Behind the Facade of Fashion; A micro story of Microfibers

image copyright of oceancleanwash.org

Marketing has a way of making items pop, sparkle, and appeal to the pleasure parts of our brain. We become zombies to the apocalypse of an industry flaunting its latest pizzaz, and need to have it. We, the consumers, see the product because that’s what we are shown. What we don't see is that every product is a process. The process doesn't stop when it reaches our homes or our hands, or our bodies.

The fast fashion industry is a hot commodity in the 2000’s. We can push a couple buttons and have Friday night outfit delivered in 2 days. We don’t have to leave our couch to adorn ourselves in the latest fashion trends. But at what cost is this convenience coming to us.

MICROFIBERS…The hidden jems of fast fashion.

I have been diving deep into understanding the role micro plastics play in our lives, or more realistically, the reality that we are walking plastic. Microfibers are polysynthetic based materials which bind to clothing to make it elastic, repel water, make it soft, and appealing apparel. Microfibers are also fossil fuel based, and wash off of clothing each time we wash them, returning to waste water and thus infiltrating our eco and aquatic systems. According to oceancleanwash.org. plastic particles washed off from synthetic fibers contribute up to 35% of the primary plastic pollutants in the ocean. The ocean, amongst other major bodies of water is seeing the aftershock of the plastics in our clothing.

This phenomenon explained the letter I received in the mail a couple months ago, warning about levels of PFA’s in our town water supply. This is just one of many sources.

Materials which are mass produced and fast produced typically contain such microfibers. These fibers break down as plastics. According to Matt Simons “A Poison like no Other”, washing machines turn out 1.5 billion lbs of microplastic a year! Microfiber laced wastewater turns out 265 million lbs of micro plastic a year. The more we wash and specifically the newer the clothing, (depending on the material composition), the more plastics come off in the wash and end up in our wastewater.

With growing awareness of this issue, in progressive parts of the world, countries such as France now have all washing machines installed with microfiber filters. Because of the micro size of these fibers, we are injecting them as well, through breathing in the particles, and into our skin from wearing the clothes. We breathe them in through other mediums where they're contained such as carpets, furniture, and curtains.

WHAT YOU CAN DO…

+Find clothing brands that either use post consumer materials or non-synthetic materials

+Shop second hand: The thrift or consignment clothing industry is hopping. One can purchase brand names and high end clothes second hand, with almost no footprint to leave. Far less microfibers are going into wastewater in pre-worn clothing.

+Reduce the temptation and demand for fast fashion.

image co NY Times

image copyright of National Geographic

“FASHION GARBAGE PATCHES”

An article I recently read in National Geographic pointed to the other end of this process of fast fashion, which is where it goes after use. South American countries that don't export their waste and often end up with ours, have landed with mountains of clothing disposed of after single or short lived use. Developing countries across the globe are taking on the waste end of fast fashion production and consumption. Populations are lured into fast fashion because of how cheap it is, but easy come easy go. These materials don't last, and are disposed of after a short use life. Sadly, the majority of consumers in the developing nations aren’t seeing the story of their clothing because the capitalism mantra is out of site, out of mind.

Northern Chile ends up with much of this clothing in a desert deposit stream. The burning of these materials further perpetuates a pollution cycle of environmental injustice, where such populations are then subject to poor air quality.

The United Nations actually coined this phenomenon as “ an environmental and social emergency”

The following are some staggering statistics from National Geographic:

*Between 2000-2014 clothing production doubled. Consumers were buying 60% more clothes and wearing them half as long.

*Today, ⅗ of all clothing ends up in landfills or incinerators within a year of production (a truckload of used clothing burned every second)

*Last Year Chile alone received 44 million tons of clothing

A POSITIVE ECONOMIC OUTCOME

Fortunately, people have been able to develop businesses out of the influx of used clothing, sometimes reformulating the fibers to make new/used clothing. Others resell. But the quantity and overall production problem is not resolved, as well as the environmental impact.