Fair warning: today's blog post is going to be extensive. I am going to talk about a topic that is very very important to me. Sustainability. As a lover of all things fashion (and like with anything else) there are amazing things about my hobby and then there are not so amazing things. Everyone knows about the good stuff. The glamour, the prestige, the high-flying, jet-setting lifestyle; and duh the amazing clothes.
But up until recently, no one really talked about the bad stuff about fashion, and trust me there's quite a bit (don't worry fashion I still love you).One of the most major issues at the centre of the fashion industry is environmental sustainability - or better yet the lack there of. The fashion industry is the third most environmentally polluting industry in the world and is the second largest consumer and polluter of water. Every year roughly 80 billion apparel items are produced - thus leaving an atrociously large environmental footprint behind. The overall global production of textiles consumes on average 1 trillion gallons of water a year, 33 trillion gallons of oil and 20 billion pounds of chemicals. Now I don't know about you, but that's kind of a lot, and it's kind of concerning. We can surely do better can't we?
But up until recently, no one really talked about the bad stuff about fashion, and trust me there's quite a bit (don't worry fashion I still love you).One of the most major issues at the centre of the fashion industry is environmental sustainability - or better yet the lack there of. The fashion industry is the third most environmentally polluting industry in the world and is the second largest consumer and polluter of water. Every year roughly 80 billion apparel items are produced - thus leaving an atrociously large environmental footprint behind. The overall global production of textiles consumes on average 1 trillion gallons of water a year, 33 trillion gallons of oil and 20 billion pounds of chemicals. Now I don't know about you, but that's kind of a lot, and it's kind of concerning. We can surely do better can't we?
GIF found on the Reformation website :)
To give a slightly better context of what some of these numbers mean, let's break it down. To produce one pair of denim jeans, it requires over 900 gallons of water, not to mention that most denim is derived from cotton. Cotton production is also one of the most environmentally draining raw materials used by the fashion industry. It requires immensely large pieces of land to be grown, the land and soil must be of extremely high quality and are often regulated/cared for with harmful chemicals and pesticides. These chemicals seep into the soil killing surrounding plant life and thus harming various ecosystems. Cotton also requires intense irrigation and water use. Conventional cotton consumes about 10% of the worlds pesticides and about 25% of the world's insecticides, when it only uses 2.4% of the world's arable land. Irrigation systems circulate chemical inputs into the groundwater making cotton the largest textile contributor to freshwater contamination and soil toxicity. Dyeing of denim is also hazardous to both people and the environment as the chemicals themselves are harmful to deal with as well as the run off that makes its way into nearby bodies of water pollutes and kills aquatic landscapes.
Now I know we are not off to a positive start here and you are probably wondering who is this girl talking to me about how my clothes are killing the environment. Where is she getting all her facts? Is this even true? I totally get that and this is why I'm talking to you today about REFORMATION. All my information and sources will be linked throughout this post in order to give you a better understanding of where I am coming from and why I love this company so much.
Reformation is an apparel production company based and online e-retailer out of Los Angeles created in 2009 by Yael Aflalo where in their words "fashion and sustainability coexist". Their goal is to raise awareness around the impact that fashion has on the environment yet at the same time offering sustainable and fashionable solutions. They attempt to lead and inspire a sustainable and non-harmful way of being fashion forward. This is what I love about them. As a fashion consumer there are many issues/challenges I consider when I buy something. I don't want to break the bank when I buy a new pair of shoes or a new dress. I want to look fabulous and have clothes that represent who I am and what I stand for. I need to save money in order to pay for university. I want to be comfortable. But most importantly I can't waste money. I want whatever I buy to be a long term investment in where I want to see myself down the road. I want to know where my clothes came from, what they are made from and I want to know just how much of an impact to the world I am making. Reformation gives me all these things and to boot fills my love of vintage clothing along the way. On their website they state "we source sustainable fabrics and vintage garments, and incorporate sustainable practices throughout all supply chain phases. The majority of their clothing is either reworked vintage garments that other companies have thrown away, rescued deadstock textiles from larger fashion houses/brands that have over-ordered product and then a third portion of their material is new, innovative 100% sustainable, biodegradable fabrics such as Viscose, Tencel, and Modal. If you want to learn more about these super cool textiles and how they create their garments head to the Reformation website where they discuss all their production processes and environmental impact in depth.
Now I know we are not off to a positive start here and you are probably wondering who is this girl talking to me about how my clothes are killing the environment. Where is she getting all her facts? Is this even true? I totally get that and this is why I'm talking to you today about REFORMATION. All my information and sources will be linked throughout this post in order to give you a better understanding of where I am coming from and why I love this company so much.
Reformation is an apparel production company based and online e-retailer out of Los Angeles created in 2009 by Yael Aflalo where in their words "fashion and sustainability coexist". Their goal is to raise awareness around the impact that fashion has on the environment yet at the same time offering sustainable and fashionable solutions. They attempt to lead and inspire a sustainable and non-harmful way of being fashion forward. This is what I love about them. As a fashion consumer there are many issues/challenges I consider when I buy something. I don't want to break the bank when I buy a new pair of shoes or a new dress. I want to look fabulous and have clothes that represent who I am and what I stand for. I need to save money in order to pay for university. I want to be comfortable. But most importantly I can't waste money. I want whatever I buy to be a long term investment in where I want to see myself down the road. I want to know where my clothes came from, what they are made from and I want to know just how much of an impact to the world I am making. Reformation gives me all these things and to boot fills my love of vintage clothing along the way. On their website they state "we source sustainable fabrics and vintage garments, and incorporate sustainable practices throughout all supply chain phases. The majority of their clothing is either reworked vintage garments that other companies have thrown away, rescued deadstock textiles from larger fashion houses/brands that have over-ordered product and then a third portion of their material is new, innovative 100% sustainable, biodegradable fabrics such as Viscose, Tencel, and Modal. If you want to learn more about these super cool textiles and how they create their garments head to the Reformation website where they discuss all their production processes and environmental impact in depth.
Image found on Reformation website.
One of the other things I love so much about Reformation is their level of disclosure. On their website you can find everything about who they are, what they do, what they stand for and why they stand for it. I love that I can stand behind a company for real reasons beyond that they make pretty clothes. I love that I can tell people about this amazing brand and there is more to the story. More to the discussion. A discussion I hope we can have here. A big wave in fashion right now is a growing consumer demand for disclosure from their favourite fashion houses. Just this morning I found an article on the Business of Fashion that I think is a useful read for anyone interested in how and why the fashion industry is becoming and should become for environmentally conscious.
I love the fact that Reformation makes generally all their product in-house, in LA. Their production space uses the most eco-friendly, efficient and pro-social technology practices available.They've invested in green infrastructure to reduce their waste and energy footprints, All stores and their HQ in LA source electricity from 100% renewable power sources. They use LED lighting and Energy-Star appliances. They installed a cool roof that reflects heat and light - offsetting about 200 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions a year. The alley behind their HQ was revitalized to be a calming, open green space that employees can use in their down time. There is growing space for a team veggie garden, and they can use the space for meeting, parties and industry events. One of the other things I think is super cool about their operation is that they have set up this greywater laundry-to-irrigation system where the water they use for washing garments is filtered and then irrigates their backyard garden. I mean come on how cool is that?!
I love the fact that Reformation makes generally all their product in-house, in LA. Their production space uses the most eco-friendly, efficient and pro-social technology practices available.They've invested in green infrastructure to reduce their waste and energy footprints, All stores and their HQ in LA source electricity from 100% renewable power sources. They use LED lighting and Energy-Star appliances. They installed a cool roof that reflects heat and light - offsetting about 200 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions a year. The alley behind their HQ was revitalized to be a calming, open green space that employees can use in their down time. There is growing space for a team veggie garden, and they can use the space for meeting, parties and industry events. One of the other things I think is super cool about their operation is that they have set up this greywater laundry-to-irrigation system where the water they use for washing garments is filtered and then irrigates their backyard garden. I mean come on how cool is that?!
They operate out of one factory, distribute to a few selective retailers within blocks of the factory to reduce emission impacts from transportation. The majority of their business occurs online, which is essentially non-environmentally hindering. Yes product must be shipped but all packaging is composed of natural, recycled and biodegradable paper products (see website for a more technical breakdown).
Everything happens in one location at their HQ in order to maintain quality control, maintain fair and honourable working standards for all employees from the creative team to the models to the employees actually producing, altering and packaging garments. All factory employees are paid fair wages above minimum wage and over half are paid above the average LA living wage. 3/4 of their staff are also women!
So I know I've talked about a lot just now. And to be honest as in depth as this may seem I've barely scratched the surface of the sustainability conversation I hope to have here. I've also barely scratched the surface on the amazing work Reformation is currently doing. I strongly urge anyone who is reading this right now to go to their website and just play around and read all the stuff they've got there. It really gives an amazing picture as to what they are doing and their information is a lot more concise and in depth than mine was here today.
I know it's just one, but a lot of fashion firms are noticing the impact they are making, and are recognizing that their customers are noticing too. People are now more than ever demanding full disclosure on where their clothes are coming from and it severely impacts their decision to buy. Now is the time that fashion as a whole should be jumping on the sustainability bandwagon because we've only got one earth. It is a pretty fantastic one at that as well so to not protect it is to not protect ourselves and our futures. To me, not caring about the environment and the impact our purchases make seems absurd.
So I know that was a load, but this is one of the biggest issues in fashion right now and one that resonates with me a lot. Let me know in the comments if discussions like this are something you'd like to see continue on here. I think I'll do them anyways but I'd love the feedback. Stay tuned tomorrow for a post of Reformations clothing that I am dying to have in my closet this summer. I know I know, the fun stuff will have to wait. :)But Please stay tuned cuz it's gonna be good.
I know it's just one, but a lot of fashion firms are noticing the impact they are making, and are recognizing that their customers are noticing too. People are now more than ever demanding full disclosure on where their clothes are coming from and it severely impacts their decision to buy. Now is the time that fashion as a whole should be jumping on the sustainability bandwagon because we've only got one earth. It is a pretty fantastic one at that as well so to not protect it is to not protect ourselves and our futures. To me, not caring about the environment and the impact our purchases make seems absurd.
So I know that was a load, but this is one of the biggest issues in fashion right now and one that resonates with me a lot. Let me know in the comments if discussions like this are something you'd like to see continue on here. I think I'll do them anyways but I'd love the feedback. Stay tuned tomorrow for a post of Reformations clothing that I am dying to have in my closet this summer. I know I know, the fun stuff will have to wait. :)But Please stay tuned cuz it's gonna be good.
Check out the REFORMATION BLOG too they've got some awesome stuff! (noticing a pattern? I think I need more synonyms for awesome, so please help a girl out if you can) They just announced the first harvest they got from their greywater irrigation garden with a cute video containing a super cute puppy!! (how could you resist?!)
*All images and GIFs are from the Reformation website.
*All images and GIFs are from the Reformation website.