Making High-Fashion Highly Sustainable

April 2014www.newforestclothing.co.uk

Making High-Fashion Highly Sustainable

*Image credits: New Forest Clothing


Environmentally Unfriendly

The chemicals currently used in the manufacturing of clothing and linen are numerous and have a hugely detrimental effect on the environment.

The processes involved in creating cloth can create pollution and use vital resources. Bleaching and dyeing are the main offenders; the former uses compounds which produce dioxin and the latter, if unfixed dyes are used, can contribute to the colouring and contamination of natural rivers.

Most polycotton fabrics also get treated with formaldehyde which is not only toxic to the environment but to humans as well. Source:http://www.greenchoices.org/green-living/clothes/environmental-impacts

http://www.greenchoices.org/green-living/clothes/environmental-impacts



Cotton: Cotton uses the most amount of pesticides and herbicides of all crops making it harmful to those farming it and, if these chemicals are retained in the fabric, can be harmful to those at a consumer level too. It has also been criticised for taking up a great deal of agricultural land.

Nylon/Polyester: These produce carbon dioxide, are non-biodegradable and are made of petrochemicals making them a triple threat to the environment and wholly unsustainable. The processes used to create nylon also consume a great deal of water contributing to a large use of energy.

Rayon: Made from wood pulp, rayon is a naturally synthetic fibre, however many old forests and established farms are being eradicated to make room for new wood pulp forests. During the journey from fibre to cloth it is also treated with dangerous chemicals like sulphuric acid.

Wool: Even wool has been found to have harmful properties in the organophosphates that are found in sheep dip; these contribute to various nasty symptoms including limb pains, disturbed sleep and mood swings.

Source:


Dashing Fabrics or De-Forestation?




What’s Being Done?

The Sustainable Apparel Association represents the world’s largest fashion companies and is currently considering the trial of a new app aimed at educating the consumer as to the sustainability of the products they buy.

The proposed app would involve a scanning system that will allow the consumer to view a garments sustainability information in store before they buy. Giving consumers the platform to make informed decisions about who are the most environmentally-ethical companies to buy from may prompt other companies to take the risks seriously. The world’s fashion powerhouses have taken note of the importance of the issue but will it all make a difference?

Source:

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/fashion-companies-sustainability-barcode-clothing-labels




But What Can We Do?

As It Turns Out… Lots!


In With The Old…

Retail giants including Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Next have teamed up with fashion designers such as Stella McCartney to create the “Love Your Clothes” campaign to help raise awareness of just how many resources are being wasted due to the binning of perfectly wearable clothing. This campaign encourages people to mend and repair clothes that have been damaged rather than throw them away where they will end up causing more damage to the environment. Currently, most unwanted clothes are discarded in the standard rubbish bins meaning they end up on landfill sites instead of being recycled, creating a huge and needless problem for an already struggling environment. It also pays to recycle your clothes; with the average consumer spending around £1700 a year on new clothes, it seems a waste to not get the most out of your old ones!

Source:

http://www.newforestclothing.co.uk/news-uk-online-country-clothing-out-of-landfill




Map Your Outfit

In addition to the Love Your Clothes campaign, The Guardian recently asked readers to map their outfit and share their findings on a downloadable app. The premise was simple: upload a picture of yourself in your current outfit (perhaps with a slightly less-forced pose than our friend to the left here!) and let the labels convey the story.

Readers were asked simply to check the labels to see which countries their garments had been made in. The idea is to help translate the stories behind the clothes we wear and become more aware of the ways in which they are made. This knowledge will hopefully help us to choose sustainable retailers who are proud do as much as possible to keep the environment in which we live a healthy one.

Source:

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-blog/2014/mar/26/made-in-tell-us-where-your-clothes-come-from





But What Are WE Doing?

New Forest Clothing as a quality country clothing company understand the importance of the environment around us. Our passion not just for nature, but also for our customers means we are dedicated to doing what we can to support sustainable clothing.

We are a family run businesses with strong values and are a proud supporter of British brands. Our selling of local brands cuts our transport costs in comparison to the larger conglomerates who deal with international supply chains and as such, we are happy to have a notably smaller carbon footprint.

We are passionate about the natural world and hope that there can be many changes made to the current hazardous ways in which some fabrics are produced, we promise to keep abreast of any changes that may occur in the world of fabric manufacturing.

Source:

http://www.newforestclothing.co.uk

http://www.newforestclothing.co.uk/


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Please help us to spread the word about these initiatives. The highstreet is taking note – and so are we.

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Lifestyle

Making High-Fashion Highly Sustainable