Sustainability is a word you might have heard a lot in recent years. People around the world are becoming more and more concerned about whether the products they buy are sustainable or not. Within the world of workwear, sustainability is a growing concern. Consumers want to know that their workwear is not just high quality, but is environmentally and socially responsible.
What is Sustainability?
Sustainability refers to how environmentally responsible a product is. This refers not just to a ‘carbon footprint’ (how much carbon is expended in shipping and transporting the product), but to other factors: the water use, the conditions the workers who produced it work in and more.
There are four ‘pillars’ of sustainability. These are Human, Social, Economic and Environmental.
How Sustainable are Clothes?
Clothing – or more specifically the fashion industry – produces around 10% of global carbon emissions. This is more than the aviation industry. It is also responsible for around 20% of global wastewater.
Global production of clothing is often particularly bad for water usage. Natural fibres like cotton take a lot of water to produce as they are often grown in naturally dry areas. Producing one kilogramme of cotton takes about 7,500 to 10,000 litres of water. As fresh water becomes increasingly scarce on our warming planet, this is a heavy drain on supplies.
Growing natural fabrics, or producing artificial fabrics has a range of other impacts. Water is not the only resource that is consumed – land use can also produce toxic chemical runoff and lead to pollution of the surrounding area.
How Can we Make Clothing more Sustainable?
The clothing industry does not need to have as much of an impact on the environment as it does. Fashion and workwear are both guilty of the industry’s worst environmental crime – waste. Low quality and cheap clothes are made to be wasted. Low quality clothing products still use water and energy in their production. However, this is doubly wasteful if the item of clothing is not even intended to be used often.
Higher quality clothing lasts longer, meaning that you can wear it for longer. Clothes that you wear for longer are more worth the cost to the environment in water, land usage and transportation.
Make Sustainable Choices
LJ Workwear does not stock the sort of low cost – low quality garments that have the worst environmental impact. We ensure that our workwear brands are sustainable and as environmentally sound as they can be.
Our workwear lasts. We choose high quality, sturdy and durable materials to make truly sustainable workwear. When you choose to purchase your branded clothing from LJ Workwear, you know that you can trust your garments – not just to last well, but also to be environmentally responsible.
