Are You Wearing a T-Shirt? How many times you are wearing it? Shocking Stats Will Change Your Wearing Behaviour!

 Dear Friends and Students

Yesterday my son requested me to buy a T-Shirt! I checked the Material. It was 100% Cotton. Immediately, I agreed. Now I need to re-think before I buy another one! At least, I request him to wear it till it is threadbare or worn. Read this story.

Today I was going through this article by Mark Sumner, Professor of Sustainability, Fashion and Retail, University of Leeds. Shocking Statistics. How irresponsible we wear. After reading this, my understanding of Virtual Waters got increased. A few years back, I published an article on a similar topic but it was more general- You may review it at your leisure-“The need for Virtual Water Credits and Trading System”, Water Supply, IWA Publishing (https://iwaponline.com/ws/article-abstract/15/5/933/27510/The-need-for-Virtual-Water-Credits-and-Trading?redirectedFrom=fulltext)

Now Please understand the issue.

Part 1 of the Problem

The Pace of Fashion is not helping Mother Earth. T-Shirts are responsible for 10 % of Global CO2 Emissions! Depending on the Brand, Cost, we are contributing to this global issue. Good T-Shirts are made of Cotton. However, understand how these T-Shirts are contributing to global emissions

-         25 million farmers from 80 countries, producing 25.9 million tonnes of fiber in 1 year!!

-         Consumes 6% of Pesticides though it Uses 2.4% of world Land

-         70% of cotton comes from Irrigated Lands.

-         Your T-Shirt consumes at least 7000 liters of water whereas Cotton farmer is only consuming 10-20 liters for their daily chores

-         Cotton to Yarn to Kitting to Colouring to Garment Making to Transport to Shop Shelf: Second-Highest Source of Carbon Pollution- an estimated 394 million tonnes of CO2 per year

-         1 T-Shirt produces 2.6kg of CO2, which is equivalent to driving 14km in a standard passenger car

-         Synthetic fabrics are responsible for 35 % of all the microplastics polluting the ocean

Part 2 of the Problem

Did you read these statistics! The most important part is; the number of times we wear T-Shirts is declining. This is the sad part. People laugh at you when we wear old T-Shirts. Am I right? I experienced. Let me share my personal experience. Wipro gifted me a t-Shirt in the Year 2000 when it got listed on NYSE. I am still wearing it. It is 20 years old. Many think I am penny-pincher! Now I am happy with that Title. Mother Earth appreciates me.

Surprisingly, “the average number of times a garment is worn before being thrown away is falling. In the UK, more than £40 billion (US$53 billion) worth of clothing sits at the back of wardrobes”. It is a shocking and eye-opening stat, right?

-         3,50,000 tonnes of clothing ends up in landfill each year

-         90 percent of donated clothes are suitable for racks

These are the ways we can wear responsibly

-         Buy a T-Shirt from Responsible Brands

-         Wear till Worn

-         Go for Plain Colourless T-Shirts

I am sure the new age generation started using Gym shorts, Bermuda Shorts, Knee length shorts, Cargo shorts, etc. I am sure they must be contributing to similar emissions. Please wear them till they are worn.

Become More Responsible!

Your well-wisher

Ravi Saripalle

Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (i2itm.blogspot.com)

Source Inspiration: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/t-shirt-fast-fashion-cost-climate-change-carbon-emissions-13836438