CONSUMER'S GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES -- CLOTHING

Clothing

Introduction
Primary Links
For More Information
Organizations

Introduction

Clothing and textiles can have a significant impact on the environment. Several issues to consider are:

the impact that growing natural fibers, like cotton, has on the earth
the impact that manufacturing artificial fabrics has on the environment
and the space taken up in landfills by discarded clothes and shoes.

Presented here are sites that deal with many of these issues and offer ideas for how you can cut the impact that your clothing choices have on the environment. There are few things that all the proponents of different fibers and fashions can agree on, but here are a few common-sense steps you can start with:

When buying new clothes, try to stick with organic cotton or wool unless you're well informed on the sustanability of the other fibers. We know that those two are sustainable and have a limited impact on the environment. Organic cotton will be more expensive and harder to find, but because cotton is one of the most heavily pesticided crops in the world it makes a big difference to the environment. Several suppliers are listed or linked to by the sites below.
Artificial fibers often are made using harsh chemicals, so be careful in choosing them. Some of these artificial fibers can be recycled however -- for example, it's now possible to find outerwear and shoes made from recycled polyester.
Dry cleaning uses harsh chemicals and can be very expensive, so whenever possible it's best to purchase clothing you can clean yourself.
As much as possible, try to invest in better-quality shoes and have them resoled as they become worn. Discarded shoes take up a lot of room in landfills.
Try not to follow the whims of fashion too closely -- the clothes that are all the rage today may be embarrassing tomorrow and end up in the landfill. Second-hand stores and charity-run thrift shops are good places to buy clothes without making a dent on the earth's ability to sustain clothing production, and they're also great places to get rid of your old, unwanted clothes without needlessly filling up landfills.

" If cotton were a crop that we ate instead of one that we wore, the E.P.A. and the F.D.A. wouldn't allow us to spray it with some of the things we use."
Jerry Williams - Phillips County Arkansas Extension Service. Quoted in The New Yorker, July 8, 1991.

Questions? Please see our page of Frequently Asked Questions about Clothing.

Primary Links

The Simple Life -- Organic Cotton Exhibit

http://www.simplelife.com/organiccotton/#anchor817994
This site explains how cotton cultivation inflicts a heavy toll on the environment and gives information about how people are now growing cotton organically. Set up as a a virtual museum exhibit, this web-site examines why chemical-free production is important and shows how you can become involved in choosing organic. If you'd like even more information, check out the parent site at http://www.sustainablecotton.org/.

The Recycler's Exchange -- Clothing

URL: http://www.recycle.net/recycle/Textile/clothing/
The Recycler's Exhange is a free, worldwide forum -- run by the RecycleNet corporation --for those who buy and sell almost anything that can be recycled. This page is specifically for clothing, and while it's intended most for large scale purchasers it also has links to many sites that deal with individuals who are interested in buying or selling old clothing or textiles, or clothing made from recycled materials. At their home page, (http://www.recycle.net/exchange/,) you'll find other categories, for resources on recycling everything from polyester to leather.

National Thrift Store Search Engine

URL: http://www.narts.org/directory.htm
If you don't know of any good second-hand clothing stores or thrift stores in your town, this is a good place to search. All the stores in this directory are members of the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops. The search is quite flexible at responding to partial matches, and you can search by type of store (i.e., stores that specialize in clothing).

For More Information

GreenPages Store

URL: http://www.greenpagesstore.com/
GreenPages Store is a virtual mall, an alliance of alternative producers and Co-op America, a 15 year old national nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. Every Provider in Green Pages Store was screened by Co-op America, so there is at least some assurance that claims made by these stores are legitimate. Many vendors of organic cotton, hemp, organic linen and wool are included in this mall.

Environmental Web Directory -- Clothing

URL: http://webdirectory.com/Products_and_Services/Environmental_Clothing/
This is another commercial directory of sites that promise to supply organic, eco-friendly or otherwise sustainable clothing products.

Envirolink -- Leather Alternatives

http://arrs.envirolink.org/Faqs+Ref/faqleather.html
Turning animal hides into leather is an energy intensive and polluting practice. This site will link you to a listing of many resources for leather alternatives and tips on recycling leather goods, as well as answering lots of detailed questions about the impact that the leather industry has on our environment.

Organizations

National Association of Resale & Thrift Shops

URL: http://www.narts.org/
P.O. Box 80707, St. Clair Shores Michigan, USA 48080-0707
Phone: 800 544-0751
Fax: 810 294-6776
This association has over 1,000 member stores, including thrift, resale, and consignment shops of all types. They exist both to bring attention to their member stores, and to further public awareness of the value of resale shopping. They're not specifically environmentally inclined, but they represent the best option for recycling clothing and other consumer goods. Clicking on the "shopping" link will take you to the National Thrift Store Search Engine noted above.

Secondary Materials and Recycled Textile Association

URL: http://www.smartasn.org/
7910 Woodmont Ave., Suite 1130, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Phone: (301) 656-1077
Fax: (301) 656-1079
This is an organization dedicated to making it easier for large-scale clothing and textile recyclers to communicate and do their work. For consumer's, the most useful service they provide is probably their glossary of technical terms from the clothing industry, which may help you if you're reading labels and trying to decide what a fabric really is and what it's made of. This site was last updated on December 13, 1999.

The Council for Textile Recycling

URL: http://www.textilerecycle.org/
In their own words, "the goals of the Council for Textile Recycling are to increase the amount of textile waste that can be recovered and at the same time develop new uses, products and markets for products derived from pre-consumer and post-consumer textile waste." This group's site gives a really good analysis of the state of clothing and textile recycling worldwide, and particularly discusses the importance of the global distribution of used clothing to benefit people in poor countries. This organizaion is sponsored by SMART, above, and offers no non-electronic contact information.

Clothing

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