The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world.

1) In most of the countries in which garments are produced, untreated toxic wastewaters from textiles
factories are dumped directly into the rivers.
2) Wastewater contains toxic substances such as lead, mercury, and arsenic, among others.
3) The contamination also reaches the sea and eventually spreads around the globe.
4) Another major source of water contamination is the use of fertilizers for cotton production, which
heavily pollutes runoff waters and evaporation waters.
5) Up to 20,000 liters of water are needed to produce just 1kg of cotton.
6) This generates tremendous pressure on this precious resource, already scarce, and has dramatic
ecological consequences such as the desertification of the Aral Sea, where cotton production has
entirely drained the water.
7) While hemp demands half the amount of land per 2,000 pounds of fabric textile in comparison to
cotton, the latter also requires four times more water and a much longer growing period than hemp.
8) Nearly 10% of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of insecticides come from the cotton industry. In
contrast, the hemp plant is naturally resistant to most insects and disease, basically eliminating the
need for any pesticides or herbicides.
9) In comparing land use for hemp cultivation versus cotton cultivation, the hemp productivity levels
are much greater, resulting in growth of 2,650 pounds of fiber per acre compared to 1,190 pounds of
cotton fiber per acre of land.
10) The hemp fabric lasts longer and doesn’t wear out as quickly as cotton does.
11) It is safe to assume that women have much more clothing and a larger diversity of clothing than
men do. In addition, women spend a longer amount of time on average in the closet and getting
dressed.
12) In Britain, women spend an average of £28,350 ($35,400) on clothing compared to men’s spend
of £16,200 ($20,230). Average spends on shoes are likewise are £8,100 ($10,100) for women, £4,725
($5,900) for men.
13) Plastic particles washed off from products such as synthetic clothes contribute up to 35% of the
primary plastic that is polluting our oceans.
14) The Arctic is pervasively polluted by microplastic fibres that most likely come from the washing of
synthetic clothes by people in Europe and North America, research has found.
15) Once in our oceans they can absorb nasty chemicals. Disturbingly, sea creatures are eating these
toxic fibres, potentially passing them up the food chain. Some studies have found them in seafood like
mussels.
16) These microfibers have been found in almost everything we eat and drink: fish, seafood, chicken,
tap water, bottled water, salt, beer. They have deeply entered our food chain, of which we are at the
top, so the risk for us is even higher.
17) Microplastics were already found in lung tissue 30 years ago. Textile workers who process, among
others, polyester and nylon fibers experienced coughing, breathlessness, and reduced lung capacity.
18) Research in the United States also just showed for the first time that the smallest plastic particles
in pregnant rats could get elsewhere in the body. They were found not only in the lungs and heart of
the pregnant rat, but also in the liver, lungs, heart, kidneys, and brain of the fetus.
19) Each time you wash your clothes in a washing machine, millions of plastic fibers are released.
20) The apparel industry accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions, and most of the
world’s clothes are produced in China, Bangladesh, or India, countries powered by coal.
21) In the United States, clothes are only worn for around a quarter of the global average, as
reported by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation based on the data of Euromonitor International.
22) Research has shown that our body’s largest organ, our skin, can absorb chemicals from
the clothes we wear, leading to effects such as skin irritation, developmental issues, and even
cancer.
23) In the US, doing the laundry in each household in the country is estimated to release an
average of 240kg of greenhouse gas emissions a year.