Apparel Industry Report
The Apparel Industry:
Issues and Solutions
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Please note: This report focuses on environmental impacts and solutions associated with apparel, a second report will present the equally complex social responsibility (SR) issues associated with this industry’s life cycle including fair trade, fair labor and animal well-being issues. Published by Labeling Ecologically Approved Fabrics (LEAF)
Special thanks to: Coral Rose, Founder Eco-Innovations Sustainable Textile Strategies Dr. Gwendolyn Hustvedt-Professor of Textiles, Texas State University Eric Brody, Principle, Shift Advantage Consulting
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Photo Courtesy Mary Kent Hearon, MK@theweeklybeet.com
The fashion industry is a global, trend-setting pioneer. Such influence provides an opportunity to inspire shifts on the international scale as this industry leads a pervasive transition towards even more sustainable and socially responsible ways of conducting business. Thank you for reviewing this report that explores both the systemic issues, as well as the exciting solutions happening throughout the life cycle of this pioneering industry.
Impacts and Concerns
The environmental footprint of creating apparel varies based on the methods used to produce and extract the resources; the process to create, dye and finish the materials; the steps to cut, sew and assemble the products, and the packaging and distribution systems to move and deliver the product. Examples of the environmental impacts of these steps are discussed below:
Conventional Cotton Farming
Cotton uses approximately 25% of the world's insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants). Fifty-five million pounds of pesticides were sprayed on the 12.8 million acres of conventional cotton grown in the U.S. in 2003 (4.3 pounds/ acre), ranking cotton third behind corn and soybeans in total amount of pesticides sprayed. (USDA) The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15
Issues and Solutions
1
Please note: This report focuses on environmental impacts and solutions associated with apparel, a second report will present the equally complex social responsibility (SR) issues associated with this industry’s life cycle including fair trade, fair labor and animal well-being issues. Published by Labeling Ecologically Approved Fabrics (LEAF)
Special thanks to: Coral Rose, Founder Eco-Innovations Sustainable Textile Strategies Dr. Gwendolyn Hustvedt-Professor of Textiles, Texas State University Eric Brody, Principle, Shift Advantage Consulting
1
Photo Courtesy Mary Kent Hearon, MK@theweeklybeet.com
The fashion industry is a global, trend-setting pioneer. Such influence provides an opportunity to inspire shifts on the international scale as this industry leads a pervasive transition towards even more sustainable and socially responsible ways of conducting business. Thank you for reviewing this report that explores both the systemic issues, as well as the exciting solutions happening throughout the life cycle of this pioneering industry.
Impacts and Concerns
The environmental footprint of creating apparel varies based on the methods used to produce and extract the resources; the process to create, dye and finish the materials; the steps to cut, sew and assemble the products, and the packaging and distribution systems to move and deliver the product. Examples of the environmental impacts of these steps are discussed below:
Conventional Cotton Farming
Cotton uses approximately 25% of the world's insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants). Fifty-five million pounds of pesticides were sprayed on the 12.8 million acres of conventional cotton grown in the U.S. in 2003 (4.3 pounds/ acre), ranking cotton third behind corn and soybeans in total amount of pesticides sprayed. (USDA) The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15