High Tech High Chula Vista

What Your Tag Does Not Say

Unethical Fashion

Nayeli Garcia

Humanities

Mrs. Indira Hood-Esparza

March 22, 2018

 We as humans wear clothing, it is one major attribute that separates us from other

species. Covering ourselves with garments is mainly to protect us from harsh environments but

it’s also an important social need to cover yourself. Somehow over time certain types of clothing

became popular and decade after decade fashion changed, influenced by culture and iconic

styles. With the birth of fashion came the demand for it and the capital gain. Fast fashion is what

we wear today, unnecessary amounts of new clothing rapidly replacing the old, garment that

some times are never worn and thrown away. Exploiting not only earth’s natural resources, but

contaminating it as well. ​Unethical fashion is global the prices it takes on our water, biodiversity

and the contribution it has to our earth’s pollution.

The fashion industry seems to have an unquenchable thirst, being that water is needed in

almost every step in the textile industry. From the growing or maintaining of raw-materials to the

finishing touches of adding color through “byes, adding of specialty chemicals, and finishing

chemicals that are all applied to the fabrics in water baths” (Khouri). In the watering of cotton

alone more than 20,000 liters is need in order to cultivate enough cotton for one t-shirt (Cotton

Farming). The average human being needs about 50,000 liters of water their entire life, your

t-shirt is enough water to hydrate someone for nearly half their life. Water as we all know is not

your run of the mill essential resoure it is thy vital resource for the sustaining of human life. With

the overpopulation pushing demands and the cheap way we meet those bemanes, we are in a

freshwater crisis ( Competing for Clean Water Has Led to a Crisis​ )​. Today ¨only 0.007 percent

of the planet's water is available to it’s,¨ 7.6 billion human inabatences (not accounting for the

animals we feed in order to eat).” Not only is the clothing industry deciding to waste water itś

also contaminating it. In the growing of plant based fabrics one uses a considerable amounts of
pesticide, cotton even got nicknamed the dirtiest crop because of the amounts of pesticides it

needs. ¨Aldicarb, cotton's second best-selling insecticide and most acutely poisonous to humans

and wildlife, is still used in 25 countries, including the U.S., where 16 states reported it in their

groundwater,¨ (Institute). These kind of chemicals are sprayed along with water, they runoff

contaminating our already limited freshwater supply. The constant attack and missuesd of water

is personally degrading, their in no concern for anything other than self gain no matter what lines

have to be stamped on. Water is a precious resource, the way we make our clothing is putting

that lifehinging resource.

Fashion kills, quite literally it takes lives by the billions, It might be something that has

been repeated so many times that it is seen as an over exaggeration. This statement is no longer

taken seriously because “their only animals” but it is the suffering that we put them through that

is alarming. Their born in order to die, sheep and cattle are bred to be slaughtered. Smaller

animals like ​mink, foxes and rabbits are caged in fur farms for their entire lives, deprived of the

space need to be their wild selfs. Driving some to insanity, to self mutilation and even

cannibalism (Fur Farms). The compact living leads to illness so their pumped with strong

antibiotic. Selective breeding is also another cause of illness, with sheep it “has resulted in a

multitude disease related to their excessive amount of hair, such as deaths from overheating and

flystrike” (Clothing). The anti fur acts have resulted in an amazing reduction of the use of fur but

sheepskin and leather are still in high demand. When it comes to the way we treat animals it is a

command social belief through religious scripture influences ​“that animals were put on this

Earth for our use.”​ Why do we think this, was it because the desire to kill is rooted within us

from our ancestor, who many years ago relied on hunting in order to survive. If so why do we
still hang onto these belief, with the advances we have made it’s clear to us (at least in the

western world) that we no longer need to kill for our clothing.

When one thinks of pollution, you think about trash in our seas, the oil industry or fossil

fuel power plants. You don’t naturally think, my new t-shirt, you can not really see it by looking

at your clothings tags but you t-shirt’s story is more than what it seems. ​“The clothing industry is

the second largest polluter in the world...second only to oil,” said Eileen Fisher, a fashion

designer while received an environmental award for her commitment to environmental causes (

Castiel ). To be right next to oil stems most from the fashion industries long and complicated

processing chain, from its involvement in several countries to the making of raw materials,

textile magnufactshering, the creation of the clothes, the shiping footprint and the despole of

products. Cotton again “dirtiest crop” uses at “least one-third of a pound (136 grams) of

pesticides per one pound of cotton,”(Qutab) that's a whole lot of chemicals. This damages the

livelihood of any ecosystem nearby and health of the workers picking cotton for your t-shirt.

Synthetic man-made fabrics like nylon, rayon and the infamiss polyester are all either completely

comprised of chemicals or; are a mixture of organic and inorganic. Therenfor are not sustainable

products, which means they will not dissolve into the earth when thrown away, plastic remains

for hundreds of years. In the washing of said plastic fabrics, microfabrics are released and take a

journey from your washing machine to the ocean. An example of how micro plastic can affect

you is a study by Sarah Dudas “In 2016, when planted thousands of clams and oysters across

coastal British Columbia and let them soak in the sand and saltwater. Three months later, they

dissolved hundreds of them with chemicals, filtered out the biodegradable matter, and looked at

the remaining material under a microscope. Inside this Pacific Northwest culinary staple, they
found a rainbow of little plastic particles,”(Christensen). Leather, it is well known to come from

cows so it must be eco friendly. Wrong! Do not be fooled, in leather making their is tanning and

finishing which involves chemicals. Even materials that seem to be eco friendly need protective

chemicals in order to stay safe during delivery. Then there is the the cordon footprint left behind

by the textile industry international dilieres. It all adds up to a sizable price on our environment.

Fashion is present in our everyday living, in the daily task of choosing an outfits. It is a

self expression that helps show who you are so it is very close to many people's hearts. It’s also

greatly effects the fabric of society now and throughout history, it reflects the state of a culture.

“Dress is more than mere objects and materials people put on their bodies. Dress can be a sign or

symbol that refers to or stands for meanings not inherent in the material or object. In sum, the

physical body when dressed reflects the “social body” or surrounding societal system” (Turner,

1991 Damhorst, M.L. 1999. ‘Introduction’ to The Meanings of Dress). It is clearly evident that

fashion is important to personal lives, but does the advantage of having a trendy outfit out weight

the negative effects. Does it really hold any real value if out weighed but that fact that

somewhere something precious is being destroyed for that trendy outfit. Fashion is constantly

changing “Once upon a time, there were two fashion seasons: Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter.

Fast forward to 2014 and the fashion industry is churning out 52 “micro-seasons” per

year,”(Whitehead). It has become speed up to the point where new trend are coming out every

week so in the mixture of trying to keep up and throw away what is now old. We fill up landfill

with clothing that takes year to decompes for example nylon clothes can take 30-40 years to

completely decomposes (How Long it Take for Some Everyday Items to Decompose). It is truly

unjust to put personal desires over the good of the world you call home.
 Unethical fashion shows yet another example of how our irresponsibility with the way

we produce, consume and throw away our articles of clothing have negative consequences. We

need to come to the realization that the clothing we wear everyday are the cause of devastating

environmental impacts. To at least know what exactly it is your are buying is a customer right

and that money is not the only price. Our water resources pay the price, animals and soon we will

too. What you buy has a story on other lives and the environment get to know it.
 Work Cited

Khouri, Hannah, et al. “Water Usage and the Textile Industry.” ​The Economics of Water​, 2013,
economicsofwater.weebly.com/water-usage-and-the-textile-industry.html.

“Cotton Farming.” ​WWF​,

wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/freshwater_problems/thirsty_crops/cot
ton/.

“Competing for Clean Water Has Led to a Crisis.” ​Clean Water Crisis Facts and Information​,
National Geographic , 27 Jan. 2017,
www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/freshwater-crisis/.

Institute, Rodale. “Dig Deeper.” ​Rodale Institute​, 4 Feb. 2014, 12:55 pm,
rodaleinstitute.org/chemical-cotton/.

Tarantola, Andrew. “How Leather Is Slowly Killing the People and Places That Make
It.”​Gizmodo​, Gizmodo.com, 3 June 2014,
gizmodo.com/how-leather-is-slowly-killing-the-people-and-places-tha-1572678618.

“Animals Used for Clothing.” ​Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund​, WordPress,

www.animalcrueltyexposurefund.org/animals-used-for-clothing/.

“Fur Farms.” ​PETA​,

www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/fur/fur-farms/.

“Clothing.” ​Animal Equality​, 27 Oct. 2011,

www.animalequality.net/clothing.

“Clothes and Trimming | Commercial Exploitation of Wildlife | Humans: A Harmful Species? |

Threatening Factors.” ​To the Rescue of Endangered Species​, 10 Nov. 2017,
endangered-animals.ca/en/clothes-and-trimming.

Castiel, Daniella. “How Fashion Affects People and the Environment.” ​Sierra Club​, 29 Nov.
2016,
www.sierraclub.org/planet/2016/11/how-fashion-affects-people-and-environment.

Christensen, Ken. “How Much Plastic Do You Want In Your Oysters And Clams?” ​Earthfix​, 14
Sept. 2017, 1:40pm,
www.earthfix.info/news/article/oysters-with-a-side-of-microplastic/.
Whitehead, Shannon. “5 Truths the Fast Fashion Industry Doesn't Want You to Know.” ​The
Huffington Post​, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Aug. 2014,
www.huffingtonpost.com/shannon-whitehead/5-truths-the-fast-fashion_b_5690575.html.

“Damhorst, M.L. 1999. ‘Introduction’ to The Meanings of Dress.” ​Granola, Grad School and
Goffman​, 24 May 2016,
granolagradschoolandgoffman.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/damhorst-m-l-1999-introducti
on-to-the-meanings-of-dress/.

“HOW LONG IT TAKES FOR SOME EVERYDAY ITEMS TO DECOMPOSE.” ​Down2Earth

Materials​, 7 Dec. 2017,
www.down2earthmaterials.ie/2013/02/14/decompose/.