What are your kits made of?

Knowing that the textile industry is one of the most harmful to the environment, we have separated some of the most common materials used in the production of clothing to explain what they need to be made and what the consequences of this activity are for the Planet.

Consuming is inherent to human existence, after all to exist it is necessary to consume, from air, water, food, in short, it is essential to use natural resources. And clothing also earns the title of something essential, after all, no one here goes out naked on the street (we hope not), so given this consumption relationship, we want to better understand what resources are necessary to produce these clothes and thus rethink what we choose to consume.

• COTTON

Cotton is the most popular and widely used fiber in clothing, so let's start with it.

The cultivation of cotton is one of those that require excessive amounts of water. To give you an idea, to grow 1 kilogram of cotton, about 30,000 liters of water are needed, and to produce one t-shirt made of cotton, approximately 2,700 liters are used (this amount of water is roughly the total consumed by a person over three years).

Moreover, cotton cultivation represents 24% of all consumption of insecticides and 11% of the pesticides used in global agriculture. Thus, in addition to the large consumption of water for planting, the land and the water itself are polluted with the use of chemicals both in cultivation and in production, where processes such as bleaching, dyeing, finishing, and printing of the spun and woven cotton employ a large number of chemical substances used in environmentally high-risk processes.  

In Brazil, the 2016/2017 harvest was about 1.4 million tons of cotton lint and 3.7 million tons of seed.

• JEANS

Another very famous material is Jeans, such as jackets, and of course, timeless and “essential” pants to have in the closet. However, the production of new pieces that use this material carries a large polluting footprint. In the production of denim, the base cotton fabric for jeans, there is a high consumption of water and energy. Additionally, various highly harmful chemical-based dyes are also used, which can be neurotoxic and carcinogenic, and of course, harmful to the environment, where washing the fabric and the pieces pollutes rivers, lakes, seas, and reservoirs.

There is also a significant contribution to emissions from the logistics of distribution and delivery of products, as the majority traverse the globe, given that the major jeans factories are located in Asia, notably in China and India.

The carbon emissions during the lifespan of a single pair of jeans are equivalent to the estimated value of a 111 km car trip.

• POLYESTER

Polyester is the name given to Polyethylene Terephthalate or as it is more commonly known PET. Produced from petroleum or natural gas, it is one of the most polluting materials, as it not only uses non-renewable materials but also emits various harmful organic compounds into the environment. Just like the previously mentioned materials, it requires a large amount of water, energy, and chemical substances. 

Another negative impact on the Planet is its decomposition, which not only takes about 400 years but causes contamination of rivers, seas, and oceans with microplastics that profoundly interfere in various ecosystems, potentially contaminating us when we eat fish that have ingested these microplastics.

Furthermore, recycling this material is hindered as the technology needed to separate polyester from natural fibers does not yet have industrial scale, making its cost high.

Of the materials produced by humanity that are found on ocean shores, about 85% is composed of microfibers.

There are various other materials used in the fashion world that follow the same production line, excessive consumption of natural resources like water and energy, contamination with chemical substances, in addition to many famous brands and factories using child labor and labor analogous to slavery.  This is why it is so important that we pay increasing attention to the type of consumption we choose and support with our money, since in every type there are consequences for life, whether for our planet, for other people, or for ourselves.

For more information: Autosustentável, EcoDesenvolvimento, Modefica.