Episode 41 - Exclusion, Privilege, and Ethical Consumption

This episode we interviewed Brianna Scrimshaw Botchwey. Brianna is an aspiring zero waster and PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on sustainable development and foreign aid. The research note below includes preparatory notes from Kristen and Brianna.

Kristen’s Notes

Brianna, we’re so excited to have you on the show to talk about exclusion and privilege in ethical consumption. We’re going to focus on fashion, but this is a question that impacts any kind of ethical consumption in different ways.

Brianna, I know this is something you think about a lot, and it was your idea to have an episode on this. So, can you maybe describe for the listener what you mean by privilege and exclusion in ethical consumption?

In our series on fast fashion, we talked about the components to building a conscious closet (which we took from the wonderful book by Elizabeth Cline, The Conscious Closet).

The advice is basically to avoid fast fashion as much as you can by thinking about your closet as a wardrobe that you build over time.

As part of that, there are basically three categories for how to shop for clothing as an ethical consumer: (1) when you have to go fast fashion choose Better Big Brands, which are the big brands that are doing better than their peers; (2) look for Conscious Superstars, which are slow fashion brands that really focus on human rights and sustainability; and (3) go for new-to-you second-hand clothing through thrifting, renting, swapping and borrowing. 

I think what I want to do with this episode is to talk about some of the barriers to inclusivity with each of these three approaches. But first let’s have a more general discussion about the kinds of barriers that we might encounter in all three areas:

Barriers to Building a Conscious Closet

What do you think are some of the big barriers that people face in trying to get to a more conscious wardrobe?

• Cost

• Sizing

• Marketing

• Race

• Time

Better Big Brands and Problems with Inclusive Sizing

Brianna, you shared a video about Lululemon on your Instagram feed a while ago, and I thought it was a good way to open up this discussion.

A consultancy firm called Simon-Kucher and Partners surveyed consumers about the considerations for conscious fashion. The four top-rated considerations were (1) fair labour standards, (2) sustainable materials and processes, (3) sending profits to charity, and (4) body positivity.

Have you observed a change?

I was listening to an interview with body positivity writer and photographer Marielle Elizabeth, and she talked about the reasons that clothing companies have been so slow to adopt inclusive sizing.[1] She says basically that until about five years ago the main barrier was fat-phobia and these harmful narratives that stem from it – like the (totally incorrect) idea that larger people don’t spend as much on clothing because they are trying to lose weight.[2]

But in the last five years these fat-phobic narratives are being smashed, so now it’s more about the financial investment. Because there is an initial cost to introducing inclusive sizing, especially if you’re going to be increasing beyond size 18. She made an interesting point that beyond size 18 you basically have to re-think how you design clothing because it’s not just a 1:1 size increase everywhere.[3]

I was listening to an interview with Alexandra Waldman, a co-founder of Universal Standard (an inclusive fashion brand that produces sizes 0 to 40), and she talked about not being able to find a quality white t-shirt that didn’t have a cat or flowers on it.

Sustainable Fashion Superstars Inclusive Sizing

Inclusive sizing actually just makes a lot of business sense. The sizes most frequently sold in stores are 14-18, so having those sizes available allows you to sell to people in that category.

From what I’ve seen, sizing inclusivity generally means having sizes to at least 24. A number of slow fashion brands have introduced inclusive sizing (or had it to begin with). Similarly, inclusive fashion brands are increasing their sustainability. From what I was able to see, most slow fashion brands have made nods to sustainability and also use some level of inclusive sizing. 

Power of My People: an ethical fashion company based out of B.C. They are a slow fashion company and I found their approach convincing – they seem to have thought about workers’ rights and environmental sustainability in how they supply and manufacture garments. On their website they describe where the fabrics were sourced and where manufacturing occurred for each item, as well as any ethical certifications. They have a new net zero emissions target that they are meeting with carbon offsets. For that reason, their products are on the pricier side. But I’m working on trying to buy a smaller number of staple items to build my wardrobe – conscious closet episode – so I don’t mind. I bought a linen button down from them a while back and really enjoy it. Power of My People sizes to 3XL and they have plus-sized models showing their items.

Girlfriend Collective: I have three pairs of leggings and two sports bras from this brand. I bought them in 2018 and 2019 and they are all still going strong after probably 50-150 wears. They have a Good On You rating of “Great”, which is based on a 4/5 rating for the environment and a 5/5 rating for human rights. They have a lot of detail on their website about how they source the water bottles and fish nets they recycle for the fabric, as well as the working conditions for the people that make their clothes. Girlfriend Collective uses diverse models and has sizing up to 6XL. As for price, they are certainly not cheap – leggings go for $68 each according to my most recent search – but they are in line with other athleticwear brands.

On her website, Marielle Elizabeth publishes a list of slow fashion brands that have inclusive sizing. Check it out here.

Thrift Shopping

Brianna, you mentioned thrift shops and clothing subscriptions in the outline that you sent us. Can you tell me a bit more about what you meant?

That was something I had never thought about before. But quality consignment stores so rarely have good selection for people above a size large. Which is ridiculous because all body types have clothing that they want to get rid of.

Why do you think it is that thrift shops have such little selection in plus sizes?

There are a couple of thoughts on why the supply of plus-sized clothing in second-hand markets is so low. First, because fashion brands haven’t been selling in inclusive sizes, people with larger bodies haven’t had the same level of access to the quality pieces that consignment stores look for. There is also some fat-phobia in what consignment stores are selecting for their inventories.

Another factor is the documented impact of fatphobia on the livelihoods of people. There is evidence showing that larger women make less money, which in turn influences the amount that people have to spend on clothing – which in turn means fewer clothing donations and more demand for second-hand clothes.

When it comes to thrift shops, one writer that I encountered said the lack of plus-sized options was due to high demand – that whenever there are plus-sized clothes they go pretty quickly. She also said that there is a problem where non plus-sized people will go to thrift shops and buy plus-sized clothes with interesting patterns in order to cut them up and create new items. Apparently this is a whole thing that people do, and even blog about. So yeah, don’t be that person. There is also a trend of buying oversized clothing, which takes away from nice clothes that would fit a larger body.

It seems like there is some progress on this as entrepreneurs start to create body positive consignment and resale stores. I found a list of options in several American cities. ThredUp, the world’s largest online consignment and thrift shop, has up to 4XL on its website 

On its face, clothing swaps could be great for people who don’t see their bodies represented in thrift shops. But I think about the clothing swaps I have been a part of and how my own insecurities have sort of been at play, and I wonder whether that might not be problematic. What do you think? Is there a way around it?

Ethical Fashion and Affordability

I think class is the next most important barrier to participation in ethical fashion. I know it has been a factor for me. What about for the two of you?

Let’s dig into the reasons. So, obviously, on a one-to-one basis a shirt you buy from fast fashion is going to be cheaper than slow fashion. Lots of blogs have pointed this out. Definitely, there are ways to spend less on slow fashion than on fast fashion. Good quality clothes last longer, so to a certain extent it can make sense to buy for longer.

But the reality is it can be hard to have the liquidity to be able to afford these more expensive, long-lasting pieces.

I think there is also a question of what happens if your style or size changes. Investing a lot in a few pieces can be a good strategy, but if your size fluctuates that can make it more difficult to think about your clothes as a wardrobe. Also, lifestyle changes.

There is also a certain privilege in being able to spend the time to read about what goes into a wardrobe, to research ethical fashion brands, and to go to lots of different consignment shops. Making your own clothes is also about the luxury of time.

Potential Solutions

Size Inclusivity: Brianna, you had some really good suggestions for solutions to size inclusivity problems in the fashion industry. Mind telling us about that?

In General: For ethical consumers, I think it’s important to remember that everyone has different identities and experiences and challenges, and that the ability to make ethical consumption choices is a privilege that not everybody has the same access to. What comes with that is a duty to use your privilege to make ethical consumption easier to access. So that means asking your favourite sustainable brands to size inclusively, to produce makeup in different shades. It also means you have to help push for those more systemic solutions.

Brianna’s Notes

Aim

When people engage with ethical consumption, they often don’t realize the different kinds of privilege they may have access to. Hoping to illuminate how privilege shapes who has access to ethical consumption.

Disclaimer

Not an activist or social justice scholar, my comments are based more on my personal experience when trying to engage in ethical consumption patterns. Also acknowledging that I am on the border of straight sizing so generally can find clothes in most stores and I am a lighter skinned dark person so also can find shades in most places.

Big Questions

1. Who actually has access to ethical consumption?

2. What are the different barriers to access?

Barriers to Buying Slow/Sustainable Fashion

Cost.

Sizing: most brands only go up to size 12, or occasionally 16. Even for brands that have these bigger sizes, finding them in store is like finding vegan food in a steakhouse – Not easy.

Style: a lot of sustainable plus size clothing just isn’t trendy – like not all of us bigger folks want to wear moomoos.

Marketing: a lot of sustainable fashion appears to be marketed to white western audiences, which for me suggests that a lot of assumptions are being made about who wants sustainable fashion which obviously is not just that white western audience.

Some nice exceptions:

• Girlfriend Collective goes up to a 6XL and they use diverse models.

• Nettle’s Tale goes up to 3XL and has a community sizing guide that includes measurements from people with all body types.

• Kotn goes up to a 2XL, but not in all styles.

• Other popular brands like Patagonia also only go up to 2XL in select styles.

Barriers to Other Alternatives to Fast Fashion

Thrifting (also suffers from sizing/access issues)

Clothing subscription (again only for smaller people)

Make your own (lack of time (time is also a privilege) and upfront costs can be high)  

Barriers to Buying “Sustainable” Beauty Products

Cost.

Lack of shade range.

Lack of products for different hair types.

Only sold online a lot of the time.

Examples of people trying to do better: Range Beauty is a black owned company trying to offer clean beauty for all shades. Cheekbone beauty is an indigenous owned company.  

Potential Solutions

Plus-size-only second-hand shopping.

Made to order sizing: some sustainable brands have this option where you can submit your measurements (examples: Pamut Apparel US).

Pressuring brands to be inclusive: Whenever a brand does a survey ALWAYS encourage them to increase sizing/inclusivity in product/marketing. When you are writing a review also consider talking about inclusivity.

What is NOT a solution is telling people who face these barriers that they just shouldn’t consume. It’s one thing to decide not to consume at all (which can be a valid choice) but it’s another thing not to have the choice at all because of structural factors beyond your control.

The onus for sustainable consumption is partially on the individual, but brands and suppliers also need to make sure they are inclusive so that everyone can have access to ethical consumption.

Resources

 https://www.stephanieyeboah.com/2020/03/navigating-sustainability-when-youre-plus-size.html 

https://fashionjournal.com.au/fashion/the-sustainable-fashion-industry-is-size-exclusive-take-it-from-this-model/

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a32213676/plus-size-sustainable-fashion/

https://wellinsiders.com/defining-diversity-inclusivity-in-green-beauty/

Endnotes

[1] Medium Well Podcast. (23 September 2020). Creative a More Size-Inclusive Ethical Fashion Landscape and Fat Activism with Marielle Elizabeth. Medium Well Podcast.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

Episode 40 - Halloween

The average American spent $86 on Halloween in 2019, amounting to a total of $8.8 billion. And Canadians spend more (per capita) on Halloween than Americans. Spending on Halloween is comprised of three major components: costumes ($3.2 billion), candy ($2.6 billion), and decorations ($2.7 billion).

One of the big concerns with Halloween is waste, especially plastic waste. In the UK, for example, an estimated 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste (the equivalent of 83 million bottles) are be generated from Halloween costumes each year.

Costumes

This year Halloween parties are not allowed in most places due to COVID-19, so we decided not to focus too much on costumes. Next year we’ll cover them more comprehensively.

Costumes and Cultural Appropriation

You shouldn’t dress up as a marginalized culture that isn’t your own. Doing so presents other cultures as exotic or as a costume. And it can also further harmful stereotypes. Need examples? Here is a list of ten Halloween costumes you shouldn’t wear.

When you’re looking for an inclusive Halloween costume, York University’s Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion suggests asking five questions:

1. Is my costume depicting and perpetuating a stereotype or stigma associated with a particular race, culture or religion? 

2. Does my costume include a replication of a garment that is a significant component of a particular religion or culture of which I do not identify? 

3. Is my costume depicting an historical time-period where that look/costume is now considered offensive or discriminatory?

4. Does my costume represent elements of a culture or cultural practice that is being commoditized for consumption?

5. Can I look in the mirror and confidently say that my costume choice would not be considered offensive to a particular race, ethnic origin, gender, or religion?

Ethical Costumes

Try to avoid buying a fast fashion costume, especially if you only plan to wear it once or twice. As we discussed in our clothing series, there are huge human rights and environmental problems with fast fashion.

Costume rentals can be a good option if you need a look for a one-off event. Renting a costume is a good way to get affordable short-term access to a show-stopping costume. There are costume rental services in most cities. But here are a few options for Canadians: Torontonians can try costumerentals.ca or Theatrix Costume House. Calgarians can try the rentals at Costume Shoppe or the Tickle Trunk. Vancouverites, check out the Costume Bank or WATTS Costumes. People in Ottawa can try Malabar. And for Edmontonians there is the Theatre Garage.

You can always try thrifting a costume! Most thrift shops bring in costumes around the Halloween season, so there are lots of options. Some thrift shops will also sell new costumes and props, so just be sure that you are buying used.

Borrowing can also be a good approach. If one of your friends is Halloween obsessed, they probably have costumes and props from previous years that they would be happy to lend.

In normal years costume swaps are another option, so check your local community organizations for these kinds of events.

Another option is to build a costume around items that you already own. I have a lot of grey in my wardrobe, so last year I went as a rhinoceros. I made rhino ears using felt and a headband I had, but if you are looking for something cooler you can also buy printable origami mask templates (see here). This year I’m going as Velma from Scooby Doo, mostly because I had all of the core components in my closet (more or less). 

If nothing in your closet speaks to you, another option is building a costume with new items that you will use in your daily life. For example, a friend needed a peacock costume for an event; she used the occasion to buy outrageous peacock print leggings that she still uses.

If you are making a costume, try to upcycle using items you already have. If you do need new materials, think about recyclability and try to avoid plastic where you can. Here’s an article with some good ideas for creating costumes through upcycling. Going as a bag of groceries is a particularly inspired idea, I think.

Why not go as the Mike Pence fly? All you need to do is wear black and don a pair of wings. This how-to article on making fairy wings offers some good strategies that you could easily adapt for fly wings. 

When thinking about costumes and sustainability, remember to think about makeup too! (For example, go for biodegradable glitter.)

Candy

If you took all the candy that’s sold during Halloween week and turned it into a giant ball, it’d be as large as six Titanics and weigh 300,000 tonnes.

There’s a long list of problems with Halloween candy:

Transportation costs to have ingredients and finished products shipped all over the world

Litter from non-recyclable and non-compostable plastic packaging. You could give out baked goods or homemade treats to your friends and family, but trick-or-treaters will usually throw those away, especially during COVID I imagine. So trying to go zero waste would likely result in food waste.
Another option is to use TerraCycle, you can order a snack wrappers zero waste box, fill it with candy wrappers, and send it back for recycling. Yes, they start at $86, but as Kristen suggested in our episode, you can go in as a community or school, if the price is out of reach!
Ultimately, if you’re looking for plastic free packaging, there are options that come in cardboard containers. Some municipalities won’t recycle these because they’re too small, but they can always be composted. Junior Mints, Mike and Ikes (which are vegan, if you don’t mind eating a resin scraped off a tree that’s the product of beetles, who aren’t necessarily harmed in the process. The dye has likely been tested on animals though), Nerds (vegan except for colours being tested on animals, a colour made from the scales of insects, and refined sugar is often filtered using bone char from the meat industry holy shit I had no idea?), Dots (vegan), Milk Duds, Smarties, and Raisins (Kristen’s least favourite).
Side note: aluminium foil is recyclable and I’m the worst for not knowing that. The bigger the aluminium ball, the more likely to be recycled.

Food Waste. Left with too much candy for one kid (or adult) to possibly eat? Treats for Troops might be an option in your area. Candy is given to soldiers and veterans.

Carbon footprint of milk production. We’ve discussed this before!

Deforestation tied to cocoa.

Deforestation tied to palm oil.

Forced labour. Most Halloween candy sales are for chocolate, and most chocolate sales in a year happen at Halloween. We’re probably going to do a whole episode on chocolate, so I won’t get into it too much here, but the gist is the cocoa industry is real bad for forced labour. As is the sugar industry (we did an episode on that). This is especially prevalent in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, where the majority of cocoa farms are now located. During the 2013-14 growing season, an estimated 2 million children were used for hazardous labour throughout Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.

“In June of 2001 the US House of Representatives voted to consider a labeling system to assure consumers that slave labor was not used in the production of their chocolate. The US chocolate industry responded with an intense lobbying effort to ward off legislation that would require “slave free” labels on their products.” - Slave Free Chocolate

A lot of companies, including Nestle and Mondelez (Sour Patch Kids, Oreo, Ritz, Toblerone, Wheat Thins, Maynards, Cadbury, Chips Ahoy) have promised to become more sustainable or fully sustainable in relation to their cocoa, but so far no one actually has from what I found.

Unreal sells vegan and fair trade chocolate. Here’s a list of a few more options!

Want to opt out of candy altogether this year?

Trick or Treat for UNICEF!
Give out packages of seeds instead of candy. This could be fun for kids, that’s a craft with payoff.
Give out a can of sugary fair-trade drink.
Lots of blogs recommending pencils/erasers, but who wants to be that guy? (Kristen apparently loves this).

Final note: Kristen mentioned the red dye scandal Starbucks dealt with a few years ago, here’s more information for the curious.

Decorations

Halloween is the second biggest decorating holiday (after Christmas).

Decorations and Human Rights

There isn’t a lot out there on the labour conditions of Halloween decorations producers, but it seems likely that conditions aren’t very good.

In 2018, a woman in the US found an SOS message in a polystyrene graveyard kit that had been made in a Chinese labour camp for dissidents. It said: “If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly send this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.”

Tips for Ethical Halloween Decorations

In general, try to avoid single-use decorations. If you must, go for recyclable paper decorations. There are lots of good DIY paper decoration ideas out there. Check out these links for paper skeletons, cardboard tombstones, ghost garland made from shredded paper, and paper spiderweb garland. Not every option in this Country Living decoration guide is sustainable, but I really like the horror novel door idea!

You can also upcycle materials for decorations. Try this tutorial for turning tin cans into jack-o-lantern decorations. Or use empty jars to make this spooky apothecary décor. You can also repurpose egg cartons as bats. 

If you are able to store decorations for multi-year use, that is a great option! As with costumes, start with upcycling and second-hand. If you are buying new, try to find fair trade if you can. And look for items that are durable and can be reused for years.

If you have kids, reusing trick or treat baskets is a good way to reduce your environmental footprint. Or you can just do what my parents did and give your kid an old pillowcase.

Not everyone has the space to store decorations. If you are space-constrained but still want to decorate, you can do that sustainably by using natural objects like gourds, corn husks. Then simply eat or compost them at the end of the season.

Pumpkins

We need to talk specifically about pumpkins, because they are a huge component of Halloween decorations. 99% of pumpkins sold in the UK are used for making jack-o-lanterns.

Try to go for local pumpkins if you can.

Food waste is a huge contributor to climate change, so don’t just trash the pumpkin. At a minimum, remember to compost your pumpkin. You can also make the most of your pumpkin by using all parts of it.

Toast the seeds and use the innards to make pumpkin purée. Here is a guide on how to toast pumpkin seeds.

You can also make pumpkin purée from the flesh of the pumpkin. Here is a guide on how to make pumpkin purée. Once you have pumpkin purée you can use it in pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice lattés, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pizza, pumpkin pasta, and much more. I’m going to use my pumpkin purée to make this pumpkin black bean soup from Minimalist Baker.

Episodes 36 and 37 - Forced Labour

For Labour Day, we wanted to highlight the conditon of workers who aren’t protected by modern labour laws and labour unions. Given its prevalence throughout the world, we chose to examine the cross-cutting theme of forced labour.

We brought back Alexandra Sundarsingh for Part One, to bring historical context. Lex is a second year PhD student in the department of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has a BA and MA from the University of Toronto. Thematically, her research interests include the history of Indian indenture, and its intersections with labor, race, gender, diasporic Indian culture, colonialism, and empire. Geographically, she focuses on how South Asia and the Indian Ocean world connect to broader global histories of migration, labor, and culture. She approaches these topics mainly through legal documentation and debates, transportation and labor infrastructure, and print culture in the Indian Ocean British colonies between 1840 and 1920. She also has an ongoing love of and interest in food history and hopes to be able to use this in her research as well. Check out her work here!
Lex recommended another book for this episode: We, the Survivors by Tash Aw

 Excerpt from Amnesty International’s “Turning People into Profits” (p.7):

When Suresh, aged 39, first considered leaving his village in Saptari district for a foreign job, he hoped it might be a life-changing experience that would set him and his family up for a more secure financial future. His first step was to contact an agent in his village who knew about job opportunities abroad. The agent had good news. He could offer him work in a Malaysian glove making factory. Pay would be relatively high, at RM 1800 (USD 420) per month, and conditions would be good, with one day off every week, safe working conditions and clean accommodation. Ultimately, the agent said, this would give Suresh the chance to save enough money to buy land for his family.

But this chance would cost: Suresh had to pay the village agent, as well as the Kathmandu recruitment agency who would finalise the deal, upfront. To get his job, Suresh borrowed NPR 250,000 (USD 2,416) from a local moneylender, at an annual interest rate of 36%. Although the recruitment fee was enormous (and illegal), Suresh’s agent and the Kathmandu agency assured him that he would be able to quickly pay off the debt once he started earning in Malaysia. The reality was very different. At the glove making factory, Suresh was unpaid for months on end, and when he was paid, his employer made a number of unexplained deductions from his salary. Suresh could not leave and get a new job, because his passport had been taken away, and his employer refused to end his contract or even allow him to leave the factory. In desperation, Suresh turned to his recruitment agency for help. They did not return his calls.

Instead of making money, when Suresh finally returned to Nepal in 2015 he had accumulated a staggering debt of NPR 550,000 (USD 5,317).[1]

What is forced labour?

Forced labour is a form of modern slavery. It includes slavery, practices similar to slavery, and bonded labour/debt bondage. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), forced labour is: “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”. The ILO definition includes two core elements.

First, labour must be extracted under the menace of any penalty. The penalty can be penal sanctions or a loss of rights and privileges. In its most extreme form, the menace of a penalty can involve physical violence or restraint. But other, more subtle, forms of penalty exist as well. Sometimes that might mean denouncing victims to the police or immigration authorities. Penalties can be financial, as in the case of debt-bondage and wage theft. In other cases, people may have their documents confiscated.

Second the work must be of an involuntary nature. For this criterion, the ILO looks at things like the method and content of consent, any external constraints or indirect coercion, and whether it is possible to revoke freely given consent. It is often the case that victims enter forced labour situations initially of their own accord and discover later that they are not free to withdraw their labour. (FYI, the ILO definition excludes prison work.)

Debt bondage is a particularly prominent feature of forced labour in current-day contexts. Half of forced labour imposed by private actors included debt bondage. In agriculture, domestic work, and manufacturing, debt bondage was even more prevalent – occurring in more than 70% of cases.

Forced labour is different than sub-standard or exploitative working conditions – so, even though things like low wages or unsafe working conditions are exploitative and bad, they are not in themselves forced labour.

There are numerous international treaties on forced labour, including: ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29); ILO Forced Labour Protocol (ratified, not yet in force); UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery; Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.

How it works

This short video does a good job of showing how forced labour often happens.

There are two main phases of forced labour: recruitment and control and exploitation.

Forced labour usually involves some kind of unfree recruitment, involving deception or coercion. Coercive recruitment often involves debt bondage or confiscation of documents. It can also occur through abuse of a difficult financial situation, irregular migrant status, or a difficult family situation. Deceptive recruitment is where promises made at the time of recruitment are not fulfilled. Victims are most commonly deceived about wages, working conditions, the jobs themselves, or the length of stay.  

People in situations of forced labour work under exploitative conditions. This can include low salaries, delayed payments, imposed poor living conditions, excessive work, and lack of social protection. Victims of forced labour face coercion, which might include:

●      Threats or actual physical harm

●      Restriction of movement or confinement to the workplace or a limited area

●      Withholding wages or excessive wage reduction that violates previously made agreements

●      Retention of passports and identity documents

●      Threats of denunciation to the authorities, when the worker has an irregular immigration status

What is the scale of forced labour?

In total, about 40 million people around the world are in modern slavery. That is roughly the same as the population of Canada. Modern slavery includes forced labour and forced marriage. Forced labour makes up more than half of modern slavery. At any given time, an estimated 25 million people are victims of forced labour. For context, that’s roughly the same as the population of Australia. (15 million people were living in a forced marriage). Those estimates are from a study called the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery created in 2017 by the ILO, the Walk Free Foundation, and the International Organization for Migration.

And that’s at any given time. In the past five years, 89 million people experienced some form of modern slavery.

Somewhere between 83% and 90% of the world’s forced laborers are working for the private sector, according to one estimate. Forced labour generates annual profits of about $150 billion USD.

State-imposed forced labour

State-imposed forced labour is declining as a source of forced labour, but it does occur. At least 2.2 million people worldwide are trapped in state- or rebel-imposed forms of forced labour. This form of forced labour often occurs in prisons or in work imposed by rebel or armed forces.

You can think about child soldiers as an example of state- or rebel-imposed forced labour. In previous episodes we have also talked about the Uzbek government’s connection to forced labour in the cotton industry. And of course, forced labour in Chinese re-education camps for Uighurs has received a lot of attention recently.

Another example is North Korea’s overseas workers program. North Korea sends somewhere between 50,000 and 120,000 of its citizens to work overseas and the government receives the lion’s share of wages for these workers (70-90%). North Korean overseas workers are primarily in China and Russia, although they have been found in dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe. They are employed mostly in mining, logging, textile, and construction.

The United Nations and others have documented conditions that amount to forced labour. For instance: workers do not know the details of their employment contract; they receive tasks according to their state-assigned social class; they are under constant surveillance while working abroad; and they are threatened with repatriation if they commit infractions. It is believed that the North Korean regime makes $1.2 to 2.3 billion annually from its overseas worker program.

In the second episode, Kyla talks about the Chinese prison system and Christmas Light production. It’s pretty grim, but you can follow the link to read more. She also mentions the stories that have come out in the past few years of consumers finding notes in their merchandise from people experiencing forced labour, and you can read more about that here.

Where is forced labour a problem?

Modern slavery occurs everywhere, although forced labour is most prevalent in Asia and the Pacific, where 4 out of every 1,000 people were victims. Europe and Central Asia was the region with the second highest prevalence of forced labour (3.6 per 1,000), followed by Africa (2.8 per 1,000), the Arab States (2.2 per 1,000), and the Americas (1.3 per 1,000).

Forced labour happens in a bunch of industries, especially: domestic work; construction; manufacturing; agriculture, forestry, and fishing; accommodation and food services; wholesale and trade; personal services; mining and quarrying; and begging.

Source: Global Estimates of Modern Slavery 2017, p.32

There are some regional patterns to this. In the Middle East, for instance, forced labour is most often for domestic work (270,000 out of 400,000 according to the ILO). In developed economies, forced labour is more common in other sectors like agriculture, construction, and manufacturing.

An American study created a typology of sex and labor trafficking using data from a human trafficking hotline. The typology includes 25 categories of work, many of which are related to sex. According to the US Department of Labor, the goods with the most forced labor listings (meaning number of countries listed) are: bricks, cotton, garments, cattle, and sugarcane.

Who is affected by forced labour?

More than two-thirds of modern slavery victims are women and girls (71%). It’s true that some of this is because forced labour in the commercial sex industry is overwhelmingly women and girls (99%) and because women and girls are mostly the victims of forced marriages (84%).

But even in other sectors, women and girls make up more than half (58%) of forced labour victims. There are a few sectors where males are primarily victims of forced labour: mining and quarrying; begging; construction and manufacturing; and agriculture, forestry, and fishing. On the other hand, victims are most often women in domestic work and accommodation and food services.

Victims of forced labour tend to be younger than the workforce overall. About one fifth of forced labour victims are children (18%), although state-imposed forced labour uses children less frequently (7%). 

Even though sexual exploitation is only about one-fifth of all forced labour, in terms of the number of people affected, two-thirds of profits from forced labour were generated by forced sexual exploitation. That is because sexual exploitation is the most lucrative form of forced labour, with an average annual profit per victim of $21,800 USD (compared with $4,800 in construction, $2,500 in agriculture, and $2,300 in domestic work). On the other hand, while forced labour in the agriculture, fishing, and forestry sector makes up a fairly small component of profits from forced labour, it affects quite a lot of people – approximately 3.5 million in 2014.

According to the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline, some groups are most at-risk of forced labour. First are foreign nationals with precarious immigration status, recruitment debts, language barriers, and a lack of awareness of their rights. Second are those working in: agriculture and farming (seasonal workers, farm hands); domestic service (child/elder care and home housekeeping); hospitality (hotel housekeeping, restaurant kitchen work); construction and resource extraction (e.g., mining, timber, etc.); and services such as nail salons and commercial cleaning businesses. Third are people with vulnerabilities related to: precarious housing or homelessness, substance abuse, poverty, physical or learning disabilities, and mental health issues.

What are the causes of forced labour?

Poverty and globalization are two foundational causes of forced labour. But these are pretty broad concepts. To be a bit more specific, I want to talk about six dimensions that make people vulnerable to forced labour: restrictive migration regimes; economic vulnerability; sexism and racism; state fragility and conflict; authoritarianism; and global capitalism.

Restrictive Migration

Forced labour is closely connected to migration and, in particular, human trafficking. Almost one in every four victims of forced labour were exploited outside of their country of residence. This is especially the case for forced sexual exploitation, where three-quarters (74%) of victims were exploited outside of their country of residence. That is because there is a high degree of risk associated with migration, especially for migrant women and children.

Approximately 20% of forced labour is a result of human trafficking. Human trafficking is “the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.” People trafficked into forced labour are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation (43%), economic exploitation (32%), and for mixed or undetermined reasons (25%).

Of course, it’s not just human trafficking: restrictive migration regimes can create unfreedom as well. Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup drew a lot of attention to the situation of migrant workers there. 95% of Qatar’s labour force consists of migrant workers, and these workers are brought in through a sponsorship system called the Kafala System. Qatar was roundly critiqued for this system, and international pressure led to changes. For instance, now workers do not require exit visas to leave the country. Although the Kafala System has been rightly criticized for how it creates the vulnerabilities that can allow for forced labour, what I found the most striking when I was reading about it is how similar it is to seasonal migrant worker programs in Canada and other wealthy countries. We mentioned COVID outbreaks among Canadian temporary workers and you can listen to more about that on this episode of Front Burner.

The ILO has a good description of how the vulnerability of migrant workers gets exploited in the construction industry in Eastern Europe, for instance:  

Migrant workers are brought illegally to work on a construction site, without knowing the working conditions or terms of payment. There, they discover that they are forced to live together in a remote place provided by the employer (to avoid police controls) and told that they will be paid only at the end of the construction. A few days before the end, when the work is done and wages are due, the owner may call a law enforcement officer to inform him of the presence of irregular migrants. The workers are then deported and the employer does not need to pay them. All due wages (minus the bribe) increase the profits made.

Economic Vulnerability

Poverty and lack of outside options are important risk factors for forced labour. In addition to poverty, people can be more vulnerable to forced labour when their family has undergone an income shock or is experiencing food insecurity.

Lower education and literacy levels can also make workers more vulnerable to forced labour. Weak labour protections create pools of unprotected workers, “who face serious barriers to acting collectively and exerting rights”. Workers can be unprotected because their country lacks robust labour protections or because they are in a category of work that is unprotected. In particular, the expansion of precarious work makes people more vulnerable to forced labour. The ILO has estimated that more than 75% of the global workforce is in temporary, informal, or unpaid work: so, “only a quarter of workers have the security of permanent contracts”.

Sexism and Racism

Some people are made more vulnerable to forced labour because some part of their identity denies them rights and full personhood. Although different, intersecting forms of discrimination play a role in forced labour, sexism is one of the most prominent dimensions.

Authoritarianism

State-imposed forced labour is largely a product of authoritarianism.

State Fragility and Conflict

On the other hand, state fragility and conflict can create opportunities for rebels and criminal organizations (and sometimes the government) to carry out illegal exploitation of workers.

Global Capitalism

Several facets of our global economy create pressure within the market for exploitable forms of labour and create spaces for exploitation. A report by openDemocracy and the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute identifies four of what they refer to as “demand side” causes of forced labour: concentrated corporate power and ownership; outsourcing; irresponsible sourcing practices (E.g., fast fashion’s quick turnaround); and governance gaps.

Forced labour in global supply chains

The US Department of Labor produces a list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor. The most recent report is for 2018, and it is LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG. Forced labour can appear in any industry, and can affect the supply chains or direct operations of companies of different sizes.

The top five products at most risk of modern slavery, according to the Walk Free Foundation, are:

1. Laptops, mobile phones, and computers ($200.1 billion in at-risk products imported into the G20);

2. Garments ($127.7 billion);

3. Fish ($12.9 billion);

4. Cocoa ($3.6 billion); and

5. Sugarcane ($2.1 billion).

Every year, over $34 billion in goods imported into Canada are “at a high risk of having been produced by child or forced labour.” “More than 1,200 companies operating in Canada were identified as having imported one or more of these high-risk goods.” For global figures, see the Global Slavery Index produced by the Walk Free Foundation.

Workers are particularly vulnerable to forced labour in the lower tiers of global supply chains – extracting raw inputs and processing them. While forced labour is a complicated challenge, it is possible for companies to monitor their supply chains to reduce the risk that they are complicit.

Preventing forced labour in global supply chains

Companies can work to prevent forced labour in their supply chains by having policies, knowing where in their supply chain there are risks of forced labour; having supplier codes of conduct and carrying out due diligence; and training staff to recognize forced labour.

What should you do about it? 

Pick Leading Big Brands

You can try to look for brands that are taking action to address forced labour in their supply chains. But know that these leading brands have not eliminated forced labour.

For example, in 2019 the UK police uncovered the largest modern slavery operation in its history, involving 400 Polish trafficked workers. Some of those victims were employed by second-tier suppliers to major supermarket and building supply chains, including Tesco and Sainsbury’s – the two leading companies in Oxfam’s Supermarkets Scorecard for performance in protecting human rights.

Right now, there are no big brands that have truly eliminated forced labour from their supply chains. But there are companies that are doing much better than others.

The Stop Slavery Award recognizes companies with strong policies and processes to limit the risk of slavery in their supply chains and operations, as well as those acting as key agents in the global fight against slavery. Some previous winners include Apple, Unilever, Adidas, Intel, and Co-op.

Know the Chain’s benchmarking reports can help you find leaders and laggards in apparel and footwear; food and beverage; and information and communications technology.

Try Fairtrade

To the extent that Fairtrade labels are available, they can provide an alternative that is likely to be free from forced labour.

Fair trade is a set of movements, campaigns, and initiatives that have emerged in response to the negative effects of globalization. A product that is certified as Fairtrade has met a set of standards on pay, working conditions, and sometimes other social or environmental criteria. As we discussed in the Sugar episode, there are also fair trade member systems that work a bit differently.

However, there are some critiques of Fairtrade. Some see the use of fairtrade certification as “fairwashing” – meaning a way to superficially seem like a company is doing well on workers’ rights without actually addressing the problem. Critics tend not to argue that fair trade products are not living up to the standards established by certifying bodies. Instead, they argue that fair trade does not address the root causes of problems like forced labour.  

Boycott?

A boycott can be tempting, but it is almost impossible and potentially counterproductive. In his TEDx Talk, a Foreign Affairs producer at PBS Newshour named P.J. Tobia recommends focusing on one product at a time and learning about how the supply chain works, what is causing forced labour in that issue, and what solutions are being proposed. Then you can support NGOs working on the problem or lend your voice to promote policy change or to push a company to change its practices.

Use Your Voice to Promote Human Rights

Another thing you can do is tell your representative that you care about ratifying the ILO Protocol on Forced Labour. The Protocol on Forced Labour is an international treaty. To enter into force, it needs 50 states to ratify and currently only 45 states have done so.

If ratified, the Protocol on Forced Labour would require governments to take new measures to address forced labour. For instance, countries will need to increase inspections to protect workers and guarantee victims access to justice and compensation. Canada has already ratified, but the United States and Australia both have not. You can find out more about the ILO Protocol on Forced Labour and how to get involved at the 50 for Freedom campaign website.

In Canada, tell your Member of Parliament that you want to see the Modern Slavery Act (Bill S-211) become law, but you want it to include: higher penalties, due diligence requirements, and a broader focus on human rights (in addition to child and forced labour). The Modern Slavery Act would create an obligation for companies to report to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness on steps taken to prevent and reduce the risk of forced or child labour in any step of the production process. This Act is not as strong as its French and Dutch counterparts, but it is a good first step.

The UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 is the first such legislation, though other jurisdictions such as California and Australia now have similar laws. Most modern slavery laws only apply to large companies – for instance, only 150 companies are covered under the French legislation.

The Canadian Act was introduced for a first reading in the Senate in February. Read the report that spurred this legislation.

The Challenge

For our challenge, Kyla and I each looked at a specific good that has been linked to forced labour by the US Department of Labor. I chose rice. Kyla chose Christmas lights.

According to the US Department of Labour’s Sweat and Toil app, there has been forced labour documented in rice production in Burma, India, and Mali (as well as child labour in a few other countries).  

India: debt bondage

In 2007, 24 people were rescued from a rice mill in India. They had been “abused and enslaved” there. The mill owner was convicted under India’s Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act in 2018. There is another story from 2019 where a pregnant woman named Soniya working in debt bondage at a rice mill lost her baby because of the harsh working conditions. Even though debt bondage is illegal in India, in the country’s 2011 census India identified more than 135,000 bonded workers. Of course, the real figure is likely a lot higher – International Justice Mission estimates 500,000 bonded labourers just in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Myanmar: state-imposed forced labour

In Myanmar, there are accounts of up to 8,000 Rohingya Muslims being forced into hard labour by soldiers. Rice production is one of the industries in which this kind of forced labour occurs.

Mali: descent-based slavery

For Mali, forced labour primarily happens in rice production because members of the Bellah or Ikelan community in Northern Mali are often enslaved by Tuareg communities. Tuareg society is an ethnically casted society with five tiers. Three tiers are perceived racially as “white”, according to an article by Baz Lecocq. The lowest two tiers are perceived racially as “black”, a grouping of craftspeople and then the unfree caste of slaves. Colonialism reinforced this hierarchical pyramid, particularly the links between race and bondage. Mali is one of three countries in Western Africa where Anti-Slavery International has undertaken initiatives to address descent-based slavery.

Endnotes

[1] Amnesty International. (2017). Turning People into Profits: Abusive Recruitment, Trafficking and Forced Labour of Nepali Migrant Workers. London: Amnesty International Ltd.

Episode 17 - Zero Waste

The Disposable Society

Zero waste, or waste-free, is a reaction to the throwaway society and all of the problems that it has caused. The disposable society, throwaway society or throwaway culture are terms used to describe the overconsumption of short-lived or disposable items over durable goods that can be repaired.

Short-lived or low-quality items include things like fast fashion, as well as planned obsolescence and e-waste. Making things that don’t last very long is a viable business strategy because consumers then need to buy replacements. It is profitable because businesses aren’t held responsible for their product’s end of life. Next, there are also single-use items like plates, cutlery, straws, and bags. And of course there is also the packaging for all of these goods.

Disposable, or single-use, items are actually a pretty new invention. When disposables were introduced in the 1950s, they were touted as a timesaver for housewives.  Around that same time, plastic was introduced into the mainstream market.

A few plastic facts:

●      It has only been 113 years since plastic was first introduced.[1]

●      It has only been 55 years since the first plastic bag was created.[2]

●      We have produced over 320 million metric tonnes of plastic, which is heavier than every human alive combined.[3] And that figure is set to double by 2040.[4]

●      Only 14% of plastic has ever been collected for recycling, and only 5% has actually been recycled (rather than downcycled).[5]

Today, plastic has become so essential to how we live our lives that it has really gotten out of control. Globally, we generate 3.5 million tons of solid waste every day – approximately 10x the amount we produced a century ago. The average American produces 1,500 pounds of trash annually, sending 4.4 pounds of trash to the landfill every day.[6] And that is a problem for climate change because landfills are responsible for 16% of methane emissions in the US.[7]

Single-use plastics are a particular problem because they are so common and used for such a small amount of time. For instance, Coca-Cola produces 120 billion plastic bottles every year.[8] And plastic bags are used for an average of just 15 minutes.[9]

As William McCallum of Greenpeace UK has described it:

…we managed to create a material and use it at unbelievable scale with no plan for how to deal with it afterwards. Single-use plastic cutlery, plastic bags, and plastic-lined coffee cups have become central to our lives – used once for a matter of minutes, they will not break down for hundreds of years. It is untenable to carry on like this: we are consigning future generations to a world in which plastic might outweigh fish in the ocean in 2050.[10]

Most plastic ends up in landfill, but a lot of it also leaks into our water systems, ending up in the oceans. 12.7 million tons of plastic enter the oceans every year,[11] which works out to one garbage truck of plastic entering the ocean every minute.[12] There are an estimated 150 million tons of plastic in the oceans right now, equivalent to 300 of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world.[13]

When plastic gets into the oceans, it really messes with ecosystems. Approximately 90% of seabirds have plastic in their stomachs.[14] And plastic ingestion and entanglement are really bad for seabirds and other wildlife. And because plastic is being eaten by everything and everyone, bioaccumulation is a risk for animals at the top of the food chain[15]

The Zero Waste Movement

The Zero Waste, No Waste, or Waste-free movement is essentially 25 years old. Most of the top advocates for zero-waste are (white) millennial women. Some examples include: Kathryn Kellogg (Going Zero Waste), Lauren Singer (Trash is for Tossers and Package Free Shop), Anne-Marie Bonneau (Zero-Waste Chef), and Bea Johnson (Zero Waste Home).

Principles of Zero Waste

In its simplest expression, the zero-waste movement aims to produce zero trash. But even the most ardent waste-free advocate will acknowledge that this is not possible in today’s society. We will always produce some trash, and we will always be complicit in the production of trash we can’t see.

This is why any zero-waste advocate will tell you that part of being zero-waste is making your voice heard – whether that’s political actions like voting, protesting, and talking to your Member of Parliament or smaller actions like writing a makeup company to say that you’ve stopped buying their product because there aren’t refillable options. 

Although recycling is a part of the waste-free movement, going zero-waste actually means recycling less. So, zero waste means reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost, in order of preference.[16]

Reduce

You can reduce by refusing to buy things with lots of packaging and by not buying things unless you really need them. This doesn’t necessarily mean being super austere: it means finding a balance of what you need. A 2015 survey found that more than half of Americans (54%) are overwhelmed with the amount of clutter that they have. Three-quarters (78%) said they did not know what to do with it or found it too complicated to deal with.

Reuse

Go for reusable items instead of single-use items, and durable instead of short-term. Then keep using stuff as long as you can. That means repairing stuff – and when you’re buying, look for things that can be repaired. Also, shop used when you can. And when something can no longer be used for its original purpose, repurpose it. Waste-free advocates often talk about “demoting” items. For example, the last plastic toothbrush I owned I demoted as a cleaning brush. It’s great for cleaning tiles. Basically, be like your grandparents.

Recycle

Recycle, where you can, but do it well: if more than 1% of a batch of recycling is contaminated, the entire thing may end up in landfill.[17] Zero-waste asks you to really look into what you’re recycling.

Compost

About 75-80% of all household trash is organic matter that can be composted, but we mostly aren’t composting it. If your city or town does composting, it can be really easy to do this. I keep a compost bin in my kitchen (food waste) and in my bathroom (for things like tissue, hair, and compostable floss). In a later episode on biogas, we talk about how food waste could be converted into energy, if you want to learn more!

Generally speaking, compostable plastics are not a solution to plastic waste. Very little of it actually gets composted. And in a lot of cases you cannot compost these items in home composting. There are also “biodegradable” plastics that can’t be composted. And nothing biodegrades in a landfill!

How to Become Zero Waste (ish)

Ultimately, going zero-waste will mean replacing some of the tools that you use to meet your daily needs. But it’s counterproductive to trash stuff that you’re currently using in favour of eco-friendly products, so waste-free advocates suggest a slow approach with small improvements.

Start with a waste audit

Go through your trash to see what some of the most impactful swaps could be for you. For me it is definitely snack foods – chips, granola bars – and receipts (which cannot be recycled or composted). 

Say no to stuff you don’t want

As Sarah Lewis of the Zero Waster puts it: “Just Say No to Crap”. This can include things like straws and paper cups. Being clear about your requests in advance is a good way to avoid problems. One easy solution is to put a “no junk mail” sign on your mailbox. When you are at a restaurant or café, be clear and polite but firm about your requests. Usually people are happy to accommodate, but if they aren’t you can choose not to return there in the future.

Gifts are difficult, because there are social customs and emotions involved. Zero-waste advocates generally recommend: (1) talking to your family and friends about why waste-free is important to you and (2) giving them tools to make it easy for them to give gifts that won’t cause problems for you.  Kathryn Kellogg recommends giving friends and family a list of consumables, experiences, and items you’d really value. It is key to do it well in advance. She even recommends adding notes about why you want something, which can help if people want to go off-list.[18] But ultimately, this is a thing you’re doing: if someone gives you a gift, accept it and thank them. The time to raise the issue is much, much later.

Buy things more intentionally

This means buying things only when you really need them. When you do buy something, try to find ways to buy it used or buy it new but built to last (repairable). Try waiting 30 days before purchasing something you want.

Start with some easy waste-free moves

Some of the easiest ways to reduce your waste include:

·      Saying no to straws (unless you need single-use straws for accessibility reasons);

·      Getting (and actually using) reusable bags. Set up a system so that they are with you when you need them; and

·      Getting (and actually using) a reusable water bottle and coffee mug.

When you’re ready, slowly start replacing disposables and short-term items with stuff that is refillable and/or built to last. Start with the problem areas you identified in your waste audit. For consumables, buy in bulk and avoid plastic packaging as much as possible. Glass and metal containers tend to be easier to recycle.

Think about end of life for your goods

Most people already recycle, but they key is to recycle well. Usually, your municipal government will have online tools to help you recycle properly. But it’s important to know that you can recycle things that your city or town will not accept. Increasingly, you can bring short-term items back to the companies that made them for recycling.

Check out Terracycle to see if any of their recycling programs meet your needs. Terracycle is an organization that collects difficult to recycle items in 21 countries. You have to join and look at their specific programs though – they work in partnership with companies. E.g. You can recycle Boom Chicka Pop popcorn bags through Terracycle. Other programs include: Tweed cannabis, several Burt’s Bees products, Europe’s Best frozen fruit and veg packages, e-waste, Nespresso capsules, and much more. Terracycle has public drop-off locations, or you can mail items to them. In the future we’ll do an episode on recycling so we can give it more attention.

Another great way to think about the end life of your consumables is to try composting! If you’re not composting your food, it goes into landfill where it produces methane. That’s because landfills are tightly packed so there isn’t enough oxygen for it to decompose properly. When food waste breaks down in landfill, it releases methane, which is a super potent GHG. Project Drawdown estimates that composting can reduce emissions by 2.3 billion tons over the next 30 years. About 40% of landfill material is organics – so if we all composted we could make a big difference.

And of course, if you are donating a good, be smart about it. Try starting with friends and family. Then, use the tips we suggested in our clothing series!

Try out a waste-free shop

Waste-free stores are shops where all of the products come with either no packaging or recyclable/compostable packaging. They usually have a system where you weigh your container, then you fill it and are charged by weight. Zero-waste stores have opened up in trendy neighbourhoods in the last five years. An article in the Guardian estimated that 100-200 zero-waste stores had opened in the last two years in the UK.

If you are in a medium-large city, there is probably a waste-free shop somewhere. Toronto has a handful of them, for example. There are some online as well: Package Free Shop is great, and I go to it for anything I can’t find in a local waste-free shop.

If there isn’t a waste-free shop in your area, you still have options. Check out Bulk Barn and other bulk stores for food items: it’s cheaper and there is more selection. If you aren’t sure where to find waste-free or bulk stores in your neighbourhood, this tool from Zero Waste Home is helpful. For produce, choose no/low packaging items at a grocery store or farmer’s market. For personal care products, Lush has an array of low/no-waste products.

You can also try “do it yourself” solutions using bulk ingredients. There are lots of recipes out there from all of the zero waste advocates mentioned above. Try one out! Things like cleaning supplies tend to be very easy and accessible to make. Lotions, lip balms, etc. can be super easy too.

Endnotes

[1] McCallum, Will. (2018). How to Give Up Plastic. London, UK: Penguin Life.

[2] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic.

[3] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic.

[4] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic.

[5] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic.

[6] Kellogg, Kathryn. (2019). 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste. New York: the Countryman Press.

[7] Kellogg, Kathryn. (2019). 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste.

[8] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic.

[9] Kellogg, 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste.

[10] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic at p.3-4.

[11] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic.

[12] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic.

[13] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic.

[14] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic.

[15] McCallum, How to Give Up Plastic.

[16] Kellogg, Kathryn. (2019). 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste.

[17] Kellogg, Kathryn. (2019). 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste.

[18] Kellogg, Kathryn. (2019). 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste.

Episodes 12, 13, and 14 - Clothing

People

Fast Fashion

Fast Fashion has gotten a lot of buzz recently. Hasan Minhaj devoted an entire episode of The Patriot Act to it. CBC did a documentary on fast fashion, called Fashion’s Dirty Secrets. There have also been books published on fast fashion, like Fashionopolis by Dana Thomas or Over-Dressed by Elizabeth Cline.

Zara is often the brand people think about when they think of fast fashion. It is the world’s largest fashion brand, producing more than 450 million items in 2018.[1] Zara was a pioneer in fast fashion, and it has changed the apparel business paradigm. Other retailers have since gotten on board.

Essentially, under the model of fast fashion, brands take designs from top-tier fashion designers. Then they produce a cheaper version with worse fabric and sell it at low prices to middle-market consumers.[2] It’s called fast fashion because production and sales have been sped up.[3] Between 2000 and 2014, the number of garments doubled: 100 billion garments are now produced annually.[4] That amounts to fourteen new garments annually for everyone on the planet.[5]

In a way, fast fashion has democratized or massified fashion – bringing high design to regular consumers. But fast fashion has also caused a lot of problems

As a result of fast fashion, we have lots of poor-quality clothes and we don’t wear them for very long. On average clothing is worn seven times before being disposed of,[6] mostly to landfill. Shoppers buy five times more clothing now than they did in 1980.[7] In 2018, the average consumer bought 68 garments.[8] 

French designer Jean Paul Gaultier has said: “The system doesn’t work… There aren’t enough people to buy them. We’re making clothes that aren’t designed to be worn. Too many clothes kills clothes.”[9]

Offshoring and the Fractured Supply Chain

Another important change, to set the context, has been the globalization of clothing supply chains. This change is often called “offshoring”, which basically means relocating factories in countries with low labour costs. Offshoring has changed the industry dramatically over the last thirty years. In 1991, 56.2% of all clothes purchased in the United States were American-made. By 2012, it was 2.5%.[10]

And today that supply chain is not only offshore, it’s also fractured. Fabric is woven and dyed in one place, cut in another, sewn somewhere else, and then zippers and buttons are attached in another location.[11] Brands rarely own the factories that make their clothes. They contract to suppliers, who often subcontract to other suppliers.

Together, this creates challenges for ensuring workers’ safety and rights. And that matters: “fashion employs one out of six people on the globe, making it the most labor-intensive industry out there – more than agriculture, more than defense. Fewer than 2 percent of them [garment workers] earn a living wage.”[12]

The fashion industry’s supply chain has roughly six stages:

1.     Planting and harvesting the raw materials (e.g., cotton)

2.     Weaving the fibre into cloth

3.     Finishing and shipping the cloth to distributors

4.     Producing the garments

5.     Shipping finished products to the warehouse

6.     Distribution from the warehouse to the storefront

Within each of these stages, there can be different steps. For instance, dyeing isn’t included in here, but it will occur in most cases. For blue jeans the supply chain will also typically include distressing at a washhouse. These steps may occur in different locations.

Sweatshops

The garment industry has had sweatshops since the Industrial Revolution. In the 1830s, the invention of the lockstitch sewing machine made possible mechanization of clothes-making.[13]

Cotton mills in particular were horrorscapes. Both Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote about the conditions they observed in cotton mills, where death, mutilation, rape, and illness were common. Engels was so horrified by what he saw that he called mill work a new form of enslavement.[14]

One of the most famous incidents in historical sweatshops was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which took place in 1911. 146 employees died in that fire (123 women and 23 men). The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was NYC’s worst workplace disaster until 9/11.[15]

After a lot of activism, workers’ protections were introduced. In America, Frances Perkins, Labour Secretary under FDR, introduced a number of legislative protections for workers, which cleaned up the manufacturing industry.[16]

Unfortunately, when production moved offshore in the 1990s, “the old-style sweatshop system came roaring back to life.”[17] The EU is still a major apparel exporter, but most garments are exported from Asia. China is the top apparel supplier, followed by the EU, Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Hong Kong, and Turkey.

Offshore sweatshops today look a lot like the sweatshops of the 1800s and early 1900s. They are hot, unsanitary, dusty, and unsafe. There is often no food or clean drinking water. Workers work long hours for low wages. They often don’t get breaks and are forced to work overtime for no pay. Buildings are often locked. Workers sometimes can’t talk to each other. And as most workers are women while most supervisors are men, sexual assault and rape is endemic.

In wealthy countries like the US and Canada, there are domestic sweatshops, too. When the FDR-era reforms got rid of legal sweatshops, sweatshops became less common – but they didn’t disappear entirely. There are still sweatshops in wealthy countries, but they exist illegally and are run by organized crime. Because of their illicit nature, these sweatshops are also hubs for human trafficking and money laundering. [18] Domestic sweatshops are a particular problem in the US, and especially LA, because of the large undocumented immigrant population. About half of the apparel manufacturing workers in LA are estimated to be undocumented workers who make as little as $4 per day.[19]

Rana Plaza

Beyond the generally shitty working conditions, there are still frequent sweatshop disasters on the same scale or larger than the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

One of the most famous ones took place in Bangladesh in 2013. On 13 April 2013 there was an explosion at the Rana Plaza garment factory. It ripped a hole in the wall. Engineers wanted to condemn the building immediately, but the owner refused.[20] The next day, workers returned. The power went out and, as backup generators went on, the building began to quake. Then, “It went down.”[21] Rana Plaza was the deadliest garment factory accident in modern history. 1,134 people died and another 2,500 were injured.

The infuriating thing, though, is that it was the third high-profile sweatshop disaster in Bangladesh within three years. A December 2010 fire at the That’s It Sportswear garment factory killed 29 and injured more than 100. Gap had just finished inspecting the factory.[22] In November 2012, a fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory killed at least 117 and left 200 injured.[23] Sears, Walmart, and Disney products were produced there. Overall, between 2006 and 2012, more than five hundred Bangladeshi garment workers died in factory fires.[24]

After a 2010 fire, NGOs created the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement. It went unsigned until winter 2012.[25] Then, a handful of companies signed on when ABC News ran a story on the 2010 fire. Most other brands did not act until after the Rana Plaza explosion. And even then, a number of brands went with a watered-down voluntary agreement called the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which was not legally binding.

There have been some changes since Rana Plaza, but unsafe sweatshops still exist there.[26] And as of 2017, 95% of buildings in Dhaka still do not have a fire exit. A recent study found that firms support factory safety but aren’t willing to increase prices, so factories have to absorb these costs themselves. And although the incidence of sweatshops went down after Rana Plaza, there are still problems of low wages, long working hours, overtime, abusive supervision, and union busting. The optimistic way of framing this is that activism and public pressure can work, but it needs to be sustained in order to really generate progress.

A garment factory fire in New Delhi killed 43 people in December 2019.

Child Labour

The garment industry is also a hotbed for child labour. Child labour has been an unfortunately common practice in the apparel industry going back to the advent of mechanized clothing production. Lots of sweatshops have children working in them.

For example, in 2016 “H&M, Next, and Esprit were found to have Syrian refugee children sewing and hauling bundles of clothes in subcontracted workshops in Turkey.”[27]

Sometimes children are lured from their homes to work in sweatshops. For instance, a report by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) found that: “recruiters in southern India convince parents in impoverished rural areas to send their daughters to spinning mills with promises of a well-paid job, comfortable accommodation, three nutritious meals a day and opportunities for training and schooling, as well as a lump sum payment at the end of three years.” (from the Guardian) But in reality, “Girls and young women are being lured from their home villages by false promises and are working under appalling conditions amounting to forced labour” (SOMO and ICN).

Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Thailand, and Uzbekistan are particularly notorious for child labour in the textile and garment industry.

Child labour occurs at different phases of the supply chain, from the production of cotton seeds (Benin), cotton harvesting (Uzbekistan), yarn spinning (India), and “cut-make-trim” garment production in factories (Bangladesh). An investigation by SOMO found that 60% of the workers at spinning mills in India were under 18 when they started working there (the youngest workers were 15).

Forced and child labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry is particularly egregious. “Every year […] approximately 1m people – including teachers, doctors and students – are dumped in Uzbekistan’s cotton fields to pick “white gold”. They are taken from their jobs and their schools, sometimes threatened with expulsion or dismissal or physical violence, and compelled to meet quotas to help the government earn some hard cash.” (From the Economist) This is a unique case of state-sanctioned mass mobilization of child and forced labour.

The Uzbekistani government sets cotton quotas. If famers don’t fulfil their quotas they can be kicked off of their land. But farmers can’t afford extra farm hands for harvest, so state officials order state employees (e.g. doctors and nurses) and students into the fields. A study by the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London found that between 86 and 100 percent of schools in the districts that they studied were subject to compulsory recruitment of children in grades 5-9 (ages 11-14). Students were employed in the cotton harvest for between 51 and 63 days without breaks and under unsanitary, unhealthy, and nutritional conditions.

The Responsible Sourcing Network has convinced 314 companies to pledge to eliminate Uzbek cotton from their supply chains. You can check out the list of brands here. As a result of advocacy efforts, the export of Uzbek cotton has been reduced from 2.5 million bales to 0.7 million bales in the last decade. The pledge was launched in 2011. American Apparel, as of December 2019, still has not signed the pledge. It is one of the last remaining American brands to do so. Polo Ralph Lauren is another non-signatory. I also did not see Roots Canada on the list.

Outside of Uzbekistan, child labour in the garment industry may not be state-sanctioned, but this does not make it any less harmful.

Forced Labour

The fashion industry is also one of the biggest sources of modern slavery. The Walk Free Foundation estimates that $127.7 billion USD worth of garments imported annually by G20 countries are at-risk of modern slavery.

Last year it was revealed that China is operating forced labour camps in Xinjiang province. Uighurs detained in “re-education camps” are reportedly working in factories producing cars, cotton, and clothing. Brands so far have said that they haven’t found evidence that the labour in these factories is forced, but investigative journalism has come to a different conclusion.

Women’s Rights and Sexual Assault

Fast fashion is fundamentally a gender inequality issue. Approximately 80% of workers in the garment industry are women between the ages of 18 and 35.

Rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment are big problems in sweatshops. For instance, a study by the Fair Wear Foundation and Care International found that 43% of women interviewed in Vietnamese factories said they had suffered at least one form of violence and/or harassment in the last year. Research by ActionAid found that 80% of garment workers in Bangladesh have either seen or directly experienced sexual violence or harassment in the workplace.

So Why Is Everything So Shitty? 

Here is where the fractured supply chain comes in: when disasters and abuses like these happen, brands often claim that they are not responsible, that the sweatshops in questions were not authorized suppliers. Basically, big brands have approved suppliers, and those approved suppliers subcontract to sweatshops. When a scandal happens, brands that claim to be sweatshop-free will “often claim they had no idea their “approved” contractors were subcontracting to sweatshops.”[28]

Are Things Getting Better?

Not really, no. These problems are fundamental to how fast fashion works: there is a need to get clothes made really quickly and really cheaply. People and the environment inevitably suffer.

There have been some changes, though. The first industry shift was a move toward supplier codes of conduct. In the mid-1990s, American apparel brands faced criticism over offshore sweatshops. “In response, some started drafting “codes of conduct”: a list of standards that a company expects its suppliers to respect.”[29] Levi Strauss approved fashion’s first code of conduct in 1992.[30]

The independent audits that are used to enforce the codes aren’t great. Visits are often announced in advance. And the monitors themselves have no oversight, so things like bribery can happen.[31] Still, this IS progress. In 1998 about 15% of company codes of conduct included freedom of association and collective bargaining, and now nearly all do. [32]

Another big move is transparency: it is becoming more common for brands to publish supplier lists.[33] Fashion Revolution and other NGOs have been instrumental in pushing fashion brands to be more transparent.

How You Can Act to Promote Human Rights in the Clothing Industry

Fashion Revolution

Fashion Revolution promotes a more ethical and sustainable fashion industry. Their manifesto is pretty holistic (it covers dignified work, fair and equal pay, labour rights, cultural appropriation, solidarity, environmental impact, the throwaway culture, transparency and accountability).

Fashion Revolution was founded in reaction to the Rana Plaza disaster. It is most well-known for publishing an annual Transparency Index. But Fashion Revolution also organizes Fashion Revolution Week and runs the #whomademyclothes and #imadeyourclothes campaigns.

Fair Wear

Fair Wear is an organization that is working to promote worker and human rights in garment production. They focus on the sewing, cutting, and trimming processes because those are the most labour-intensive parts of the supply chain. 133 brands have signed onto the Fair Wear Foundation’s Code of Labour Practices. You can check them out here.

Environment

The environmental impact of clothing comes from three different stages of production: the impact of producing the fabrics from which clothing is made; the impact of moving those fabrics around, turning them into garments, and selling them; and the impact of clothing disposal.

Fabrics

Fashion’s environmental footprint is mostly from manufacturing textiles – so, growing or making, then spinning, dyeing, and finishing the fabrics.[34] Examining the environmental impact of clothing means looking at the different fabrics that make up our clothing. The most commonly used fabrics in clothing today are cotton and polyester. They make up 75% of the global fibre market.[35]

Polyester

Polyester is everywhere. It is present in 60% of clothing.[36] There has been a 157% increase in the use of polyester between 2000 and 2016.[37] That is because polyester is the backbone of fast fashion: “it is the cheap, easy-to-produce material that an industry built on low price and speed depends on.”[38]

Polyester is plastic. It is made from fossil fuels, which are non-renewable and contribute to climate change. The demand for polyester and other plastics drives investment in petrochemical refining.[39]

Polyester has a huge waste problem. Because it is plastic, polyester does not readily biodegrade. And we really have no plan for what to do with the massive volumes of polyester we are producing. Right now, only a very small amount of polyester clothing uses recycled plastic, and typically this is from plastic bottles rather than plastic clothing.[40] And of course, go back to our laundry episode to hear more about how it sheds plastic microfibres.

Given that polyester is everywhere, if you want to buy the best version of the stuff, try to seek out recycled polyester or polyester that is certified hazardous substances free.[41]

Other synthetics – Spandex, Nylon, Acrylic, Polyurethane, PVC

There is a variety of synthetic fibres in clothing, and they are all slightly different. Nylon is present in 5% of clothing, making it the second most common synthetic fabric, next to polyester. Acrylic is the third most common synthetic material. It is present in 2% of clothing. It is a cheap alternative to wool. Spandex makes stuff stretchy. Polyurethane is used in things like coatings and faux leather

Most synthetics seem to have problems with carcinogens, and they all take a lot of energy to make.[42] As with polyester, Elizabeth Cline recommends looking for synthetics with safe-chemistry labels, as well as recycled synthetics.[43] She also recommends avoiding all polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is used for vinyl and some faux leather, since it often includes a chemical that is linked to endocrine disruption.[44]

Cotton

Cotton makes up about a quarter of global fibre production.[45] The majority of cotton is grown in China, India, and the United States.[46]

Cotton can be tricky to grow, so usually it is farmed with a lot of pesticides and fertilized. As a result, cotton uses about 6% of all pesticides, which is more than any other major crop.[47] Twenty percent of insecticides are devoted to producing conventional cotton, even though it is grown only 2.5 percent of the world’s arable land.[48] The WHO has classified 8 out of 10 of America’s most popular cotton pesticides as hazardous.[49] These pesticides can poison workers, as well as the people and environment around cotton farms (when it gets into the air, water, and soil).[50]

Cotton is also super thirsty. Growing one kilo of conventional cotton requires 10,000 litres of water (2,600 gallons). And processing cotton requires even more: about 5,000 gallons for a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.[51] The good news is that organic cotton can be grown with up to 91% less irrigated water than conventional cotton.[52]

And almost 60% of all cotton is grown in water-scarce regions.[53] That means stuff like this happens…

The Aral Sea in Central Asia was once the world’s fourth largest lake, but today it has almost completely dried up. That is because in the 1950s the Soviets began using the rivers that feed the Aral Sea to irrigate surrounding agricultural area. It is a practice that has continued into today. As the Aral Sea has dried, it is releasing salts and carcinogens into the air, which has caused throat cancer and respiratory diseases for people in surrounding villages. How is this relevant to the fashion industry? Well, because the river is being used to irrigate 1.47 million hectares of cotton.

Where you can, try to find organic and/or fairtrade certified cotton, as well as recycled cotton.[54]

Viscose Rayon (Cellulosic Fabric)

This fabric type will show up on labels in a variety of ways, including viscose, rayon bamboo, modal, lyocell, eucalyptus, and Tencel. Some of these are identical and others are slightly different. But basically, all of these fabrics are made by chemically dissolving food from eucalyptus, beech, or bamboo trees; the chemical pulp is then reformed into a fibre.[55]Viscose or rayon (which are the same thing) makes up about 70% of this category of fibres.[56]

Cellulosic fabric and its compatriots are essentially a cheaper cousin to silk or cotton. Cellulosic fabric is also often marketed as ecologically conscious or sustainable, even though it may not be. So, you really have to be careful about greenwash with these fibres. There are some forms of viscose rayon that can be more sustainable (like lyocell).

Cellulosic fibres take a lot of energy to produce and the materials have a higher greenhouse gas impact than the manufacture of polyester or cotton.[57] They also produce a lot of waste: 70% of the tree becomes waste in the manufacturing process.[58]

And cellulosic fabric is driving deforestation. Ancient and endangered forests are being used in the manufacture of these fabrics. This includes the Amazon and Indonesia’s rainforests. But Canada’s boreal forests and Great Bear Rainforest are also being threatened by these practices. The NGO Canopy is working with clothing companies like Levi Strauss & Co., Marks & Spencer, and H & M to protect forests.

If you are going with a cellulosic fibre, try to look for lyocell (also called Lenzig Tencel), since it is the most sustainable cellulosic fabric. Look also for safe-chemicals certifications, and buy from brands that are working with Canopy.[59]

Wool and Leather

Although we did not focus on animal welfare in this episode, it is worth noting the environmental impact of animal-based fibres.

Leather has a big carbon, water, and land use footprint – we’ll do a full episode on leather, but let’s just mention that here.

Wool can be sustainable, or it can be bad for the environment – a lot depends on where it is produced and how the animals are raised.[60] Although there are different wools out there, sheep’s wool is 95% of the market.[61] Cashmere comes from goats.[62] Wool production can cause erosion when animals overgraze.[63] Cleaning raw wool creates high quantities of wastewater.[64] Also, it produces a lot of methane.[65] On the other hand, wool lasts longer than most other fabrics, so Elizabeth Cline recommends buying timeless wool products and mending them to make them last.[66] She also suggests buying organic and safe-chemicals-certified wool.[67]

Check out our Winter Gear episode to learn more about choosing between animal and synthetic materials.

Bast Fibres (Linen, Hemp, Jute, Ramie, Flax): Best Fibres

Linen is the oldest known fabric. It is a natural fibre, cultivated from the flax (linseed) plant. Together, bast fibres are about 5.5% of the global fibre market.[68] Bast fibres use less energy and fewer chemical inputs, so these fibres can be cultivated sustainably.[69] There are few environmental issues with purchasing these fabrics, but why not also look for recycled or organic bast fibres?[70]

Buying Conscious Fabrics

Whichever fibre you choose, there are a few certifications that you can look for to signal effort on one aspect of environmental stewardship.

The first set of certifications are safe-chemicals certifications, which guard against the use of hazardous materials. Some common safe-chemicals certifications include: Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Oeko-Tex, and Bluesign-approved.

Next, organics standards prohibit the use of pesticides. Some organics labels to look for in clothing include: Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Organic Content Standard (OCS), and Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certified.

You can also look for fairtrade member and certified products. Fairtrade essentially means that the workers producing a product have been paid fairly and experience some level of safety in the workplace. See our sugar episode for more on fairtrade certification, but one label we will mention here is Fair Trade USA.

Garment Production and Distribution

Water Use

The fashion industry uses a lot of water. “If fashion production maintains its current pace, the demand for water will surpass the world’s supply by 40 percent by 2030.”[71]

Emissions

Fashion also has a big emissions footprint. Apparel and footwear production accounts for 8.1% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. And clothing production is growing at a swift pace, meaning that emissions from textile manufacturing are projected to grow by 60% by 2030.

Some companies try to use carbon offsets to improve their image, check our episode on this subject to see where we land on that.

Pollution and Hazardous Chemicals

We talked about plastic microfibres in our laundry episode. But it is worth remembering that synthetic fabrics pollute waterways when they break down in the washing machine.

In addition to plastic microfibres, toxic chemicals are a big problem in the clothing industry. 46 million tons of chemicals are used to process textiles annually, and ten percent pose a potential risk to human health.[72] Some are even linked to cancer.[73]That is a problem for worker health and the environment, as well as for us because chemicals can remain on the clothing that we buy.

In 2011 Greenpeace released a report revealing that suppliers of major clothing brands are polluting the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas with toxic, hormone-disrupting chemicals. The report focuses on pollution from two facilities in China (the Youngor Textile Complex and the Well Dyeing Factory Limited). Greenpeace took samples of wastewater discharges from the two facilities and found that alkylphenols and perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) were present in the wastewater. These two facilities were linked to major brands including Abercrombie and Fitch; Adidas; Bauer Hockey; Calvin Klein; Converse; H&M; Lacoste; Nike; and Puma.

Greenpeace followed up this report with another one on the presence of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) in clothing. Their analysis of clothing bought from 15 leading clothing brands, and found that two-thirds tested positive for the presence of NPEs above the limit of detection.

Why are NPEs bad? NPEs wash off of the clothing and break down into nonylphenols, which then accumulate in the food chain. Nonylphenols are hella toxic. So even though NPEs are banned in some places… they can still end up in the water supply when people wash clothing produced with NPEs elsewhere.

Tools for Seeking Out Conscious Brands

If you are interested in finding conscious brands, there are some tools out there to help!

The Good on You App and website rates the ethics and sustainability of fashion brands. Done Good is a web directory of conscious fashion brands. You can buy directly from the website. Rank A Brand assesses and ranks consumer brands on sustainability and social responsibility. There is, of course, also Fashion Revolution’s Fashion Transparency Index, which focuses on supply chain transparency. (For more on this, see our very first episode!) And you can also consult the Ethical Fashion Report. 

End-of Life

We, as a society, are throwing out so many clothes. Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles enters landfill or is burned, which amounts to a $500 billion USD loss in value due to clothing waste. In the United States, 23.8 billion pounds of clothes are thrown in the garbage annually, which is about 73 pounds per person![74] Clothing is the fastest-growing category of waste in US landfills.[75]

In addition to the problem of waste from landfilling clothes, this can be an environmental problem. Natural fibres slowly decompose. When they are trapped in the landfill, they release methane, which is super bad for climate change.[76] Synthetic clothing can take hundreds of years to biodegrade, but the hazardous chemicals they are made out of can be released into the air or ground as they slowly break down.[77] For every 2 million tons of textiles we keep out landfills, we can reduce carbon emissions equivalent to taking 1 million cars off the road.[78]

Escaping Fast Fashion

Trying to incorporate ethics in clothing can be overwhelming. But the overall message to take is that we do need to reject the mentality of fast fashion, since the business model itself is causing a lot of problems.

More than 70% of the average wardrobe is going unworn.[79] Being more intentional about your wardrobe is an important first step. And, of course, just wearing what you have for longer is the biggest way to have an impact. But if you’ve got a fast fashion wardrobe full of shitty materials that wear out quickly, that can be tricky. So, what do you do?

You can work towards building a conscious closet.

The Conscious Closet

What is a conscious closet? According to Elizabeth Cline, author of The Conscious Closet: “A conscious closet is a wardrobe built with greater intention and awareness of our clothes, where they come from, what they’re made out of, and why they matter.”[80]

There are lots of different tools and strategies to build a conscious closet, and the mix that works best for you will be different than for everyone else. But Cline identifies three Fashion Personality Types that can help to guide you. Minimalists buy for keeps, have a more timeless look, and want to cut clutter from their lives. Style Seekers are maximalists; they want statement pieces and lots of change. Traditionalists are somewhere in the middle.

There are six components of a conscious closet:

1.     For-keeps: clothes you already own, love, and want to keep wearing;

2.     New-to-you: swapped, borrowed, handmade, hand-me-downs, resale, secondhand, thrifted, vintage;

3.     Rentals;

4.     Quality: timeless pieces that are built to last;

5.     Better Big Brands: clothes by the big brands that are on the right path, compared to their peers; and

6.     Conscious Superstars: the most pioneering, ethical, and sustainable brands.

Conscious Closet Inventory and Cleanout

Cline suggests starting with a Conscious Closet Cleanout, which is a good way to really examine what you own, how often you wear it (if at all), what it’s made of, et cetera. But this isn’t like Marie Kondo-ing your wardrobe. Cline wants to emphasize that you should not throw anything away.

We reproduced this impact inventory card from Elizabeth Cline’s book, The Conscious Closet.

Here are some quick tips for doing a conscious closet cleanout. First, purge by season. Focus on in-season clothes only. So, look at sweaters in winter and sundresses in summer. Your decision-making will be better this way. Also, it will be easier to responsibly deal with end-of-life (donation etc.) if the clothing is in-season. Next, if you love it, keep it. Don’t shame yourself for things you’ve already bought. Building a conscious closet takes time. Third, pay attention to what you wear most, and why they make you happy.

Eventually you will want to find your magic wardrobe number – how many clothes you need, which will be different for everyone. Cline suggests that minimalists can be happy with 50 pieces or fewer, but style seekers might want 250+ items and that’s okay. You can use a fashion fast or a capsule wardrobe to get a better sense of what your number is. De-cluttering your wardrobe is an important element of building a conscious closet, but you don’t want to go too far.

When deciding what to get rid of, here are a few tips. Aim for balance and look for things that go together. Look for pieces that don’t go with anything else. Then, either find a way to make them work or prune them. Cut back on trendy pieces. Learn from items you’ve never worn. When you are eliminating bad fabrics, focus on which fabrics wore out more quickly and what brands produced them. If you are even a little unsure, keep the item for a while and give it another go. And repair items if you can!

Reuse Plan

When you are getting rid of clothes, how do you deal with it responsibly? Cline calls this a “Reuse Plan”.

There are four different ways that you can consciously get rid of clothes, but you need to really think about the item, and which is the best fit.

1.     Donate or give away: do that when clothes are in a clean and wearable condition.

2.     Sell or swap: do this for your highest-value, on-trend, and in-season pieces when they are in pristine condition.

3.     Repair: do it where you can and either keep it for yourself or put it in one of the first two categories.

4.     Recycle: when items are worn-out beyond repair, do this.

Donations

Charities only sell about 20-25% of what we donate. The rest gets exported overseas or downcycled (turned into mattress stuffing, insulation, or rags). [81]

Exporting clothes sounds nice, but it is actually a big problem. Used clothes exports have tripled in fifteen years – the US exports 1.7 billion pounds of clothes annually.[82] Most exported clothes go to sub-Saharan Africa, where second-hand dealers distribute and sell it.[83]Although this sounds nice, the volume and low quality of the apparel that is donated means that those second-hand dealers aren’t able to make a living anymore; many are living in extreme poverty.[84] And ultimately a lot of this stuff ends up as garbage. One NGO found that 40% of all used clothing imported to Ghana is immediately landfilled rather than worn or resold.[85]

So, how can you donate effectively? Investigate first: make sure that you are giving to a reputable charity. Vet clothing donations bins. You can do this by looking for bins that are clearly marked with the organization’s name and going to their website. Find out what their acceptance policies are and where they send the clothes that they collect. Depending on what you are donating, you can often donate directly to those in need: homeless shelters, crisis centres, and churches. If you can meet a direct clothing need, this can help assure that your donation won’t end up in a landfill.

For example, Kristen’s building has a Diabetes Canada bin. The website says that their clothes are collected by the linked social enterprise National Diabetes Trust. It delivers clothing to Value Village, though, and they are not transparent about where unsold clothing goes. Kristen didn’t love this option.

Dress for Success Toronto is a charity that provides support, professional attire, and tools to help women achieve economic independence. Dress for Success international has a high (91.4%) charity rating. Kristen ultimately decided that this was the best option for the item she wanted to donate (a pair of dress pants).

It is also crucial that you follow basic used clothing etiquette. First and foremost: always, always, always clean your clothes first. It’s the best way to keep them from ending up as trash. Remove personal belongings from pockets. And tie your shoelaces together! That way the shoes don’t lose each other when they go through re-sorting. You should also mend and repair donated clothing whenever possible. Tears and stains often result in immediate landfilling: usually clothes aren’t getting repaired by the second-hand market. And never leave your donations outside unattended, because they can get rained on and then they will be landfilled.

Recycling

Most clothes are recycled through downcycling: the clothes you recycle are turned into lower-quality products like rags or insulation. That doesn’t solve the waste problem because these still eventually end up in a landfill. But it does increase the length of their lifespan, and that is good.

There are companies working on recapturing cotton that can be used again in exactly the same way as virgin fabrics, which is neat. Hopefully in the future that will be possible and affordable!

For now, though, how do you recycle clothes responsibly? If you are donating your clothes to major charities or thrift shops, a lot of it is likely already being recycled.[86] But ask to make sure! Kristen asked her local Value Village and found out that they do not do this: unsold items get shipped to Africa, where they are most likely landfilled.

There are also in-store garment recycling options. Brands (like Patagonia) sometimes will recycle or repair their own clothing, taking responsibility for end-of-life. A few other brands offer to take and recycle clothing of all brands. Depending on where you live, you may also be able have municipal clothes recycling, so look into this.

In Toronto, where Kristen lives, there is not a municipal clothes recycling program. But H&M, American Eagle, Puma, and North Face all have recycling programs that will accept any brand of clothing. All four brands use the same company (I:CO) to sort and reprocess the clothes, so is very likely that it makes no difference which of these programs you use. Clothes donated through this program are most likely to be downcycled, assuming they are in good enough condition.

Selling and Swapping

If you want to resell your clothes, you have a few options. You can use an online service that takes on the process of selling clothes for you, like thredUP and the RealReal. You can try to sell clothes yourself online through websites like Poshmark. Or you can sell in person through consignment stores.

The types of clothing that do well in the resale market include: on-trend and recent purchases; luxury and designer brands; and in-season items. If you bought something but never wore it and the tags are still on, resale might be a good option – especially if it is from a high-end brand.

Bypass resale if your clothes are damaged; if they are basics; or if they are kids’ clothes, menswear, or workwear. These do not sell well.

You can also organize a clothing swap with friends or a community group. Cline has some suggestions in her book for setting up a clothing swap. But here is another article with quick tips.

Clothes Rentals

Clothing rentals can be a great option if you are the kind of person that needs a lot of trendy pieces in your wardrobe. There are lots of options for renting from clothes rental companies, as well as a few where you can rent items from your wardrobe.  

There are basically two different kinds of clothing rental options: onetime rentals and monthly subscription plans. Rental companies will clean and repair clothes, so no worries there. With rentals, there are shipping and packaging concerns to think about. But this is minimal in comparison to the environmental impact of making clothes.

Your location will determine what your clothes rental options are. In Toronto, there are a few companies.

Dresst is a Toronto-based clothing rental subscription company. When you purchase a membership, you can rent a set number of items for each month. At the end of the month you return the item(s) and they clean it and rent it to someone else. Dresst charges $49/month for one item or $99/month for three items.

Fitzroy is a dress rental company in Toronto. If you are in need of a luscious party gown, this is a great option. Most of the rentals were around $100.

Reheart is a rental website where you can lend or rent. As a lender you get a cut of the profits from renting your item (less than 50%, but Reheart deals with cleaning et cetera). It can be a good way to de-clutter.

Escaping fast fashion is about valuing your clothes more, from the time you are deciding whether to purchase (or rent) them until you have responsibly disposed of the item. Try to think about clothes as an investment, rather than something disposable. Ultimately, you’ll save money and love your wardrobe more!

Endnotes

[1] Thomas, Dana. (2019). Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes. New York: Penguin Press at p.1.

[2] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.31.

[3] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.31.

[4] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.34.

[5] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.35.

[6] Thomas, Fashionopolis.

[7] Thomas, Fashionopolis.

[8] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.3.

[9] Cited in Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.36.

[10] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.5.

[11] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.35.

[12] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.6.

[13] Thomas, Fashionopolis.

[14] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.45.

[15] Thomas, Fashionopolis.

[16] Thomas, Fashionopolis.

[17] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.47.

[18] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.41.

[19] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.40.

[20] Thomas, Fashionopolis.

[21] Shila Begum, worker at Rana Plaza, quoted in Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.57.

[22] Thomas, Fashionopolis.

[23] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.55.

[24] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.54.

[25] Thomas, Fashionopolis.

[26] Thomas, Fashionopolis.

[27] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.6.

[28] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.42.

[29] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.50.

[30] Thomas, Fashionopolis.

[31] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.51.

[32] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.65.

[33] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.65.

[34] Cline, Elizabeth. (2019). The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good. NY: Penguin Randomhouse.

[35] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[36] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.199.

[37] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.199.

[38] Cline, The Conscious Closet at p.162.

[39] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[40] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[41] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[42] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[43] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[44] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[45] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[46] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[47] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[48] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.70.

[49] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.70.

[50] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[51] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.71.

[52] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[53] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[54] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[55] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[56] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[57] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[58] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[59] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[60] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[61] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[62] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[63] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[64] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[65] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[66] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[67] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[68] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[69] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[70] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[71] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.71.

[72] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[73] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[74] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[75] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[76] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[77] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[78] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[79] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[80] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[81] Thomas, Fashionopolis at p.194.

[82] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[83] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[84] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[85] Cline, The Conscious Closet.

[86] Cline, The Conscious Closet.