Water and Fashion


WHAT'S THE CONNECTION?

The global demand for clothing is projected to rise by approximately 63% through 2030. The textile industry is responsible for polluting rivers and groundwater, as well as diverting enormous amounts of fresh water for irrigation purposes.

Only 2.5% of our water resources are actually fresh water, and more than 40% of the planet’s population suffers from water scarcity. In other words, more than 840 million people still lack basic access to clean drinking water.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, “worldwide, it is estimated that industry is responsible for dumping 300–500 million tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge and other waste into waters each year.”

840 MILLION LACK ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER

Water and Fashion
Water clean enough to drink

Wastewater from dyehouse effluent is a major source of pollution in the clothing industry. Where our products are dyed, the water is recovered, cleaned and recirculated. After settling and skimming the water is filtered using reverse osmosis and distillation. This is basically sucking up water through really fine sand over and over, then boiling it.

Salt is added back in so that the dye adheres and all the cruddy mulchy stuff left over is dried out and used for road markings. About 95% of the water is recirculated and recovered.

At the end, the water coming out of the filters and going back round to be reused again is crystal clear, literally clean enough to drink. Once it has been cleaned it is then used at the input for the next batch. It is a closed loop system.