Reading through Alice Payne’s paper on sustainability and the life-cycle of a product, I began to realize the importance of modifying our current methods of creating garments. Although the paper is specifically about Australia, many of the points Payne introduces are very relevant to the fashion industry as a whole. For example, Payne incorporates the fact that, ““purchasing a 250g cotton T-shirt implies purchasing 1,700g of fossil fuel, depositing 450g of waste to landfill and emitting 4kg of CO2 into the atmosphere. These figures are largely driven by the energy required to launder and dry the T-shirt during its life cycle” By purchasing only one cotton t shirt, you are putting a large toll on the environment essentially by prolonging the garment’s usability. We must start to understand the heavy environmental consequences that is caused by our current methods of garment creation. For example, cotton requires the use of large amounts of water, only for a single t-shirt.
When walking through the fabric markets on Saturday, I consistently saw signs boasting “100% real silk” or “pure cotton”. The importance we place on “valuable” fabrics and textiles such as silk or cotton, that cause serious environmental consequences, must be assessed. As consumers, it is our own responsibility to purchase garments and support companies that encourage the use of sustainable fabrics and promote models of a sustainable life-cycle.