The clothing industry
Large amounts of energy, water, chemicals and a lot of work are required to manufacture the clothes that we can buy for a relatively cheap price at the large clothing chains. Enormous natural resources are required to assist our wear-and-tear society, which affects both the environment and people negatively in many ways. In addition, the largest proportion of the clothes we buy are made in countries far away. As much as 90% of our clothes are made in Asia. The clothing industry also struggles with poor working conditions and the wages of textile workers are rarely more than the statutory minimum wage in the country, which is often so low that it is not possible to live on. Read more about a conscious consumption of clothes below.
Choice of material
When buying new clothes, you should think about the choice of material and look for environmental and ethical labels (see below). Cotton is one of the worst materials from an environmental perspective, so choose organic cotton. Cultivation of cotton is very water intensive and chemical demanding and can cause major environmental problems and harm people working in the cotton fields. Here you can read more about cotton. Hemp has a relatively low environmental impact, as does flax and Swedish wool.
Material selection to avoid
Synthetic materials such as polyester, acrylic and polyamide are available in everything from training clothes to dresses and warm sweaters. These synthetic materials should be avoided as a study shows that a single wash of synthetic clothing can release over 700,000 tiny plastic particles, so-called microplastics. The particles that come loose from the garments in the laundry are so small that the treatment plants cannot collect them and they end up in lakes and seas, and eventually also in our drinking water.
Carcinogenic dyes
The dyes used to color fabric are often carcinogenic. One of the big problems with these colors is that they are made so as not to break down – you want your garment to have the same color as when you bought it, two weeks or even two years later – but it also means that they do not degrade in the environment. One of the most common blue colors used (reactive blue 19) has a half-life of 46 years under normal conditions, so after 46 years only half of the color is gone. This can pose major problems for both the environment and the textile workers who come into contact with the dyes in their daily work.
Advice for conscious consumption of clothes
- Buy second-hand clothes instead of new as much as possible.
- Exchange clothes with others! Look out for clothes-changning-days, which occur in many places, or arrange your own.
- Borrow clothes from your friends or at a clothing library, see links to the right.
- Think quality before quantity.
- Repair when your clothes get torn instead of throwing them away.
- When something feels boring, try sewing and you may end up giving the clothes new life. Maybe a sweater can become a skirt?
- Avoid plastic prints on t-shirts and shirts as they contain chemicals.
- Avoid synthetic materials such as polyester, acrylic, polyamide and nylon, which are all made of plastic and they release large amounts of microplastics that end up in the environment.
- When you no longer want your garment, leave it to a thrift store or a textile recycler! This applies to all textiles such as clothes, towels, curtains and other fabrics. Some recycling stations and containers also accept broken and unsaleable textiles, e.g. Human Bridge.
- Check for reliable labels.
- Air your clothes and wash them only when they are really dirty. Remove individual stains by hand instead of washing the garment in a machine. Wash in lower degrees and avoid the dryer.
- Find out if it is possible to create an exchange spot for clothes in your area.
Clothes – Digging deeper
From raw material to thread
A large proportion of our clothes are made of cotton. Cotton is often seen as a natural and pure product, but in reality has a rather dirty past. Cotton cultivation is one of the world’s most chemical-intensive farming and the cotton plant is very water demanding. To produce one kilo of cotton fabric from plant to finished fabric, just over 9,000 liters of water (in Swedish) is needed and in the worst cases, more than 20,000 liters of water may be required. Cultivation harms not only the environment but also those who work in the fields and are exposed to the chemicals. The chemicals in cotton cultivation to produce a pair of jeans pollute about 100,000 liters of water. It is so much that half of all species living in surrounding waters die. In addition, production emits large amounts of carbon dioxide that also pollutes the water. It is estimated that a pair of jeans causes contamination of a total of 600,000 liters of water. Read more about cotton here.
Other common materials are synthetic fibers such as polyester, polyamide (nylon) and acrylic. These are made from oil that is refined in several steps. Oil extraction entails several environmental problems such as greenhouse gas emissions and several substances that are hazardous to health and the environment. A lot of chemicals are also used in the production.
So-called regenerated fibers, such as viscose and lyocell (also called Tencel), are made from cellulose from mainly pulp, but also from bamboo. The production of viscose causes large acidifying sulfur emissions and several chemicals that can contaminate the water are used. Lyocell has less environmental impact than viscose and the process is completely sulfur-free. At the Nature Conservation Association (in Swedish) you can read more about the different textile fibers.
From thread to fabric
In the process from raw material to finished product, there are many environmentally damaging elements. In the textile industry, large amounts of chemicals are used in filature, weaving, washing and not least in dyeing. About one kilogram of chemicals is used to produce one kilogram of textiles. Contaminated water is often released into nature and poisons rivers, lakes and groundwater. The chemicals also pose a health risk to the people who work in the textile industry and live in the areas around the factories.
The dyes used to color fabric are often carcinogenic. One of the big problems with these colors is that they are made so as not to break down – you want your garment to have the same color as when you bought it, two weeks or even two years later – but it also means that they do not degrade in the environment. One of the most common blue colors used (reactive blue 19) has a half-life of 46 years under normal conditions, so after 46 years only half of the color is gone. This can pose major problems for both the environment and the textile workers who come into contact with the dyes in their daily work.
In order for jeans to look worn, so-called sandblasting is sometimes used, where sand is sprayed with compressed air onto the garment to wear away the color. The method is banned in Europe because it can be extremely dangerous to workers’ health, but still occurs in Southeast Asia and North Africa. When sandblasting with quartz-containing sand, workers can inhale quartz dust that can cause diseases, including the incurable disease stone dust lung.
From fabric to garment
Most clothing companies do not own the factories where the clothes are manufactured, but hire suppliers and subcontractors in mainly low-wage countries. The textile industry in these countries is struggling with poor working conditions and low wages for workers who sew up our clothes. The wages of textile workers are often no more than the statutory minimum wage in the country, which is often so low that it is not possible to live on it. In Bangladesh, for example, the minimum wage has increased from 3,000 taka to 8,000 taka (78 euros), but this is still estimated to be below a living wage, namely 16,000 taka. Workers’ wage costs usually amount to about 0.5% –3% of the total production cost of a garment.
In order to support themselves, textile workers often have to work overtime. Working conditions are often poor, it is dusty, hot and noisy in the factories and the work tasks are monotonous. It is often young, uneducated women who work in the factories to be able to send money to their families in the countryside.
Page updated 2021.
