March 22nd is World Water Day. Here are just a handful of stats out of the UN report World Water Day 2010: Clean Water for a Healthy World, “Water quality facts and statistics”:

• Worldwide, infectious diseases such as waterborne diseases are the number one killer of children under five years old. More people die from unsafe water annually than from all forms of violence, including war. (WHO 2002)
• Unsafe water causes 4 billion cases of diarrhoea each year, and results in 2.2 million deaths, mostly of children under five. This means that 15% of child deaths each year are attributable to diarrhoea – a child dying every 15 seconds. In India alone, the single largest cause of ill health and death among children is diarrhoea, which kills nearly half a million children each year. (WHO and UNICEF 2000)
• Freshwater species have faced an estimated extinction rate five times greater than that of terrestrial species. (Ricciardi and Rasmussen 1999)
• Point-of- use drinking water treatment through chlorine and safe storage of water could result in 122.2 million avoided DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years, a measure of morbidity), at a total cost of US$ 11.4 billion. (UN WWAP 2003)
• 70% of untreated industrial wastes in developing countries are disposed into water where they contaminate existing water supplies. (UN-Water 2009)

For more stats and facts, and to download the full report click here.

Here is a video form charity: water, “a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects” on their campaign for Haiti.  

Unshaken – charity: water’s campaign for Haiti from charity: water on Vimeo.

Within the context of responsible fashion design, water consumption, pollution and contamination are endemic within the industry, make no mistake.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has done the math on cotton and water:

10,000-17,000 litres of water = 1 kg of cotton lint

6 pints of water = 1cotton bud

Global cotton consumption has been estimated to be responsible for 2.6 per cent of the global water use, however, much of the impact is not felt in the country where the cotton is consumed, but where it has been produced. As a global average, 44 per cent of the water use for cotton growth and processing is not for serving the domestic market but for export.

As a result it has been estimated that nearly half of the water problems in the world related to cotton growth and processing can be attributed to foreign demand for cotton products. In this respect, it has been calculated that 84% of EU’s cotton-related water footprint lies outside the EU, with major impacts particularly in India and Uzbekistan.

Cotton production has a high impact on freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity through activities such as excessive water withdrawal for irrigation, runoff from fields, drainage, pesticide application, dam construction and land reclamation. The activities result in a range of impacts from salinisation, pollution to loss of soil and biodiversity.

The issue of bottled water is yet another side of the story. The Story of Stuff has launched a new campaign, and added a new video to the popular Story of Stuff series “The Story of Bottled Water: How “manufactured demand” pushes what we don’t need and destroys what we need most”. Click here for more information.

UN Water has a TON of interactive campaign materials available online, so be sure to check them out and help spread the word and get involved.

To learn more about the potential social and environmental impacts of cotton in this context, check out the SA Fibre Analysis.

Here are just two of the videos we took at the conference. We have more videos to come, so stay tuned for those.

The first video is of my Pecha Kucha talk. I’ll be posting the slides and my notes a little later on. Please contact us if you have any questions on the works cited in the presentation.

Social Alterations @ FEI from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

FEI Conference 006 from Social Alterations on Vimeo.

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) was also there, asking participants “what organic cotton means…..to me”. Pictured above is Nadira Lamrad (right) with her answer.

The Cotton Campaign continues to report on the flagrant abuse of human rights by the Uzbek government.  There have been some unfortunate incidents linked to this year’s harvest (to read more about them click below) including:

• An account of a student who was expelled (despite having a legitimate medical excuse) from her school for not participating in the harvest.
• Bakhtiyar Hamrayev, an Uzbek activist, was attacked after the airing of a BBC story on this issue.
• The beginning of the court hearings in the case of Ganihon Mamakhanov, a Fergana-based activist who was framed and subsequently arrested on extortion charges.

Another post gives a quick overview of the findings in the Veritas  preliminary report saying that:

• 45-50% of the cotton is harvested by children;
• Though the government announced the harvest completed in early November, many children are still being forced to work in the fields picking the last remnants;
• Officials are withholding 60% of already miserly wages from the children for the “rent” of their schoolbooks–so instead of 5 US cents per kilogram picked, they may get 2.  For high school and college students who are forced to board near the fields or in them, the percent withheld is even higher to cover the cost of their food (more on this later);
• Children down to the third grade have been mobilized (those are 8 and 9 year olds);
• Teachers and other officials encountered by the researchers are taking more pains to try to convince observers that the process is “voluntary,” perhaps indicating a greater degree of surveillance and official pressure than in years past.

The Cotton Campaign, through Ferghana.ru, has posted a list of representatives that were present at the Tashkent Cotton Fair.  According to the Cotton Campaign, “contracts were signed for over 600,000 tons of this year’s crop alone, and the list of attendees was the largest ever.”

Take a look at the list and see if you recognize any names. Please let us know who they are and which companies they service.  This is a big step in the ability to trace this harvest.

Finally, in case some are still wondering what the big deal is, here are some videos showing what life is like for the cotton labourers.

Abigail Doan

Interview with Modebewust

Body Politic

Vancouver based Body Politic launches new online store

Fashion Loves People

Why I’m Over American Apparel

How Nike will legitimize eco-design for the masses (and eco brands won’t)

Ethical Style

Issue #25: Design Issue

Centre for Sustainable Fashion

Green Gucci

Pratt Blog

Valerie Casey: A Leader in Sustainable Design

Clothesource Comments

Forced labour added to list of ethical hot topics

November Summary

EcoTextile News

Handbook to aid retailers source cotton

Click here to download the handbook

Project H

Design Revolution is taking to the road! 25 schools, 75 days and 6300 miles. Click here for more info.

The Girlie Girl Army

Chatting To Summer Rayne Oakes At Green Fashion Week 

DBTV: Girlie Girl & The Brute at The Green Shows, Pt 3 from The Discerning Brute on Vimeo.

Image Source: Core77 via Fashion Loves People

You may remember SA highlighting Gap Inc.’s short-sightedness when we took a closer look into their Clean Water Campaign. Although we commended the company for an effective goal implementation strategy, it was hard to ignore the areas in which the company’s analysis fell (and continues to fall) short.

For starters, they seem to have conveniently ignored the impact of their product user, the consumer. Gap Inc.’s impact assessment stops at the retailer! As a result, they have washed their hands of any social or environmental impact of any Gap Inc. product once it has been purchased by the consumer. An oversight as large as this, by a company as large as the Gap, is…well, very bad! For more details on the problems with this incomplete lifecycle analysis check out our earlier post.  

Thankfully, Levi Strauss & Co. has recently extended its corporate footprint to include the impact of the user, and launched a new care tag campaign as a result.

“To determine where even greater environmental improvements could be made, the company studied every stage in the life cycle of a typical pair of 501 jeans. The findings indicated that one of the greatest opportunities for reducing climate change and water impact happens after consumers take their jeans home. That’s why, in addition to asking consumers to donate used clothing to keep it out of landfills, Levi’s is encouraging consumers to wash less, wash in cold water and line dry when possible— all of which together reduces your climate impact from washing and drying your Levi’s jeans by more than 50 percent.” (Levi Strauss & Co) 

They have also gone ahead and acknowledged the impact of the end of life of their products in their analysis, through a partnership with Goodwill, and have even included a  new logo on the care take to symbolize encouragement for product donation.

Unfortunately, one huge social and environmental impact consideration that was missing from Gap Inc. care tags is also missing by Levi Strauss: information on best practices with respect to cleaning detergents!

According to William McDonough & Michael Braungart, in their book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, laundry detergent is a classic example of design for the worst-case scenario. What does this mean? Well, it means that a universal strategy has been put in place to make sure that in every scenario the end result on the product is the same. Essentially, they argue that systems of universal design assume “a worst-case scenario; they design a product for the worst possible circumstance, so that it will always operate with the same efficacy.” (Braungart and McDonough, 30) In this case, “[c]leaning detergents lather up, remove dirt, and kill germs efficiently the same way anywhere in the world―in hard, soft, urban, or spring water, in water that flows into fish-filled streams and water channelled to sewage treatment plants” (29-30). The authors go on to argue that “[u]nder the existing paradigm of manufacturing and development, diversity―an integral element of the natural world―is typically treated as a hostile force and a threat to design goals.” (32) Although “the economic payoff immediately rises, the overall quality of every aspect of this system is actually in decline.” (35) Your laundry detergent is hostile!

Commenting on the Levi care tags, Michael Kobori, vice president of social and environmental sustainability at Levi Strauss, has stated that “[t]his is the first major step to begin to engage consumers in their environmental impact and what they can do reduce it” (Ecotextile News) We are hoping the next steps will reflect on solutions for consumer education in the detergent department.

It’s so unfortunate that Gap Inc. dropped the ball on this consumer education initiative. The Gap’s Clean Water Campaign only included the 1969 jean. Why isn’t the company doing more to promote best practices on the rest of its denim products? Rather, in the rest of all of its products! They likely will be doing so now.

You can look for the new Levi’s tags in the U.S. by Jan. 2010, and globally by Fall 2010. But wait! That’s not all…“[t]he Levi’s ® brand and Goodwill® will also spread the word to consumers through online viral campaigns and in retail store communications.”

Did you hear that Gap Inc.? You still have time to catch-up! Why not start your own online viral campaign and in store consumer education campaign? If you need any help, we’d be happy to walk you through the actual stages of your garments’ footprint…..

Reminder! The abstract submission date on the call for papers for Social Labelling in the Global Fashion Industry is November 15^th. Click here for more info.

Source: Levi Strauss & Co and Ecotextile News

Work Cited: Braungart, Michael and William McDonough. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. New York, NY: North Point Press, 2002.

The Cotton Campaign also points to an Independent World Report article on this issue that points out that Unicef, which has a significant presence in Uzbekistan, is not addressing this situation.  The article also targets two major retailers, H&M and Inditex (Zara and Bershka), that are both sourcing some of their garments from suppliers in Bangladesh which in turn source some of their cotton from Uzbekistan.  One of the excuses used by some brands is that it’s difficult to trace the source of a garment’s cotton.  The article dismissed this excuse with a quote from Juliette Williams from the Environmental Justice Foundation:

“Identifying the source of cotton used by major brands and all the steps along the supply chain is possible. It can be done and has been done. No one thinks that tracing cotton is simple. But, it is certainly not impossible. Look at companies like Tesco and Wal-Mart, which have made a public commitment to avoid Uzbek cotton. The fact that cotton at its various stages of production and processing is traded internationally is important, as there is always paperwork that enables transit through customs. In short, we know that at every stage somebody knows where the cotton is coming from. Companies need to spend some effort, ask the right questions and let their suppliers know what is required, or, in the case of Uzbek cotton, what they want to avoid. They do it for quality reasons, why not for ethical reasons too?”

We would like to know more about the traceability issue.  Is it really as difficult as some claim?  What are the factors that are preventing some brands from moving forward on this?  We would like to hear from you.  Please help us learn about this and leave a comment below or contact us.

Special thanks to Cassandra Cavanaugh from Cotton Campaign who let us know that Kohl’s has now joined the boycott.

Source: Cotton Campaign, Ferghana.ru & Independent World Report.

We’re working on developing some ready-to-use curricula for fashion/textile/apparel instructors and designers.

First up, is the Social Alterations “Fibre Analysis: Possible Social and Environmental Impacts.” Data for this document was aggregated from resources you will find in the “Works Cited” section, on the last page of the PDF. This document is licensed and protected through the Creative Commons, which basically means that you can use it wherever/whenever you want, assuming you do so within the guidelines outlined in the Creative Commons licensing for which this document is registered (see below).

This is only the beginning folks; Social Alterations has mandated itself to deliver online curriculum to aid in the development of socially responsible fashion design education.

You can get involved by joining the Social Alterations Forum to share your experience in socially responsible fashion design education.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or requests please contact us.

Fibre Analysis by Mary Hanlon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

If you find yourself in Paris, Chicago, Providence, Portland, Hong Kong, London or Seattle this October, be sure to check out these amazing events. Click on the event you are interested in on the Events Calendar and we should link you straight into the events homepage.

Also, if you are near London in Oct. Nov. or Dec., be sure to stay tuned into the London College of Fashion, for Clash! Creative Collisions in Fashion and Science.

Last but not least, if you have an upcoming event you think are readers would be interested in, be sure to drop us a line.

Retailers have a responsibility to understand the social and environmental impacts of the products they sell. Unfortunately, “the cotton supply chain is fragmented, complex and not very transparent.” (CREM, 7) Although CREM’s new handbook, “Sustainable cotton on the shelves,” was developed with mainstream retailers to in mind, it can also be used as a tool for apparel / textile/ fashion (etc.) designers to turn to for help on getting more educated on the fibre.

Designers have a responsibility to understand the true social and environmental consequences of their designs. “While efforts are being made to have full traceability of conventional cotton, at present such a system does not exist (to date only certified cotton is fully traceable).” (7) The use of conventional cotton is an irresponsible design choice. While fully sustainable cotton is not an option, this handbook will guide you through the in’s and out’s of initiatives, certification, third-parties, retailers and the better cotton initiative. The guide also breaks down industry definitions and categories.

*If you are a design educator, the guide contains excellent visual aids. For example,  “How Clean is my Cotton?” (pg.5) could be useful when explaining the social, environmental, and economic impact of cotton production to your design students.  

*If you are a designer, please be sure to also read this report by Urs Heierli “Where Farmer and Fashion Designer Meet: Globalization with a Human Face in an Organic Cotton Value Chain.”  

*If you are a design enthusiast, please, spread the word.

About the report:

“Using the perspective of new-comers in the world of sustainable cotton, the handbook attempts to explain complex issues in an accessible manner, answering the key questions that textile retail managers, buyers or marketers may face: What type of sustainable cotton is the most suitable for my business? Can I source it from my own supply chain, at what conditions? Is there a consumer demand for sustainable cotton? What are my options if I am a small or medium sized retailer?

Through concrete questions and straightforward answers, the handbook provides an overview of issues and trends in the production and marketing of sustainable cotton. The handbook ”Sustainable cotton on the shelves” is the outcome of a project run in the Netherlands by the retailers HEMA and de Bijenkorf, the Dutch association for large textile retailers (VGT), the NGOs Oxfam Novib and WWF, and the consultancy CREM.

 Pascale Guillou, senior consultant at CREM, says “We are extremely pleased that the result of this two-year research and consultation process with numerous stakeholders can be widely shared with mainstream retailers. We hope that this handbook will help textile retailers making strategic decisions and operational choices at a time when they experience the will or the need to better perform on a triple bottom line”

Click here to download the handbook.

Source: EcoTextile News and CREM

Source: Centre for Sustainable Fashion