The True Cost of Fashion

According to the United Nations, the fashion industry produces 20 percent of global wastewater and 10 percent of global carbon emissions - more than all international flights and maritime shipping. Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally and it takes around 2,000 gallons of water to make a typical pair of jeans. Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned. If nothing changes, by 2050 the fashion industry will use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget. Washing clothes also releases half a million tons of microfibers into the ocean every year. Through this lesson, students will learn about the production of clothes, conduct a self-inventory, and experiment with alternative dyes.