Waves of change in the fashion industry

(Source: RESET)

The fashion industry has a massive impact on the planet. Its effect on the water quality in countries across the world is shocking, with cotton production being the main reason for the Aral Sea crisis, a sea which used to lie between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and in 50 years has diminished in volume by 90% due to the re-routing of water for the cotton fields upstream. Textile factories in other parts of the world are pumping toxic chemicals into their rivers, thus stopping the local people using it for cleaning, washing, bathing etc.

These environmental issues are huge topics in themselves and should not be ignored, but as this is a blog on plastic pollution, this post will look into what the fashion industry is doing to solve this issue.

The most obvious and common collaboration that can be made between fashion and marine plastic is upcycling; removing the plastic from the oceans and using it to produce new items.

One example of an upcycling company is Ecoalf. Ecoalf began upcycling ocean plastics in 2015 by using fishing trawls to collect the plastic waste from the seabed that gets collected with the fish. A great idea that requires no extra energy or power but just merges with existing practices.

Once collected and back on shore they break the plastic down into its original polymer form (polymerisation - a method looked at in more detail in a previous post), where it is then created into a continuous thread (below) used to make the garments. This thread is called Seaqual and has no other plastic incorporated into it, therefore, 1kg of Seaqual = 1kg of marine plastic. So not only is this helping to remove plastic from the oceans, but it's reducing the demand for oil extraction to make the virgin plastic required for normal garment manufacture.

(Source: Sustainable Brands)

Initially starting in Spain, cleaning up the Mediterranean, Ecoalf have expanded to Thailand. Here, they are currently in the second year of a three year project, with the end goal of replicating the work in the Mediterranean and turning the raw materials into fashion items after having educated local people about waste management and responsible tourism.

Ecoalf are currently removing huge amounts of trash from the Mediterranean, with the fisherman in Levante alone removing 1 tonne every day. This method is a very effective way of cleaning the oceans since most of the current methods involve the collection of plastic on the surface waters, despite some studies suggesting that ~90% of plastic marine litter makes its way to the seabed.

There are other companies doing very similar things, for example DGrade who make garments using collected plastic bottles. This process uses 50% less energy and produces 55% less carbon emissions (and 20% less water) than using virgin plastic. Finally, Parley (a company that helps and raises awareness for the health of the oceans) have teamed up with Adidas to release a clothing line which utilises reclaimed ocean plastic. They have made shoes, swimwear and performance products, all from upcycled marine plastic, showing how a seemingly worthless/useless material can be transformed into a high grade product.

(Source: Adidas)

Some may argue that upcycling marine plastics is only preventing the inevitable since these clothes will eventually wear out and be thrown away, or have the filament shed off during washing, only to be added to the marine system once again. Although you've got to think, polyester clothing is going to be produced, whether people like it or not, so instead of relentlessly producing more virgin plastic, why not use what's already there. Also, it is true that these materials may end up back in the oceans but there's a greater chance they will enter into a closed loop system in which the materials are then re-purposed into something else. Either way, upcycling is hugely beneficial to the environment and (in the case of Ecoalf) local people/economies. As these companies grow and more follow suit, it will be very exciting to see how upcycling will change the fashion industry.

After all, the consumer can only do so much to change their habits, it's down to industry to lead the way and make some serious changes. Once that happens, the consumer will follow.