Sustainability Perspective in our clothing

A recent article had this info: India imports $460 million worth of synthetic yarn and $360 million worth of synthetic fabric (nylon etc) from China annually as well as over $140 million worth of accessories like buttons, zippers, hangers and needles. This excludes machinery such as knitting machines, lace-making machines, spinning machines and more.

Why should we be importing so much synthetic stuff which will end up in our soil, air and as micro fibres in our water bodies and come back to haunt us? Add to that the import dollars which widens the trade deficit and demand for our moolah! That is why Gandhiji and J C Kumarappa stressed so much on Khaddar/Khadi to ensure the economy is inside, raw material and the conversion is inside our country, the livelihoods are in our rural Indian villages.

Wait! Heard of ‘party wear’ in the western world and that too of ‘party wear for one evening’? To think of a dress to be worn only for an evening seems the most unsustainable sin to commit! But how do they even think of this? Only because one can get people in countries like India, Bangladesh to work in unworkable conditions for unfathomable compensations and in such exploitative atmosphere.

Synethetic garments pollute so much that they cause so much harm while being produced or after its discarded. Come to think of it, these highly toxic synthetic garments are in intimate contact to our body, we have to think real hard and just avoid them. More than 60% of synthetic polyester comes from fossil fuel!

Dioxins, pthalates, Chlorobenzenes, TriChloroEthylene, Chlorinated Parrafins, Triclosan, Formaldehyde are just some names that are used in textile industry.