What we leave behind

by Marie Sztana

eng

Have you ever wondered why the Bronze Age is called ‘Bronze’ Age, the Iron Age ‘Iron’ and so on? In school we were told it was what was most prominent in society at the time. But that is not entirely correct. It is more about what was left behind. It is not that these materials were so much more important in that era. It is because objects made of them endured the test of time. Archaeologists were not able to find and identify clothes. Garments disintegrated, broke down in the soil and were lost to history, but bronze and iron objects stuck around.

The idea of a futuristic archaeologist digging us up and trying to interpret our moment in time and history seems a bit farfetched. Especially since we live in a society that likes to document everything from our food to our bedtime routines. But imagine if all that was lost, and someone had to piece our history together. Would our clothes be lost to history, as in the past? Hardly so. We have made clothes durable, but at the same time, indestructible. We use non-biodegradable materials, toxic dyes, plastic fastenings. Like this, our clothes will outlive us and generations to come. Throw in crappy craftsmanship and slave labour and you really must ask whether this is the legacy we, as creators and users of fashion, want to leave behind? Mountains of trash created by our own hubris and vanity?

At its core, organic fabric is perishable breaking down back into the earth. Not much remaining for people to find millennia later. This is far from the case in modern times. A study by menswear brand LabFresh used a metric of textiles wasted and how they were disposed of and combined this with each country’s spending on clothing and yearly export of second-hand clothes. The formula saw Italy at number one followed closely by Portugal, Austria and the UK with highest scores for unsustainable clothing habits. Using figures from the EU statistical office (Eurostat), the study showed Portugal produced 81,715 tonnes in textile waste in 2016. 82.5% of that was incinerated or dumped in a landfill and only 10% got recycled. Worldwide, today less than 1% of garments are recycled.

What can we do? Right now, most brands operate on a linear model.  Garments are made, sold in shops and then get disposed of.  This is very wasteful and a contributing factor to the fashion industry being the second highest polluting industry in the world. But what if production was circular instead of linear? In a circular economy, we would be designing with the next stage of the garment in mind, designing out waste and pollution. Thinking circular is thinking about the entire lifespan of the garment, where it starts and where it ends up. It is a massive challenge but one that can be mastered. It requires companies to adopt a new business model. Everything has a beginning and end but in a circular economy we combine the two, have the end influence the beginning and vice-versa.

There are three main points to consider: How can we use what we have longer and better? ‘How can we make and design clothes that can be disposed of without leaving a trace? And lastly having a strong, sustainable foundation of adequately paid labour and sustainable materials.

Granted, the transition from a linear production to a circular one is not easy and will not happen overnight. Entire production processes need to be re-thought and our perspective on how the fashion industry operates needs to change. Right now, the industry is operating in a mind-set of quantity over quality. This needs to stop. The value of the item should not be its sale price but how much you get out of the product. The ability to resell, restyle, break down, and make new must be considered.

Even though at this moment there are only few companies, if any, that are fully circular some companies have adapted their production towards a more circular system.Lush, for example, have a return system on their black pots: bring back five you get a free facemask. The pots are then sent to the “Green Hub” (Lush's in-house recycling centre), are melted and made into new black pots. This allows them to have a closed loop recycling system and gives an incentive for the consumers to bring back the pots. Last time I was in a Lush store, the lovely cashier lady told me they have not made new pots out of virgin material since 2008 because of this system.

Fibershed, a company in California, has a soil-to-soil approach, with the idea that the garments start in the soil from fibre growing plants and are made in such a way that they will biodegrade in the soil, finishing where it started.

Renting clothes is another way to keep clothes in circulation. SKFK, a Spanish sustainable brand, has a rent clothes option on the website. Renting clothes for one-off occasions has become more popular. It also gives the opportunity to try new styles and looks because you are not committing to the garment by buying it.

Repair services are another option. Patagonia’s Worn Wear program was created in 2013 with the idea to give clothes a longer lifespan and keep them circulating. The Worn Wear Wagon, fitted with an industrial sewing machine, was a repair bus that drove through America offering to repair clothes regardless of brand.

But more innovation is needed and there is plenty of room for further breakthroughs. Recycling technologies need to evolve more. I still remember the headaches and the anxiety I felt trying to find a place that would recycle my old Toiles and fabric left over from my university assignments. It was impossible. The recycling centre I found claimed on their website and on the sign posted at the entrance that they recycled fabric. However, when I got there, they just pointed me to a Salvation Army container. Useful as this may be for donating, it is not the same as recycling and therefore should not be advertised as recycling. This way of disposal does not fit the purpose for fabric that cannot be resold in a charity shop.

What would my ideal fashion world look like? My perfect shop would have zero impact designs made from biodegradable materials. Clothes would have modular design allowing them to be taken apart and reused. There would be a repair station on the ground floor mending clothes free of charge. And when we have squeezed every ounce of life out of the garment, it would be laid to rest in a compost heap, breaking down into the soil and leaving future archaeologist to contemplate why the whole world suddenly became nudist - because they would be unable to find any clothes.

Until then we can push towards a better future. As designers, we always need to think circular and remember everything has a beginning and an end. We need to harness innovation and always think what we can do better, what can we change. As a consumer, we should reward companies with loyalty who are taking steps towards a more circular future. And demand change from those who are not.