How your denim jeans are impacting the environment

What we can do to help stop the impact of denim and fast fashion

Many people do not fully know about the harsh consequences of buying garments from 'fast fashion' companies. The fashion industry has blown up in the last 50 years whilst trying to keep up with consumer demands. 'Fast fashion ’ is now destroying our planet due to mass production. Consumers often buy large amounts of cheap clothing and wear them only a few times before throwing them away and buying something new and trendier.

The inexpensive materials used to make these garments include toxic chemicals which pollute the planet and are linked to cancer and other types of respiratory illnesses. The fashion industry is responsible for 2-4% of man-made CO2 emissions. This is higher than the aviation industry.

2 billion pairs of jeans are made every year. The process uses 2,630 litres of fresh water, 2 million tones of chemicals and 1.4 million tones of raw cotton. 99.9% of all denim is dyed with synthetic indigo which includes cyanide and formaldehyde. These chemicals are harmful to human health and are extremely toxic to aquatic life.

Reports have shown that dye residue usually ends up in rivers or on workers' skin. Every year millions of tons of toxic chemicals are secretly released into the world’ s rivers by large fashion organisations. People across the world are becoming incredibly sick due to the toxins and chemicals released into rivers from large factories.

We can buy jeans that are dyed with natural indigo as well as liquid indigo. However, although this process is far more sustainable, only 15% of companies do it as it is a lot more expensive.

Most synthetic denim also contain micro plastics which take millions of years to biodegrade. An alternative is Kilotex, a new innovation made from recycling shrimp shells. It uses 30% less energy, 50% less water and 70% less chemicals than conventional dying.

Liv Reade