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We’re constantly bombarded with media

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that puts pressure on us
to buy newer and trendier clothes.

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Just to throw them away
when they’re no longer in style.

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An estimated 93 million tons
go to landfill or are burned every year.

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“And that’s roughly
about a garbage truckload of textiles,

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every second going to landfill.

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Every second!”

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Producing clothes also pollutes
our water and churns out CO2.

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The fast fashion model pioneered by Zara

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means that brands are churning out
double the amount of clothing per year

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as they did in the early 2000s.

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But companies say that’s about to change

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because we can now
buy eco-friendly fast fashion.

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And also recycle our clothes
when we don’t want them anymore.

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But can we believe them?

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Inditex, Zara’s parent company,

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and H&M Group

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are two of the biggest
fashion retailers in the world,

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and both have collections
that claim to reduce

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the environmental impact
of making clothes.

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Not only that, but the two fashion giants

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say they are making
their entire brands more sustainable.

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Let’s take a look at these promises,
starting with the materials.

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[MATERIALS]

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Main materials at Zara & H&M,
as well as worldwide, are polyester,

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which accounts for around 52%
of total fiber production,

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and cotton, which is around 24%.

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PET is a different name for polyester

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and is the same type of plastic
that's found in water bottles.

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Actually,

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60% of PET production goes to textiles,

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and only 30% to water bottles.

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The material is produced from petroleum,

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and the process uses lots of energy

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and releases CO2,

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as well as acids and ammonia
into the water supply.

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Recycled polyester uses up to 60%
less energy than virgin material

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and can be made from textile scraps

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or plastic trash.

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But inconsistencies in the threads
can make it require more dye,

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and experts say

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that polyester fabrics can shed
700,000 microplastic fibers

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with every wash,

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which end up in the ocean,

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and also in our food.

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Cotton doesn't have these problems,

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but is still a chemical
and water intensive crop.

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According to the World Wide
Fund for Nature,

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it takes 20,000 liters of water
to make one kilo of cotton,

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which is enough for one T-shirt
and a pair of jeans.

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Also, around 11% of the world’s pesticides
are used on cotton fields.

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So is organic cotton better?

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"Essentially there's a massive difference
between organic cotton and cotton."

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This is Suki, a representative
of Fashion Revolution,

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which is an organization
that advocates worldwide

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for transparency and sustainability
in the fashion industry.

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“Organic cotton is, in the long term,
much better for the farmer that grows it

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and the environment
and the soil that produces it,

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and it's less water intensive

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and doesn't require
as much irrigation as such.”

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We requested an interview with H&M

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about the sustainability
of their products,

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but they declined.

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Over email they said,

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"We are happy to say
that by the end of this year,

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all cotton we use will come
from sustainable sources."

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Zara also responded
only through email, saying,

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"In 2019, the Group [Inditex,
Zara's parent company]

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used over 38,000 tonnes
of sustainable cotton in its clothing,

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(up 105% from 2018)."

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But what does sustainable actually mean?

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There’s no standard definition,
and it doesn’t equal organic.

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H&M says that sustainable cotton
can also mean recycled

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or cotton that uses
less pesticides and GMOs.

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Zara portrays its cotton as sustainable,

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but calls it ecologically grown
instead of organic.

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It claims the cotton uses
natural fertilizers and pesticides,

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and is certified
by the Organic Content Standard

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and the Global Organic Textile Standard,

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which say they control
for chemical and water use

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in the whole production process.

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Terms like "conscious"
and "ecologically grown"

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are hard to fact-check,

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as well as confusing for the consumer.

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But according to the non-profit
Textile Exchange,

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in 2016, H&M was the second largest
user of organic cotton in the world.

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Zara was the fourth.

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Let’s focus on synthetics.

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In H&M's sustainable collection,

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the synthetic clothing has to be
at least 50% recycled.

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Zara doesn’t specify their percentage,
and their labeling can be confusing.

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This jacket says
it’s 100% recycled polyamide,

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which makes it seem like
it’s completely recycled.

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But the filling is polyester.

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That’s a different material.

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And this isn’t the only time this happens.

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The percentage recycled statement
often doesn’t refer to the whole garment,

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making it look like the item
is more recycled than it actually is.

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On the subject of transparent labeling,

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the Join Life tags
are also on the Zara website

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and are stamped by
the Forest Stewardship Council.

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This would seem to imply the clothing
is certified by this organization.

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The stamp, however,
is only referring to the tag,

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not to the whole clothing item.

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Talk about misleading.

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Zara has committed to sustainable cotton
and polyester by 2025.

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H&M says all of their materials
to be sustainable by 2030,

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and for 2019, that figure
was already at 57%.

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If they stick to these commitments,

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it could mean big changes
for the industry.

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But material is only part of the story.

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[SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSPARENCY]

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To find out if that cotton
is actually organic,

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or that polyester is actually recycled,

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consumers need to be able
to check the production process.

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With an H&M Conscious T-shirt,

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you can find out

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in which specific factory it was made

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so it’s theoretically possible
to check the factory’s sustainability.

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Zara only lists how many suppliers
it has in one city,

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but not their names and addresses.

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They were both evaluated
by Fashion Revolution,

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an organization advocating
for transparency

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and sustainability in fashion.

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None of the 250 large brands
scored over 80%,

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but for 2020, H&M was the highest
scoring brand, with 73%,

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so quite transparent.

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Zara scored a 43%.

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Not so much.

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This is important because:

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“Suppliers are one of the few stakeholders with a
front row seat to brands’ inner workings.”

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Kim has a background in human rights and
was a garment factory manager in Cambodia.

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“They uniquely have access to the information 
that consumers need to be able to cross check

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brands’ actions against their words.”

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So being able to research suppliers allows people

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to hold brands accountable to their sustainability claims. But...

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“Just because you're transparent, it
does not mean you're sustainable.

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It does not mean that at all.

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And that's really, really important.”

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Even for brands who know their whole supply chain,
making an eco-friendly garment is hard.

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“Let's pick up a denim. You can see the dyeing
is done in a more environmentally responsible way,

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but the cotton is not produced the same.”

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Jessie has worked in different industries
from product inspection to purchasing,

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to product development,
in both China and Cambodia.

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“Or take another example.

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The whole piece of the clothes is made out
of waste, but not dyed in a responsible way.

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So, they're green, but it's different degrees
of green or different degrees of less bad.”

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Because an item of clothing is made
up of many different materials

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all manufactured in different ways, it’s hard
to make each piece less harmful to the environment.

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This is also the reason why recycling
clothing is much harder than H&M and Zara

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would seem to claim.

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H&M’s advertisements say that the company

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is working towards a circular future for clothing.

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According to the website, you can bring

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your clothing to any store 
and it will be resold as second-hand clothing,

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re-used as other textiles, or recycled.

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Zara has a similar campaign.

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It says it partners with different local
organizations, which then take over what

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happens to the clothing.

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So what does happen?

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They ARE re-sold, re-used, and recycled,
but not in the proportions you might think.

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Over half of donated clothing
is sold overseas.

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The rest is mostly turned into industrial
material, burned, or goes to landfill.

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Less than one percent of the material in

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used clothing is recycled into new clothing.

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A big reason is lack of technology.

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Remember how many materials were
in the jacket?

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Well, they need to come out again
to recycle it.

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“Garments that are made from mono
materials or can easily be taken apart

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into pieces, can be recycled.”

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Maxi started her career as a certified dressmaker
over 10 years ago and has headed product development

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for Hugo Boss and major online retailers.

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“But think about your wardrobe, how many
pieces would fulfill these requirements?”

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So giving back clothing is better than
throwing it away, but the chances of it

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actually getting recycled are very low.

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H&M and Zara are investing in recycling
research, but we looked at their annual

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reports and the amount is 0.5 percent and 
0.02 percent of their profits, respectively.

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They say returning clothes is circular,
which isn’t really true. And even if it were:

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“That's not the solution to our overconsumption.

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Or our overproduction.”

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The problem is that too much clothing is produced,
and bought, whether the clothing is eco-friendly or not.

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“Let's just say you're putting one person
here who says, you know what, I don't give

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a bleep about anything recycled or organic.

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I will once a year buy a nice pair of pants

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and I don't care about anything, and
then there are these people who are saying,

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yes, I'm really aware, I want to do that.
I want to commit to the environment.

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And the pair of jeans that I'm going to buy
every four weeks will always be sustainable. So.

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Still, this person is better.”

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Buying clothing every four weeks is relatively new.
Before the 90s designers made clothes

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for two fashion seasons per year, and now fashion
retailers put out clothes in as little as two weeks.

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More clothes mean cheaper prices, lower
quality, and more ending up in the landfill or burned.

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But it’s not just big fast fashion brands,
it’s the fashion industry in general and

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our desire for constantly changing outfits
that need to hit pause.

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“We need to think about how we shop and
what we're really calling for.

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But there is a bold step in a number of
notable fashion brands and fashion houses

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now going seasonless and hats off to them. 
It's an important thing to do.”

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The concept doesn’t mean sacrificing style – 
but instead making clothing to last rather

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than be thrown away.

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“So all in all, what we're trying to do is working 
with clothing that is not very seasonal, so to say.

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It should be something that you can wear
year after year, we want to focus on quality.”

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Karishma is the founder of Ka-Sha, an Indian brand 
featured in magazines like Forbes and Vogue

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for championing eco-friendly fashion.

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"We try to make products that try to fit into
different places depending on who's

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wearing it and how it's worn. So we have a lot of 
different aspects to our clothing.”

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So what do you do when you
want to buy new clothes?

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H&M and Zara say their eco-collections are better
for the environment, and they actually are.

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If you want to make sure the whole supply
chain is sustainable, there are

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many smaller brands that can account for every
step of their production process.

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And buying seasonless instead of trendy
clothing means it won’t go out of fashion

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and end up in the trash.

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Because this is a rare industry where
consumers actually have a real influence.

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“When I look at the whole picture, I realize 
maybe only end consumer is the power

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[that] can balance brands and can push them,
give them pressure to make some changes.”

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So, ask yourself not only who made
your clothes and what they are made of,

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but also, do I need these new clothes?
And go from there instead.

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And if you want to see more videos like this, 
we post about environmental topics every Friday.

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