Environmental Concerns of Fashion
While we adore the array of outfits filling our bursting-at-the-seams closets, many of us don’t know what happens when we get rid of our worn garments and just how long some materials stick around. While fashion manufacturers have doubled in production in the last 15 years, they’re also making unprecedented quantities of waste, much of this due to the poor quality of cheaply made clothing that rips or tears after a few wears. 73% of dispelled clothing will be burned or buried in a landfill, and with 80 billion cheap, inferior garments created each year, that’s a lot of stuff piling up or harming our atmosphere, never to be used again.
Around 12% of tossed out clothing gets collected for recycling, often shredded to make insulative material or used to stuff mattresses. Only 1% of discarded material is used to make new apparel!
But it’s not only the cheap clothes that have come under (literal) fire. It was discovered that fashion empire Burberry incinerated $40 million worth of never-worn garments in an effort to keep their brand exclusive and their stock limited (and more valuable). Since their secret was unearthed, they’ve since changed their ways, but it doesn’t bring the miles of quality pants, dresses, coats, and more back from the dead. And Burberry wasn’t alone—this debacle brought to light that many behemoths in the industry were up to the same thing.
How Long Are My Yoga Pants Going to Stick Around?
Let’s face it—yoga pants are the best woman’s apparel invention since… well, we can’t think of anything better. These buttery-soft, shapely, cosy leggings emerged into the athletic and fashion world with a zing and aren’t going anywhere. But our favorite garments happen to be chasms of microplastics and synthetic microfibers that are poisoning our oceans and lands and contaminating our seafood.
Materials like polyester, one of the most common elements of fashion and yoga pants, are non-biodegradable fabrics that take hundreds of years to return their harmless, natural state. In some cases, a pair of yoga pants will take 500-800 years to break down.
A Sustainable Alternative: Aura7 Activewear
Aura7 Activewear a sustainable, eco-friendly activewear brand working hard to source the most environmentally friendly fabrics, tags, packaging, and more to give women an option of stylish garments that are both sexy and sustainable.
We’re trying to rewire the fashion world, and Aura7 Activewear’s aim is to serve as a model for future fashion generations and promote healthy, active living while contributing to a flourishing planet.
Live sexy and sustainably with our new collection, made from recycled fishing nets. Follow us on social -- Insty, Facebook, and Twitter -- and visit our website for ethically-made activewear.