Dr. Arvind Kumar*
The fashion value chain is of global importance, with millions of jobs attached to it, generating foreign exchange revenue in many developing countries and providing goods essential for human welfare. According to a report published the clothing industry consumes around 79 billion cubic metres of water per year. That is a massive number, considering that a huge chunk of human population experiences water scarcity. You call yourself eco-conscious and do everything to minimize your carbon footprint. You switch off the lights when not needed, close the runny tap, use cloth bags for shopping and even plant saplings in your neighbourhood. But it’s going to take much more than this to save our planet and spreading awareness is the key. Most people are blissfully unaware that the clothes they wear are made after spending gallons and gallons of water in the production. Let’s talk about the clothing industry and how large corporations and brands are literally sucking the planet of its natural resources.
Clothes are water-intensive make and maintain
Several UN reports and a number of civil society initiatives in recent years have highlighted the social and environmental problems related to the fashion industry. These range from noncompliance with labour standards and legislation, to pollution, high greenhouse gas emissions and more recently the failure to protect garment workers from the disastrous consequences of widespread retail closures, layoffs and furloughs, mandatory factory shutdowns and cancelled orders in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the global population rises as expected to 8.5 billion by 2030, it is projected that the apparel consumption will rise by 63% in 2030. The more the demand of clothes, the more aggressively the clothing industry will produce clothes. Did you know that to produce just one cotton T-shirt, it requires over 3,000 litres of water? Combine this with the fact that in this age of social media, where repeating outfits is the biggest fashion crime you could commit, the average number of clothes each person owns is only going to rise. Textile production (including cotton farming) uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually, representing 4% of global freshwater withdrawal. Beyond production, washing clothing using washing machines is estimated to require an additional 20 billion cubic meters of water per year globally. Another study by Tree Hugger showed that a whopping 8,183 gallons of water was required grow enough cotton to produce just one pair of jeans. The numbers get all the grimmer. Over 5.9 trillion litres of water is used each year for fabric dyeing alone. (World Resources Institute).
We are draining our natural resources
These numbers might be alarming, but they aren’t going to stop the average buyer from getting that bootcut jeans or the nice flowy top off the shelf. The collective conscience will only rise when mass awareness is generated. Studies are required so that we can come up with a greener alternative to our clothing requirements. What has happened instead, is the introduction of new stretchable material being sold as athleisure or the famous lycra. Globally, around 8,000 synthetic chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textiles, and estimates suggest that 20% of the world’s industrial water pollution happens at the hands of textile-dyeing and treatment processes. The fashion industry’s social and environmental problems also play out along geographic dimensions. While the main markets are located in Europe and the United States, the early stages of garment production, including raw material extraction and manufacturing, are heavily weighted towards Asia and towards developing countries and economies in transition (UNEP 2020). Negative impacts also divide unequally between women and men. Women make up around 80 per cent of the garment sector workforce (ILO 2019) and their jobs are predominantly located at the bottom tier of textile production systems, which means they have higher risks of occupational injuries and exposure to hazardous chemicals (UNEP 2016). It has also been observed that sectoral impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affect women (ILO 2020).
Big brands wearing the ‘eco-conscious’ hat
After the voice on water conservation grew louder, many brands jumped into damage control and announced their own measures for saving water. However, it’s going to take a lawsuit from a powerful channel to get these brands to cough up the details of the actual damage they are causing the environment. Popular brands like Nike, Zara, H&M, shared how their companies were putting in all efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.
Nike, in its FY20 Impact Report, stated that it has cut freshwater use by 30%. John Donahoe, President & CEO, Nike, had said, “We will continue to strive to lower emissions across our key operations, to shrink our product carbon footprint, to accelerate diversity and inclusion across our teams, to enable kids to have access to play and sport. We will always challenge ourselves to do better. Always.”
On the website of popular fashion brand H&M, there’s a separate section dedicated specifically to highlight its eco-conscious method of making its products. They have in fact also listed down a number of targets, such as having 15% recycled water back in the process, and getting all business partners must comply with H&M Group’s Sustainability Commitment and water management requirements.
They even have a designated person for managing sustainable production. “We bring the technical knowledge and the business incentive to support our business partners to become more sustainable,” Sharif Hoque, Water Sustainability Responsible at H&M Group, states on the website.
The makers of another fashion bigwig, Zara, came up with a green pact in 2019. “[We] are highly focused on making clothes in a responsible, sustainable way, that limits the impact on the environment and [which] challenges ourselves to continually work as hard as we can to improve how we manufacture,” said Marta Ortega, daughter of Amancio Ortega, one of the cofounders of Zara’s parent company Inditex.
Sustainable consumption for sustainable Planet
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. Actions around ecosystem restoration are particularly relevant for the early stages of the fashion value chain,e.g., lowering the severe impacts of global cotton cultivation, addressing the ecosystem degradation caused by cashmere production, and moving to lower impact raw materials such as used clothing, agricultural residues, and microbial cellulosic fibres. But that’s just a drop in the ocean when it comes to raising the bar for sustainable fashion. With the growing demand of synthetic and stretchable materials like polyester and viscose, things are only turning worse for the environment. These fabrics are water-intensive to make, and are not bio-degradable. It’s almost like wearing plastic. Then there’s the spinning, dyeing, printing, and finishing of the fabrics, which all add to the overall water consumption. So, despite all the claims made by supposedly woke apparel brands, the truth remains that we are all part of producing heaps and heaps of non-biodegradable, water-consuming clothes. If we really want to make a difference, we must start by repeating our clothes. Do not just buy that T-shirt because it was on sale, or that it “will motivate me to lost weight”. Many companies have started accepting old, used clothes for recycling them. Make a conscious effort and find out which brands do that. Buy clothes from those brands and return the clothes once they are worn out. By continuing the research and discourse of how water is being used at the expense of selling low-cost pieces of clothing, solutions are bound to arise. For the most part, the answers are there. It’s just a matter of ensuring industries transform their practices and prioritize water sustainability methods in the future.We are already in a mess, we can at least do our bit and not add to the waste.
*President, India Water Foundation
