Think before you buy

Take a second to see where the shirt you’re wearing is from. Mine is from Singapore. The cotton, however (I’m wearing a 100 percent cotton T-shirt), is most likely from the United States because the U.S. is the world’s top exporter of cotton.

This is the typical journey of a cotton T-shirt made for U.S. consumers: American-made cotton (generously subsidized by the U.S. government and made using billions of pounds of pesticides and water) is exported to countries such as China and Guatemala, where it is then made by low-paid workers (Chinese textile workers earn as little as 12-18 cents per hour) into clothing based on designers’ wishes.

This clothing is then shipped back to the U.S. and western Europe for consumption. Americans purchase approximately 1 billion garments made in China per year, and after purchase, a meager 21 percent of this clothing stays in the home.

The rest of the clothing ends up in consignment stores, is given a new life as fiber for paper products or industrial wiping rags, is exported for resale in developing nations, or goes directly into landfills.   

Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing per person annually, and this statistic is steadily rising. What many people don’t grasp, however, is that there is no such thing as “away” — even clothing donated to resale stores such as Goodwill or Salvation Army often goes to waste, as only about 1/5 of donations to such companies are actually used or sold.

What’s more, the production of synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon is energy-intensive and hugely harmful to the environment, requiring massive amounts of oil and leeching pollutants into the air and soil. Non-synthetic fibers are not much better — cotton, the most widely used natural fiber, is one of the most water- and pesticide-dependent crops grown today.

The power of individual consumers must be used if we are to discourage fast fashion and the throwaway culture that comes with it. Reject the new “needs” and “must-haves” crafted each season by advertising and the fashion industry.

Shop exclusively at consignment and resale stores and, if possible, support people in your community who make clothing using materials closer to home. If you need to buy something new, do your research first; for example, don’t buy anything made with conventionally grown cotton.

Do not throw away old garments or even donate them to resale stores; mend them or reuse them within your home as dust rags, quilts or rag rugs. It’s time to redefine “need” and dismantle the incredible wastefulness driven by our consumer culture.

­— ccleahy@indiana.edu