With clothing, people are a bit less concerned."that it has a big impact on the environment. Cotton cultivation, for example, requires a lot of water and is grown precisely in countries with water shortages. In the process, soil and drinking water are poisoned by the use of large quantities of pesticides. The dyeing and bleaching of fabrics is also polluting and the clothes are then assembled by seamstresses who work long hours and are paid a wage that makes it impossible to make a decent living.
The shirt, which is the result of all these efforts, is thrown away after a few wearings and burnt with the rest of the rubbish, again polluting the environment. Or it ends up via the clothing container on a market in Africa where it is sold for next to nothing, putting the local clothing industry out of business. Fortunately, the latter does not happen to all textiles in the clothing containers; part of the 80 million kilos of textiles collected annually go to Dutch second-hand shops and 30 per cent are recycled. Yet 124 million kilos are also still burnt. Therefore, the clothes container is a better option than the dustbin, So there are still some steps to take when it comes to making the clothing industry more sustainable.
But what should you do when you need new clothes? For me, it's all about a conscious mindset. After that, you can make your own considerations. There is a lot of need for information. Many people also assume that sustainable clothing is much more expensive, but it doesn't have to be if you buy second-hand or swap clothes, for example. I show that it is actually feasible for everyone, but you first have to decide for yourself what is important to you. Maybe you don't want to wear clothes of animal origin or you want to go for fair trade, then you can focus on that."