The Unfortunate Mountain of Garments
Here’s the thing. We live in a world where we can have things in almost no time. We have consumed high volumes of materials like plastic and clothing because they weren’t made to last…There has been no way to discard the remains of these articles of clothing without it polluting the air we breathe, the soil our food grows from and the animals that eat it, but especially the water that we drink. It is responsible for 20% of the worlds water wastage, and responsible for 10% of the total global carbon emission. To give a little more perspective, it takes 2000 gallons of water to produce one pair of jeans, and 700 gallons to produce a single cotton shirt. These are materials that should give you what it’s worth for quite sometime.
The Atacama Desert is known to be the ultimate dumping ground for our fast fashion impulses and unsustainable fashion choices because of poor manufacturing and design. Luxurious brands are just as guilty. But companies such as SHEIN, Calvin Klein, Chanel, H&M will throw out entire collections into beautiful, vast desert.
Therefore, sometimes it’s worth buying a single quality pair of whatever you need or desire. But the problem isn’t you spending your money (of course it’s not), but it’s about the fact that it’s not lasting us. Even if it’s a hot label. It’s either poorly made, or the materials wear out after a couple washes & wears, it’s pretty much worthless. We have normalized the craft of being able to take care of what you have, and making it last as long as you can. We have become oblivious to the fact that the trends and styles get replaced with what society deems fashionable and “in”.
Being sustainable can be expensive even though it contradicts the value of the clothes being sold sometimes. The economy has everything blown out of proportion and living a sustainable life is more expensive than actually conforming to the norm of unqualified clothing.
I say this is a motive. But it is part of what inspires my art to be the way it is. It is a symbol and a reminder to use what you have. You don’t need anymore, I promise. Some families get jewelry passed down from generation to generation. Cars, watches, hats, the list can go on. But for others it’s been clothing. I was a hand-me-down kiddo. It was always exciting to be given something my mother gave me or even my sister because to me, it was '“new”. When I shop — and when I say shop I mean I shop second-handedly — I always ask myself this question of, “do I see my future daughter wearing this?” or, “Can this be a versatile piece to be worn in different styles?” or even better, “How long is this going to last me?”. We must start to reflect our situation before purchasing something that takes so much labor, resources, and money. Be aware of what some of these materials are made of and start thinking outside of the box on how to utilize the most out of our purchases and waste.
Sources
https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/#:~:text=The%20Dark%20Side%20of%20Fast,go%20to%20dumps%20each%20year.
https://www.fodors.com/world/south-america/chile/experiences/news/the-atacama-desert-is-being-used-as-a-dumping-ground-for-fast-fashion
https://www.wired.com/story/fashion-disposal-environment/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/chile-fashion-pollution
