Pre-owned clothing is a surging market with a cool reputation. Yet the economics don't make sense, and most companies are struggling.
MONGABAY | Bioplastics as toxic as regular plastics; both need regulation, say researchers →
Emerging research shows that plant-based plastics — just like petroleum-based plastics — contain many thousands of synthetic chemicals, with large numbers of them extremely toxic. However, the bioplastics industry strongly denies that bio-based plastics contain hazardous substances.
Read moreHEATMAP NEWS | Is This the End of American Polyester? →
New federal safety regulations could push PET plastic-makers out of the country for good.
Read moreHEATMAP NEWS | The Michael Pollan Rule Applies to Fashion, Too →
Ultraprocessed clothing is bad for the environment and bad for you.
Read moreMONGABAY | As the world swims in plastic, some offer an answer: Ban the toxic two →
Anti-plastic campaigners have achieved limited initial success in passing bans based on the toxic health effects of some plastic types, especially those that contain known carcinogens and hormone-disrupting chemicals.
Some activists say that two of the most toxic types of plastic, polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) should be completely banned. But so far, bans of polystyrene in Zimbabwe, Scotland and elsewhere have focused only on certain products, such as takeout containers.
PVC is used in medical devices and children’s products, despite its well-known toxicity. PVC and polystyrene are both used in consumer construction, where they can leach chemicals into water or home air, or release particles into the wider environment.
The U.S. EPA is reviewing vinyl chloride, PVC’s main ingredient and a known carcinogen, but the outcome won’t be known for several years and may only affect U.S. production, not imported products made of PVC. More than 60 nations want a ban on “problematic plastics” by the global plastics treaty now being negotiated.
WIRED | The Black Print on Your T-Shirt Is Filthy and Toxic. Now, There’s a Cleaner Alternative →
Nature Coatings makes a petroleum-free alternative to a widely used—and particularly toxic—black pigment. But the problem it’s solving isn’t one the fashion industry is desperate to fix.
Read moreTEEN VOGUE | How Petroleum Ended Up in Our Jeans and Leggings →
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of its famous 501 jeans, Levi’s announced the release of a new plant-based 501 Jean.
If you’re slightly confused by this, you’re not alone. After all, a typical pair of 501s isn’t made of leather or any other animal product. It’s cotton. In fact, its label says, “100% cotton.”
But while that label is legally correct, it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Read moreVOGUE | The Styling Service Outfitting Bougie Burners and Elite Ravers →
Earlier this year, my husband and I were invited last minute to a weeklong celebration in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, complete with two themed nights: a pink party and a sparkle party. With two days to outfit ourselves, we messaged every person we knew, asking to raid their closet. Finally, someone directed us to Costume Closet, a Brooklyn-based styling business run by former actor Felicia D’Ascanio and her business partner and designer James Richwine.
Read moreCNN | Hitting the gym or going to yoga? Your workout clothes could be doing more harm than you realize →
In 2022, the Center for Environmental Health, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group based in California, tested sports bras, leggings, athletic shirts and other activewear and found high levels of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in those sold by Athleta, PINK, The North Face, Nike and Patagonia, among other brands. (CNN reached out to the companies for comment; a spokesperson for Athleta said the company was committed to safety standards, adding, “We believe the CEH claims have no merit and stand by our products and practices.”) This came just one year after the CEH found high levels of BPA in socks from over 100 brands.
This information spread quickly through women’s groups and group chats. As I was in the middle of researching my book “To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick – and How We Can Fight Back,” my friends asked me how concerned they should be. My answer? Very concerned.
Read moreVOGUE UK | Your Clothes Could Be Toxic. Fashion Urgently Needs To Address This →
You’ve likely seen the photographs of rivers in countries like China and Bangladesh turned a bright shade of purple, blue or red by the dyes used in the fashion industry – a very visible reminder of the harm that chemicals in our clothes can cause.
But while most shoppers in the Western world believe that the problem of toxic fashion pollution is an issue in developing countries, those same toxic chemicals are being applied – sometimes deliberately and sometimes through sloppy contamination – to our clothing and accessories. In many cases, these toxic substances stay on our garments all the way to our closets.
Read moreTHE GUARDIAN | Are Your Clothes Making You Sick? The Opaque World of Chemicals in Fashion →
The first thing that happened when Mary, an Alaska Airlines attendant, received a new, high-performance, synthetic uniform in the spring of 2011 was a hacking cough. Then a rash bloomed on her chest. Next came migraines, brain fog, a racing heart, and blurry vision.
Read moreVT DIGGER | 'I wanted to cry': Devastating risks of spray foam insulation hidden from Vermont homeowners →
Londonderry contractor Abe Crossman was keeping busy with small projects at his family’s home in June 2020 during the newly arrived coronavirus pandemic. He was working outside when he noticed that the paint was peeling off the trim at the peak of the gable end of his roof.
With 25 years of building experience, he knew that peeling paint indicated the presence of moisture. But the location was odd — that trim underneath the overhang should stay dry. So he grabbed a ladder and a pry bar to take a closer look.
His stomach dropped as he sank the pry bar into the soft wood sheathing underneath the trim and peeled away the vinyl siding down to four feet below the roof line.
Read moreWIRED | How Can Companies Recycle Clothes Back Into Clothes? →
Polyester is in almost all of your clothing, and it's almost impossible to recycle. Some innovators are looking beyond turning plastic bottles into fabric.
Read moreWELL + GOOD | Get Your Petroleum Off My Body →
When you look at a piece of fashion—a swishy long dress, a pair of yoga leggings, a bright turquoise T-shirt—what do you see? I see petroleum.
That’s right: When oil is pulled out of the Earth, it’s not just going to power cars and heat homes. It’s also going into the making of and materials used in clothing, shoes, and accessories. The $2.5 trillion global fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for somewhere between 2 percent and 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main driver of global warming. That’s more than the emissions from the aviation sector or deforestation.
Read moreWIRED | Can Burning Man Pull Out of Its Climate Death Spiral? →
Excessive heat, ever fiercer storms, and a reliance on fossil fuels are becoming an existential crisis for the yearly festival in the Nevada desert.
Read moreTHE NEW YORK TIMES | Will We Ever Be Able to Recycle Our Clothes Like an Aluminum Can? →
A new factory operated by Renewcell, a textile recycling company in Sweden, is the first step in turning old clothes into new, high-quality fashion.
Read moreTHE WILSON QUARTERLY | Could the Uyghur Human Rights Crisis Finally Force Fashion to Reveal Its Supply Chain? →
Blockchain technology has long promised to democratize information. New legislation might finally push the fashion industry into a new era of transparency.
Read moreNEW YORK MAGAZINE'S THE CUT | H&M Is Being Sued for Greenwashing. What Does That Mean For Fashion? →
Last month, a lawsuit was filed against Swedish fast-fashion giant H&M in New York federal court, accusing it of it “greenwashing,” or engaging in false advertising about the sustainability of its clothing. The lawsuit was brought forward by Chelsea Commodore, a SUNY New Paltz marketing student who alleged she had overpaid for a fashion piece marketed as “conscious” that really … wasn’t. In fact, she claims, several pieces of the brand’s Conscious Collection products were advertised as using less water to manufacture when they actually use more. H&M claims the discrepancy was the result of technical issues.
Read moreCRAFTSMANSHIP QUARTERLY | The Little Blockprinting Workshop That Could →
Padmini Govind awoke at 3 a.m. to her cell phone ringing. It was mid-October, 2020, and rain was pounding the roof of her home in Bengaluru, India, as it had since June, marking an unusually long monsoon season. In a panicked voice, her elderly father’s live-in caretaker informed her that the lake bordering the property had breached the container wall, and water was pouring into her father’s home—which also housed the family’s block-print textile business, Tharangini, on the bottom floor. Govind, her family, and staff spent a sleepless night packing up more than 5,000 new and antique printing blocks, dismantling six meter-long tables, each covered with 100 layers of jute fabric, moving it all to dry land, and securing and installing large pumps and sandbags.
Read moreTHE NEW YORK TIMES | That Organic Cotton T-Shirt Might Not Be As Organic As You Think →
Michael Kors retails its organic cotton and recycled polyester women’s zip-up hoodies for $25 more than its conventional cotton hoodies. Urban Outfitters sells organic sweatpants that are priced $46 more than an equivalent pair of conventional cotton sweatpants. And Tommy Hilfiger’s men’s organic cotton slim-fit T-shirt is $3 more than its conventional counterpart.
“This product contains independently certified organic cotton grown without chemical pesticides, chemical fertilizers and genetically modified seeds,” the product description reads.
With the fashion industry trumpeting its sustainability commitments, those labels are both a means of value signaling and a lure to consumers willing to pay more to act better.
There’s only one problem: Much of the “organic cotton” that makes it to store shelves may not actually be organic at all.
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