Thanks to the combined effects of pollution, climate change, and ater overuse due to population growth, more than one-third of the world’s population — some 2.4 billion people — lives in water-stressed countries. By 2025, that number is expected to rise to two-thirds. Large parts of Australia, Asia, and Africa already face acute water shortages. In China, India, and Pakistan, where more than one billion people lack adequate supplies of safe drinking water, shrinking snowcaps have reduced river flows and water supplies. The dilemma is hitting close to home, too: in 2009, California water officials warned the state was facing the worst drought in modern history.
Fashion’s role in this worldwide crisis is all too clear. The textile industry is the third largest consumer and polluter of the world’s water. The World Bank estimates that 17 to
20 percent of industrial pollution comes from textile coloring and treatment. It has identified 72 toxic chemicals in our water solely from textile dying, 30 of which can’t be removed despite purification processes.
Here’s why: Traditional dyeing and printing requires gallons of water, chemicals, and large amounts of energy to fuel a multi-step process: high-power jets force dye through water and into fabric, after which the fabric is dried, washed to remove excess dyes, and finally dried again.
Using standard techniques, coloring a single pound of fabric requires anywhere from seven to 75 gallons of water.
But there is an alternative...