Rebecca
Textiles and the Environment
Textile Science
To introduce our project, we were assigned to watch The True Cost documentary. The movie shows us more about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact it has on the world. We pulled a clip of the movie (shown above), to show how the fashion industry is impacting the environment and putting people out of work in third world countries.
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 The True Cost |
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The True Cost: A Documentary
Textiles and the Environment
The Issue: Fast Fashion
The biggest issue today is fast fashion. Fast fashion is a term used to describe fashion that moves from the runways to the stores very quickly, and these styles are made available for very cheap prices. Because of fast fashion’s impact in the last decade, the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. Every year, the world consumes about 80 BILLION pieces of new clothing, which is 400% more than the amount that we consumed just two decades ago.
The Issue: Landfills
The next issue addressed is landfills. Each year, the average American throws away 82 pounds of textile waste each year, which is 11 million tons of textile waste from the U.S. alone. Most of this waste is non-biodegradable, which means it sits in landfills for more than 200 years. These landfills release harmful gases into the air, like CO2, damaging our environment further.
The Issue: Clothing Sold to Foreign Countries
The next issue we will address is clothing being sold to foreign countries. We saw in the video that a lot of clothes donated to charity are packed and shipped to third world countries. We found that only 10% of the clothes that are donated gets sold in thrift stores. What cannot be sold out of the donations gets sent abroad, and because these countries are receiving these clothes, their local clothing industries have vanished
Our Goals
Textiles and The Environment Project
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To research and find out more about thrift stores’ donation process
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To help organizations that do not sell donations to third world countries
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To reduce waste from the fashion industry
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To raise awareness for the fashion industry’s impact on the environment
Our Plan
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Contacting local and national thrift stores to learn more about their practices
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Volunteer at a local thrift store to experience their decision process
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Hold a clothing drive to benefit organizations who do not sell clothing abroad
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present at URSCI Expo to raise more awareness for these issues
New To You
New To You is an upscale, non-profit resale store in Broadview, Illinois. They were founded in 2003 to:
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provide financial assistance for Christian education
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provide the community with upscale merchandise at affordable prices
All workers are volunteers, with the exception of their two store managers. New To You also sells antiques, collectables, books, furniture, shoes, appliances and more.
Area schools that New To You supports:
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Chicago Westside Christian School
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Daystar School
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Humboldt Community Christian School
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Timothy Christian Schools
Volunteering at
We sorted clothing donations to determine what was upscale, and we decided what would be sold and what would be thrown away.
Clothes that they don't sell, they "throw away" into a clothing vin behind the store. The bin belongs to an organization named USAgain, who empties the bin once a week. New To You receives checks from USAgain twice a year.
USAgain is a for-profit company that was established in 1999. Their goal is to prevent clothing, shoes, and other textiles from ending up in landfills. The clothes that they collect, they:
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sell to local resale stores in the U.S.
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sell the clothing to struggling countries, like Haiti
USAgain also starts recycling and other green initiatives in schools and communities.
Goodwill
Goodwill is a well-known, non-profitorganization that was established in 1919. Today, they have over 165 store loocations accross the U.S.
They provide training, employment, and supportive services for people who seek greater independence.
Last year, Goodwill:
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provided employment services for 4.2 million people
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collected over 3.5 billion pounds of donations
With unsold clothing, Goodwill bales them up and auctions them off to foreign agencies
Established in 1877
Pacific Garden Mission is a Chicago mission, established in 1877, to guide the lost and homeless through the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Vision: "We offer life answers through faith in Jesus Christ, through any season of life, so that our guests become fully functioning followers of Christ."
PGM is a Homeless shelter to Men, Women, and Children. They serve hot meals to homeless three times a day. They give clothing donations to those in need.
Pacific Garden mission does NOT sell any clothing donations
Clothing Drive
We chose to give our donations to Pacific Garden Mission because of the mission's local benefits, their awesome impact on the city, and that they DO NOT SELL clothing to third world countries.
We received contributions from Dominican University students, staff, and faculty, and we were able to raise awareness for the fashion industry's impact on the environment during our drive.
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Published April 19, 2017