Why Clothes are Bad for the Environment

Sometimes it seems that just about everything we buy these days ends up being bad for the environment. I mean, even the clothes we’ve all been buying and wearing for so many years have turned out to be bad for the environment…

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that wearing clothes is bad for the environment! The problem lies in the fabrics that are being used to make our modern day clothes. These fabrics tend to be far from eco-friendly. Here are some examples:

  • Cotton: The production of (non-organic) cotton destroys farmland and pollutes waterways. The production of a simple T-shirt requires two pounds of pesticide!
  • Dyes: Most common dyes that are used in fabrics contain heavy metals that can be harmful to animals, the natural environment, and ourselves.
  • Synthetic polyesters and nylons: These are made from petrochemicals via a process of refining crude oil, which creates horrible pollution.
  • Silk: Commercial silk is made by boiling the silkworms’ cocoons, then unwinding the single silk strand onto reels. This results in the silkworms being boiled to death in their cocoons.

What’s more, many fabrics cause further environmental problems when they’re dumped in landfill. Fabrics can typically take hundreds of years (or more) to break down in landfill.

But there is hope. Many major clothing companies are recognizing the environmental problems caused by traditional fabrics, and they’re starting to do something about it. These companies are now producing clothes that are made from eco-friendly fabrics.

Unfortunately, eco-friendly clothes still tend to be the exception rather than the norm. That’s why it’s so important for us, as consumers, to start searching for clothes made from environmentally friendly fabrics. The more of us that do this, the more commercially viable it will be for companies to use eco-friendly fabrics in their clothing lines. Here’s an example of one major clothing company doing just that.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 5:53 am and is filed under Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

6 Responses to “Why Clothes are Bad for the Environment”

  1. katie.kissane@gmail.com Says:
    August 14th, 2010 at 4:17 am

    The web is so innundated with all sorts of BS, it’s hard to find any good information nowadays… thank you for standing out ;)

  2. Oral Robert Says:
    February 1st, 2011 at 11:58 am

    Thanks for helping me make the case for nudism!

  3. chris Says:
    April 8th, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    I found a great website that sells hemp fabrics. All organic hemp fabric for home furnishings and hemp clothing.
    http://www.hempskinz.com

  4. Jazmine Says:
    May 15th, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    i just have to say thank you so much for speaking up Im doing a research paper for school and i couldnt find anything. But then a girlfriend of mine told me this would be a good site to try and what do you know it WORKED so thanks again

  5. katie Says:
    December 6th, 2011 at 10:55 am

    this website is wicked thank you so much!!!!!

  6. Ann Says:
    May 9th, 2012 at 10:18 pm

    silk is bad for the environment? BS! Producing silk may require boiling silkworms when they are live. But just like killing chicken or cows or pigs for dinner. Even drinking milk, is causing a baby calf’s death. When you are drinking milk, eating egg, did you think of how many lives being killed?