Dress for climate success
Cool Tips for a Hot Planet series
Ginny Colling was passionate about the environment before retiring from teaching college communications students. After retiring she trained with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. She has presented to numerous groups about the climate crisis.
When I was born my grandma and her sister made me a yellow cotton quilt in a pattern known as Dutch girl. All those little quilt figures were fashioned from scraps of clothing worn by family members long ago.
Clothes were often made at home, repaired and handed down, then used for rags or quilts.
Times changed. More women entered the paid workforce. And schools eliminated home economics, where students learned to sew, so fewer people are making their own clothes. But Canada had a thriving apparel industry until the 1990s, when 70 per cent of those jeans, Ts and dresses in our closets were made here. By 2020, that number was down to five per cent, according to Canadian government apparel industry statistics.
What happened?
Fabrics like nylon, polyester and acrylic made possible the production of cheaper and often less durable clothing. Freer trade increased competition. In 2001 China joined the World Trade Organization. And in 2005 the federal government made it free to import apparel. The stage was set for cheap, fast-fashion imports to take over, and our garment industry shrivelled while our wardrobes ballooned. North Americans are buying three to five times more clothing than we did in 1980. And those jeans and Ts often cost less than they did 30 years ago, even after being shipped halfway across the world.
What’s the problem with that?
Poor-quality, cheaper clothing encourages a throwaway culture. No quilts are being made with these disposable items. The stuff is choking our landfills to the tune of 500,000 tonnes a year, emitting methane and carbon dioxide as it breaks down, and adding microplastics to the environment — polyester, nylon and acrylic are essentially plastics made from fossil fuels. Every year the global clothing industry emits the equivalent of 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to the journal Nature Climate Change.
And we’re getting those cheaper clothes on the backs of sweatshop workers earning lousy wages, toiling in sometimes-unsafe working conditions.
What can we do about it?
- Buy less and choose quality items that last, can be repaired and are worthy of passing on. While all textile production affects the environment, natural fabrics like wool, linen, bamboo, hemp or organic cotton are generally considered more durable and sustainable.
- We’re in an environmental crisis. During the crisis of the Second World War people pitched in to help by joining the Make Do and Mend movement. We can do the same. My sister demonstrated that recently. Instead of buying new, she took fabric from an unused teal satin bed skirt to add length and a sash to a dress in her closet, which she was then able to wear to her niece’s wedding.
- Shop the thrift stores. Donating is great too, but be aware that only about 50 per cent of items donated actually make it into the store, and only half of those are sold, says Kelly Drennan, executive director of Canadian non-profit Fashion Takes Action. The rest go to textile recyclers, the landfill or are shipped to Africa, where several countries are balking at taking our discards.
We can all help — and we don’t have to take up quilting to do it.
