Impact of Fashion

It’s often said fashion is the second or third most polluting industry in the world, but no matter the ranking there is no doubt that the fashion industry is a major contributor in the climate crisis. Making fabric uses water, energy, chemicals, and other resources that most people don’t think about, or ever see. We think knowledge is power, so we talk about resource use, climate change, and other impacts of fashion.

The biggest sustainability impact of fashion happens at the raw materials stage. This is even before clothes are stitched together to make a garment.

The Fabric selection actually affects how you are going to wash the garment, and potentially (hopefully) recycle it. This is why at Samsara we have started creating a list of our favourite (Top of the class) and least loved (Must try harder) fabrics.

We have categorised the fabrics and fibres we use in our clothes into 3 categories.

This categorisation takes a variety of aspects into account including water consumption, energy use, emissions and general environmental impact.

Top of the class
These are materials that can be produced organically and are renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable
Linen
Wool
Viscose
Rayon

Room for improvement
Materials in this category are recycled, saving old clothes and fabrics from going to landfill and making use of them,
albeit they may not be as good as our no. 1 category.
Recycled polyester
Recycled knitwear
Recycled denim

Must try harder
We recognise that these materials aren’t great due to their water consumption and impact on the environment,
but they’re better than standard production
Organic cotton
BCI Cotton

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