is transformed into fibre form, take a look at this great video I found on youtube put together by the Cariloha Bamboo company.
Bamboo: The Miracle Plant
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