Environmental Impact of Fashion
This page stores digital copies of the "Environmental-Friendly Fashion" gallery show presented at various colleges. Note that pictures of the physical objects of this collection have not been taken due to their storage apart from the main facility during COVID-19. These physical objects consist of multiple full-body and face mannequins covered in clothing and makeup to illustrate ideas discussed within the explanations. In order to have a member come to your organization or school to present this gallery, please use the Contact button to get in touch with us. If you would like a video or another form of digital presentation, please use the Contact button to inform us.
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Leather
Some people may not be aware that leather used to be animal skin, not animal byproduct. Every year, the global leather industry slaughters billions of animals. China, the world’s largest leather exporter, skin 2 million cats and dogs alive each year just for leather. India, another major exporter of leather, forces their cattle to march for days - without food or water - to their own deaths at the slaughterhouse. Cattle who collapse from exhaustion have their tails broken or chili peppers rubbed into their eyes in order to force them to keep moving. U.S.-made leather often comes from cows who have been forced to suffer cruel practices such as branding and castration. Some animals are skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious. Leather tanneries, places where leather goes through the tanning process to prevent it from decomposing, also harmfully affect humans. The tanning process uses many toxic chemicals that are released into waterways around the factories. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that people around these areas were much more likely to contract leukemia, sinus and lung cancers, and other serious illnesses. The chemicals also make the leather much harder to biodegrade, meaning the products will fill up landfills once they are thrown away.
Makeup
Unfortunately, there’s no ban on testing cosmetics or household products on animals in the U.S., so companies that make and sell their products here can choose to conduct tests on animals. Companies that do pay for tests on animals in China are Estee Lauder, Clinique, Mary Kay, Bobbi Brown, Victoria’s Secret, Maybelline, and more. In order to target this problem, try turning away from these companies and start buying products from organizations that don’t test on animals such as e.l.f. Cosmetics, Bath and Body Works, Trader Joe’s, Pacifica, NYX, and more.
Fur Clothes
Animals in fur farms spend their entire lives trapped in cramped, unsanitary conditions. They are killed in many ways such as electrocution, suffocation, gas, and poison. Sometimes they are killed anally or genitally by electrocution so as not to damage the fur. China, a major exporter in the fur clothing industry, sell many “luxury” furs that are actually murdered cats and dogs. As fur is hard to trace back to a specific animal, many of these misbranded products go unnoticed. Additionally, one billion rabbits are killed each year for their fur. After an animal has been slaughtered, their skin is treated with toxic chemicals to make it last longer. According to The World Bank, this process is so hazardous that the fur industry is now ranked as one of the world’s five worst industries for toxic metal pollution. 85% of the fur industry’s skins come from animals living captive in fur factory farms and there are no federal laws to protect animals in these farms in the U.S. Fur farms also harm the environment as all of these animals produce millions of pounds of feces which are dumped into waterways and increases the phosphorus level, polluting neighboring rivers and streams. Millions of animals are also captured in the wild through steel-jaw traps and killed for their fur. These traps are determined to be inhumane by the American Veterinary Medical Association and has been banned by the EU and many U.S. states. However, they continue to be used.
Clothing Industry
Many clothing factories in developing countries don’t meet safety standards and pay their workers extremely low wages, next to nothing. In 2012, a garment factory called Tazreen Fashion caught fire in Bangladesh. Without the existence of fire safety laws, the company wasn’t required to provide smoke alarms or fire exits or have its employees perform fire drills. When the factory caught fire, the entire management team was able to escape, while the 112 women employed as seamstresses were burned alive. Shortly after that, over 1,100 workers died when the Rana Plaza garment factory collapsed. Both Walmart and The Gap manufacture clothing in unsafe factories in Bangladesh. These companies resort to dangerous working conditions and lower-quality materials in order to produce cheaper clothing for the public. According to the United States Department of Labor, employees who pick and manufacture cotton can be exposed to cotton dust, which can make someone very sick if they breathe it in. Low safety standards allow this to happen. According to Human Rights Watch, the demand for nonstop production of clothing pushes workers to the limits. In one case, a woman had to leave work for a nosebleed that wouldn’t stop. Even though she provided her manager with a doctor’s note, she was fired immediately because her medical issue disrupted the speed of production. Despite the fact that the majority of people working in these factories are women, getting pregnant also means that a woman will become demoted to less pay and may lose her job. Overtime without increased pay is standard and forces parents to stay in the factory longer, without being able to go home to see their family. In 2015, Patagonia looked into their overseas workers and found out that they were caught in a vicious cycle where they only received about $3,500 every 3 years. Human trafficking is a prevalent issue in these clothing factories and there are more slaves today than ever before.
Child Labor
The ILO, International Labor Organization, estimates that 170 million kids are engaged in child labour, with many making textiles and garments to satisfy the demand of consumers in Europe, the US, and beyond. In south India, recruiters convince parents in poverty that sending their daughters to work at these factories will provide them an opportunity for a well-paid job, comfort, schooling, and proper nutrition. In reality, they are working under conditions quite similar to modern day slavery and the worst forms of child labor. Child labour is a particular issue for fashion because much of the supply chain requires low-skilled labour and some tasks are even better suited to children than adults. In cotton picking, employers prefer to hire children for their small fingers, which do not damage the crop, while they are paid next to nothing. India has a huge child labor force that serve giant conglomerates such as Victoria’s Secret, a garment company that utilizes fair-trade cotton harvested by child slaves from Burkina Faso.