Dress sustainably

The impact of clothing

You may not have thought about the environmental impact of the clothing you buy. In fact, fashion is responsible for 4% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

A lot of the emissions from clothing come from making and treating raw materials. Cotton and polyester make up about three quarters of all clothing materials and both produce a lot of emissions. 

The World Resources Institute estimates that it takes 2,700 litres of water to grow enough cotton for one cotton shirt. Meanwhile, although polyester uses less water and land, the factories which make it are high-emission sources.

What you can do differently

You can make a difference in this area by changing the way you buy and wear clothing: 

• Buy less clothing and check with people before buying them clothing as a present.
• Shop second-hand clothing.
• Visit our Community Mobile Recycling Centre where you'll have the opportunity to swap your unwanted clothes with other local residents.
• Learn to sew so that you can repair tears in your clothing, we run occasional repair workshops to help you learn. 
• Consider buying better quality clothing that will last longer, rather than ‘fast fashion’ 
• Choose clothing made from less carbon intensive materials such as organic cotton, bamboo or hemp 
• Don’t put old clothing in the bin, either donate it to charity if it’s in a good condition, or put it in a local textile recycling bank

More information

For more ideas on how to re-use, repair and care for your clothes see: 

• Love Your Clothes, provided by the Waste and Resources Action Programme