TODAY’S PARTNERS
PGC Notes: As a reminder, you must follow all submission instructions in order to be considered for a daily prize. This means including your name, username, email address, and school in every submission. Please be sure to fully read the instructions for each challenge! Thanks.
“Take two very simple actions that we perform every single day: getting dressed and eating. Now start a journey backwards – to where your food and your clothes come from. At the other end, you will rarely find happy people, treated with dignity and respect. Human beings working at the bottom of any supply chain – whether it is strawberry picking, prawn fishing, cotton farming, garment workers – are often treated like slaves, without reference to our common humanity. So “fashion” – i.e. what we wear every single day, has huge relevance and huge consequences on human, social and environmental capital.” ~ Livia Firth, Creative Director of Eco Age, Founder of Green Carpet Challenge, and Executive Producer of The True Cost
Take a moment to consider what you’re wearing today. Do you remember where or when you bought your cozy hoodie, favorite jeans, go-to t-shirt, or other wardrobe staples?
Now, instead of just considering what you’re wearing, think about who you’re wearing. Think about the hands that made your clothes. Who picked the cotton for your t-shirt, sewed your hoodie or dyed your jeans?
We live in a world of fast fashion where companies churn out high volumes of low-priced clothing at the expense of workers and the environment. In the world’s least developed countries, an estimated 40 million people sew more than 1.5 billion garments in 250,000 factories and sweatshops each year. In many cases, these workers are not provided with basic workers rights; fair wages and ethical working conditions. Companies like Zara and Forever 21 process 1 million garments per day. Imagine the resources – both human and otherwise – required for such operations.
When it comes to what you are wearing, it’s not just about your clothes, but the materials and chemicals used to make them. Cotton, one of the fashion industry’s most used materials, is among the most pesticide-intensive crops on the planet. Conventional cotton uses about 16% of the world’s insecticides and 7% of pesticides. It’s estimated that one pound of cotton requires at least one-third of a pound (136 grams) of pesticides.
To put this into perspective, it takes half a pound (227 grams) of cotton to make your average t-shirt. Plus, cotton requires more water than most other crops – to produce one pair of jeans is 1,800 gallons of water. The $3 trillion fashion industry is the second most polluting industry, just behind oil. According to the Responsibility in Fashion website, “the most destructive effects of the global fashion industry result from pesticide overuse in cotton production, dumping of hazardous chemicals used in leather tanning, water pollution and emissions from textile dyeing and finishing, toxic chemicals used in dry cleaning & widespread exploitation of workers.”
The good news is that consumers (us!) can shop responsibly and there are many businesses working to change these outcomes through deep commitment and innovation. Businesses like Patagonia is committed to “building the best product, causing no unnecessary harm, and using business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis”. Non-profits like today’s partners, Fibershed are developing regional fiber systems that build soil & protect the health of our biosphere. Green America is working to help steer your clothing dollars toward companies with fair labor practices, avoid some of the worst sweatshop-labor -using companies, and help create a system that respects workers’ rights and many others along with Fair Trade USA. Businesses like Eileen Fisher, Indigenous, Reformation, Nau and others prioritize human rights, worker rights and ethical supply chains as guiding principles of their work. While apps like Good On You assess and rate the ethical standards of clothing/accessory brands based on the brand’s impact on people, place, and animals. Transparency is furthered between consumers and producers underscoring the message to buy from responsible brands.
And just as important as it to buy sustainable new clothes, ethical fashion is also about getting the most out of what you already own. Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia poses this question at the start of the Stories We Wear film, “Why buy two pieces of gear when one will do the work of both?”
It’s up to you to drive the demand for ethical fashion; shopping secondhand, upcycling, trading clothes or investing a little more in the goods that you buy to support responsible fashion, people and planet. You, the consumer can push the market toward transparent, organic, and fair trade clothing.
“Everything we personally own that’s made, sold, shipped, stored, cleaned, and ultimately thrown away does some environmental harm every step of the way, harm that we’re either directly responsible for or is done on our behalf.” ― Yvon Chouinard, Founder, Patagonia
The average American throws away almost 10 pounds of clothing each year. But there are many ways you can keep clothing out of landfills like swapping, buying used, repairing, or upcycling.
Upload a PDF document with your responses. Please include your name (or team name), username, email address, and school.
Submission Guidelines
Does your favorite shirt have a label that says, “made with 100% pesticide-sprayed cotton, chemical dyes, and/or sweatshop labor?” Doubtful! How can consumers really know what goes into making that favorite t-shirt? Knowledge is power, so we want you to be curious!
Upload a PDF document with your responses. Include a screenshot of your social media post. Please include your name (or team name), username, email address, and school.
Submission Guidelines
Film is a powerful tool for getting information in the public debate – and one documentary, The True Cost, allows its audience to truly grasp the fashion industry’s toll on people and the planet.
Deliverables
Upload a PDF document with your responses. Please include your name (or team name), username, email address, and school.
Submission Guidelines
Everyone:
Hae Now Organic Cotton T-Shirt
Onno Hemp T-Shirt
Fluf Zip Pouch
Moso Natural Moso Bag for Shoes
Girls:
Boody Eco Wear Organic Cotton Hipster Bikini
Boody Eco Wear Organic Cotton Shaper Bra
Raw Elements Tinted Facial Moisturizer
Zuii Lip Tint
Boys:
Boody Eco Wear Organic Cotton Boxer Briefs
Tin Lid Hat Company Organic Cotton Recycled Hat
Badger Balm Organic Sunscreen
Everyone:
Harvest + Mill Organic Cotton T-Shirt
Farm Fresh Clothing Organic Cotton T-Shirt
Datsusara Hemp Tote Bag
Acure Blue Tansy Oil
Flip Flops
Girls:
Boody Eco Wear Organic Cotton Leggings
Vapour Beauty Eye Color
Vapour Beauty Foundation
Boys:
Tin Lid Hat Company Organic Cotton Recycled Hat
Datsusara Hemp Wallet
Tame the Beast Beard Oil
English
Arabic
Bengali
Chinese (Simplified)
French
Spanish