Exposing the secrets of sustainable fashion (Marketplace)
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- čas přidán 26. 10. 2023
- Sustainability is selling, with some of fashion’s biggest brands claiming their shoes and clothes are eco-friendly and better for the planet. But have companies like Nike, Gap, Lululemon and H&M gone far enough? CBC Marketplace exposes the fashion industry’s problem with polyester and its reliance on fossil fuel-derived synthetics.
Read more: bit.ly/45Uzehj
02:11 - Spotting greenwashing claims
06:05 - Is recycled polyester sustainable?
08:58 - Challenges with textile recycling
12:06 - Green claims broken down (Nike)
16:38 - Companies respond
18:04 - Turning food into fabric
19:38 - Tips for consumers
#Sustainability #Environment #CBCMarketplace
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For more than 80 years, CBC News has been the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians.
EXPOSING THE SECRETS OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION
producer/director
STEPHANIE MATTEIS
reporter
CHARLSIE AGRO
editors
JAN SILVERTHORNE
FARHAN AHMAD
additional editing
AARON TAYLOR
camera
NORM ARNOLD
DAVID MACINTOSH
JOHN LESAVAGE
additional research
KATIE SWYERS
CAITLIN TAYLOR
audio
IGAL PETEL
additional footage
APPAREL INSIDER
BOF
H&M
GOV.UK
LULULEMON
NIKE
THE CUT
THE GAP
THE GUARDIAN
VANITY FAIR
ZARA
art director
DAVID ABRAHAMS
media management
ASTORIA LUZZI
social media producer
AMARA MCLAUGHLIN
colour correction
KYLE J. SMITH
sound mix
DANY TREMBLAY
project manager
VICTOR KERR
resource coordinators
MARC CORMIER
SAM NAR
MEGAN BEECKMANS
news rollout producer
JENNY COWLEY
packaging editor
BENNY KOSHY
packaging producer
LINDA SIBONY
promo producer
GREG SADLER
senior producer
TIFFANY FOXCROFT
executive producer
NELISHA VELLANI
FIRST BROADCAST October 27, 2023
My suggestion is to buy quality clothes (and that includes how good the stitching is) and reduce the amount you purchase. You don't need 100 pieces of clothing and 25 pairs of shoes.
And also to buy a cheap sewing machine and learn how to mend your clothes. It's really easy!
100% agree with the statement at the end. Think of cost per wear rather than cost. I have at most 5 pairs of jeans/slacks/pants, 6 dress shirts. and a few hoodies. More than enough combination from those clothes that range from everyday wear to work wear. Having pretty neutral colours definitely helps too!
This will never end. Companies need to stop caring so much about the dollar, stop selling the need to buy the "next best thing", which will never happen.
When I grew up last mid century, everything was recycled. You got hand me downs. When clothing got too worn, it was made into rags. My mother made our clothing, and the remnants were made into quilt covers.
Now, even rags are bought, when previously rags were raggety clothing.
I haunt second hand stores and gently used stores. Only thing I buy new (and wear until it dies) is underwear/socks. I have made a very personal style out of used clothing that is 'me' and not mass produced "fashion".
Haunt them, you say? You really must be there often in order to do that.
Same!
I do the same. Other than my underwear I buy exclusively from thrift and consignment stores. I select cotton fabrics whenever possible. Most of my clothing has 3 stages of wear, public, around the house/farm for chores and then as rags for cleaning. Sometimes an item I buy ends up not being worn. That item is washed, mended (if necessary) and donated back to a thrift store.
I even get second-hand underwear and socks from the local church thrift shop. What the heck, they've been washed. The only problem is that most knickers these days are huge . . . .
@@sarahsnowe The real sooth (about humongous sizes 🐘🦣).🤔🙄😦XXXXXXXXXXXXXXL🤣
The video title would better read "When fast fashion lies about sustainability."
There are sustainable options available but a person will not find them in fast fashion retailers and shopping malls.
No expert here... but I think it would really help if we just stick to our favourite clothes instead of buyin new ones we never wear anyway. Like find your favourite clothes. Clothes u know u will wear for sure cuz u enjoy it. Clothes that have the quality to last. Make sure u got like 3 outfits (3 pants, 3 shirts etc). Then only try buy new clothes once every 3-4 years if possible.
Saves money and u will be happier with yourself too. At least that is my experience... and not sure how sustainable it is. But i think it would really help using a mindset like they had back in the days. Most of the time we buy new stuffs we dont need out of frustration or in order to distract ourselves. So just buy what u need:) Thanks for uploading!
The simplest and best option is second hand :) and circular fashion. No greenwashing!
The focus on recycling is the biggest ruse of all of them. The mantra is "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", in that order. This video closes with the most important statement of all: We need to purchase radically less clothing than has become the new normal. Plastics related industries keep focusing attention on recycling as the solution, and it isn't. Fast fashion companies are not going to come out and say: "We need to sell half as many things and make them with the highest quality and environmental standards possible instead of churning out ever more stuff." "Consumers" #1 priority should be consuming less rather than trying to assuage guilt by accepting vague environmental statements.
Fast Fashion really needs to go. I've been working on a capsule wardrobe for the past decade and only buy something maybe once or twice a year to refresh my clothing combinations. We need to stop focusing on "chasing trends" and start curating a more "timeless" approach.
We need quality stuff like before
Shop less and 2nd hand when you possible. The "need for something new" or "trendy" is a consumer mental issue.
The responsibility is on the consumers.
Should not solely be on the consumer no
The environment is everyone’s responsibility
@@rainorshine7816 Of course. Industries are more harmful than households. But industries are fueled (pan not intended) by demand.
I agree but consumers need to be able to find reliable information and that is something we are not getting. Too many vested interests keep us in the dark.
Thirft stores have gone from a curiosity to about 75% of my purchases. On top of it, I am trying to reduce my purchase of artificial materials like polyester and acrylic that is made out of oil to a minimum.
Did you ever see the BP commercials about carbon footprints? Pushing the responsibility on to disorganized, apathetic and often optionless consumers was deliberate.
Meh if i buy new clothes i dont look at the tags for recycle i look for 100% cotton since it last longer
Cotton uses 6% of the world's pesticides and 16% of all insecticides-which is more than any other crop. These are harmful to the soil, release greenhouse gases, and pollute drinking water. Some of their chemicals can actually stay in soil and water for years, infiltrating our ecosystems and food chain. The simplest and best option is second hand :) and circular fashion.
If you can, investigate hemp and flax (used to make linen). Cotton requires a ton of water to cultivate and process (and unless you arw getting organic, often requires heavy pesticide / fertilizer use), whereas hemp and linen require much less water to grow.
Cotton is good but linien and hemp are even better. They have anti-bacterial and odour resistant properties. They are durable, capture moisture and dry quickly. And it is a more eco material
Unfortunately it’s chemical treated. Look for organic cotton.
Repairability and well made long lasting clothes are the answer I think. Also buying used clothes
The question I have is, are these fabrics healthy for people to wear? We are discouraged from using food in plastic because it can disrupt hormones. Can recycled plastic disrupt hormones when we are wearing them next to our skin all day?
It can. And the most eco materials are hemp and flax. They are anti-bacterial, odour resistant, durable, quite elastic, they regulate moisture well and don't wrinkle as much as cotton. And flax seed is a food that heals. Industrial hemp is used to make medicine too. Flax and hemp are the future.
I cannot wear polyester- as I have health problems. You can not sweat as naturally in polyester
Wait until you find out about all the pfas on all the clothing!
@@funnyberries4017 it's crazy!
The retailers should set up a bin in the store to place the end of life clothing from their brand, then measure what the retailers do with it.
It's all just marketing, H&M already greenwash using this program lol
There are tons of organically derived materials like cotton, hemp, peels of coconut, avocados, bamboos, silk from insects, and even inorganic materials like basalt from volcanic rocks or carbon fiber.
The issue is that many of those brands and companies manufacture goods overseas at low cost and "plastic" is the cheapest and most abundant material. Polyester is transformative and has advances societies in such a short period.
I used to “upcycle” felted wool sweaters into children’s clothing and some household items like tea cozies and blankets. It was creative and fun but very difficult to make a living because of how long it took to recreate new garments and then sell them. It did reduce the amount of textile waste on the environment significantly. Companies like Pre-loved were doing it too. I still do things like unravel and reuse byarn to knit into new things. If someone could find a way to scale up on these processes that would be amazing.
It's because environmentalism and capitalism are incompatible.
I don't like wearing sustainable recycled clothing. Unless it's Cotton. I have one piece that's recycled polyester and it doesn't wash well. And how many times can they recycle it before it totally breaks down?
I disagree… the problem is people aren’t creative enough to make things that are environmentally friendly mainstream to the masses, where capitalists can throw their money into. Instead of innovating and making green options affordable for the masses, current policies punishes traditional energy sources. This is not how you change behaviour, rather this will upset people and vote these politicians out of office. T
@very_awake Yeah but that would involve long-term research with no promise of outcome. No member of the owning class is going to do that. They're just going to market their products as sustainable.
@@lordflick895 who said it’s going to be easy? This is a process. If the government has some semblance of logic left, they would heavily invest in Research and Development in our Universities and take fundings away from wars and “safe” drug supplies. As a nation, we need to seriously start thinking about what matters the most as opposed to dwelling into the US vs THEM. We are all Canadians for gods sake.
@@very_awakeMaybe. There are ethical brands that make ZQ certificied clothes (no cruelty towards sheep, regenerative farming, carbon negative) SmartWool and Allbirds but still Nike is more considered more trendy despite it being involved in human trafficking
this is peak canadian journalism! love this show so much
Many of my clothes are 100% recycle material. They are my mom's that were altered for me. If we wait long enough, many of old styles come back in style after all
Polyester and all its different renames are horrible materials.
Synthetics aren't breathy and are perfect place for non-oxygen breathing bacteria. Better try cotton or even better flax or hemp (they are odour resistant and anti-bacterial) leave plastic for slobs
In reality, most people don't even know what they really like to wear. They just buy wtvr is new, then realize they don't like it and never wear it again. Find what you like, keep that, buy more of that only when you need and buy some good quality stuff, which you'll not feel bad about, because you will wear it many times and it will pay off. Better for your pocket and will force fast fashion to review the huge volumes they operate in. It's simple, but not easy, and most of us don't want to put in the work. Those "recyclable waste" gimmicks are just not needed if we simply buy things that we love and that will last.
If people would not "clean out" their closets each year due to their "fashion sense", there would be less of this problem.
You should do a story on 'reuseable grocery bags' I use to reuse the plastic ones a lot more then the fabric ones and i just threw out like 100 of them... I'm sure I'm not the only one
Same here, they become too much now
So basically recycling bottles is just preparing for the landfill when turned into clothing
Exactly! Worse for the environment
Yes, and it doesn't matter whether those plastic bottles get recycled into new bottles or new clothing--the truth is that plastic is not infinitely recyclable, like glass is. It breaks down every time you try to recycle it.
Great comment
or we can all stop worrying about “fashion” and just wear what we have
So good to see so many people talking about this issue. It is a main contributor to climate change using so much energy (fossil fuels) and chemicals that go into our oceans on a permanent basis. It's also good to see The Earthshot Prize innovators from around the world working to breakdown plastics used in making clothes as well as creating new ways of dyeing fabrics, as only two of the many examples of what people are doing. It's well worth exploring The Earthshot Prize. I only wish more Canadians were innovators. Perhaps we are but we never see that covered in our mainstream media!
I try to only buy natural fibres and higher quality garments.
I mostly wear fast fashion but my clothes last years
Look for products that have more natural fibres than synthetic. Yes, they will be more expensive but they will last you a lot longer. Polyester sweaters look amazing in the store but after a few washes you'll want a new one.
Excellent I’m going to forward this. Thank you for posting it.
To me, recycling means to pass the garments on to donate or sell to thrift stores. If (and I do) buy second hand clothes, wear them for a few years, then donate to either one needy person who can pass them on to their families/friends and also sell or donate to thrift stores, to me that is the best way to recycling. Same with the plastic bags I get at the grocery stores.........I use each one once again as garbage bags. To me that works out well.
There was an advertisement in 2020, that had a poll about,fishing garbage from oceans and turning them into runners. Two companies are
Under Armour and Nike. The foot part is old cleaned up fish net.
Sharen
Go to your local thrift store and buy those $10 vintage jeans. The beauty of capitalism is you can vote with your money.
Agree
People who buy a full wardrobe every year are the real problem.
(8:54) my house can also be seen from space if you zoom in like you did here. This is not an impressive statistic - but there’s a lot of good info in this report.
I chuckled at that part too. It’s all visible from space if you zoom in enough. lol
I’m 31 and I still wear some clothes I owned from high school, they have multiple small holes but they clothes me and provide protection from the elements. That is the primary purpose of clothes. Any garment you buy that isn’t 2nd hand is not environmentally friendly period. New clothes are not a necessity ( anyone can buy used clothes instead). New clothes should have a heavy carbon tax. On the other hand, electric cars are only fesable for the rich atm, and I find the carbon tax on gas to be appalling as for many lower working class people, gas is a necessity not a commodity.
I am the smallest member of my clan,and I received a lot of hand me downs. Canadians got rid of all
our old discount stores that sold everything from boots to groceries.
Sewing should be taught in schools again. I had socks that had too much thread in them and our workshop made sensory toys,for some of our people then they were used as bean bags for games.
Sharen
I only buy natural fibres (which is itself a problem) whether new or old - but what do I do with it when it is no longer wearable? I cannot find any place to take it when it is time to recycle.
Time to get back to hemp
My question is, what happens to the plastic fabric clothing made from food waste? Oil is natural too, it’s from out of the ground, but the more we process it the more damage it seems to be able to do. Is it the same with the “natural” plastic?
Definitely repair clothes. Buy second hand and try to use wool. At least wool is natural and recyclable.
wait gluten free could also mean they were made in a gluten free environment. If someone has an issue with gluten, anything touching gluten, say in the same processing facility, they'll get have an issue with the broccoli.
I've noticed that it doesn't seem to matter where I buy my clothes from or what I spend whether from Temu, Wal-Mart, Old Navy, Torrid, Killstar, etc nearly everything is made of rayon and if by chance it is something like cotton it's certainly not preshrunk. I have even looked into more expensive retailers who want $120 for a basic dress and even that is made of rayon. Rayon is garbage. You are not supposed to get it wet, put it in the dryer, or even have it dry cleaned. It is an extremely cheap "natural" material that is used buy nearly every affordable and even more expensive brands but is a huge marker of non-sustainable clothing. How long can you keep a piece of clothing if you can't wash it? That goes for the clothing that hasn't been preshrunk as well. I bought a cotton shirt a few years ago, washed it by hand and hung it to dry and it still shrunk by 2 sizes. And it shouldn't cost $300 to get a basic cotton/linen dress. At least polyester can be washed and worn for decades, my grandparents did it.
Is Patagonia not sold in Canada? I’m curious how they stand up to all the other foreign-made domestic brands, including Canada’s own Canada Goose.
I have a solution that would help this situation of recycling plastic clothing....get a hold of me marketplace.... it's a partial fix that would keep customers returning and buying more...and be more green than ever.
How about shredding pieces of clothes,sanitize them without adding extra chemicals, and use them as home insulation??? I’m sure they can improve and control temperature in the homes…just a thought!
I have never seen so much clothing waste as these closet clean outs on You Tube. I was not raised this way. Why do folks need all of these packed closet? All of these clothes with tags still on them in closets. Wonder if it has always been this way?
I wonder how sustainable companies such as Reformation who have made their name off of sustainability would compare? Hopefully much better given the price tag…
100% recycled polyester is a huge advancement in the textile industry. Polyester now has a closed loop recycling model, something that no other textile has. Any partially recycled cotton needs plastic to become a one use textile. We have a massive technology gap. Talk to a textile recycled or fiber processor for a better understanding.
You can buy all the clothes you want, but don't make it someone else's, or the environment's, problem. If it's damaged, repair it. If you're bored with it or it's beyond repair, repurpose it.
Time was, most people had a few items of everyday wear and one "good" dress or suit. French women still tend to have a small basic wardrobe which they accessorize. Regarding recycled polyester and other artificial fibres, they still shed particles that the washing machine pumps out, and they don't break down for anything up to 200 years. Try to get a filter. Of course, if people hadn't been indoctrinated into guzzling junk and even water from plastic bottles in the first place, there wouldn't be so many to turn into dodgy clothing. Oh, and you know that "lint" in your dryer? That's your clothes. If you hang stuff on a clothesline or a rack, you'll get a lot more use out of it.
Most plastic isn't recycled anyways so a jacket made out of it is better than that made out of virgin plastic
Fast fashion and cheap clothing from outside of the US is killing us! People want cheap stuff! Wearing all of that synthetic clothing, hot, snags, fades, etc. it is so much cheaper than cotton.
But also makes you stink and your skin developes pimples. Cotton is more hygenic. And flax and hemp is even more.
Some retailers do have a drop off box located in their stores. But for retailers that don't does anyone know where to drop off clothes that are torn, zipper broken not wearable any more, Thank you?
Some thrift shops will accept torn clothing to turn into rags etc. Most of what is returned to store ends up in landfill. Better to repair or repurpose to get the most life out of clothes and minimize the amount of clothing you buy.
A) An oversight is what percentage of bottles are recycled back into circulation to be used as bottles. If it’s more environmentally friendly to convert it to clothes then that is fine.
B) polyester is a byproduct of natural gas, so I don’t see a problem in using “gas base material” for clothes
C)what I do have problems is that companies can just say they are environmentally friendly by a low percentage of it actually being environmentally friendly. It’s as if the term environmentally friendly is just a buzz word.
Polyester = Plastic =
Recycled Polyester = Plastic= garbage waste
Still going to large landfills
Try organic cotton
Textile companies need to transition to organic cotton products
Phasing out Plastic Polyester
Phasing out fast fashion for fashion that lasts
Quality over quantity
😅 lol 20:35 why do nova scotia that way?
I want to know how Internet its destroying earth too but no one telk about it
The only true green way is to buy less and /or buy second hand
Gee, if only we knew how to make fibre for clothing out of something crazy like wool or cotton plants.
Oh wait.
Here's the thing if it last forever why are we throwing it away. The petroleum products used to make bottles are a waste product from oil refining which is why & how poly is cheap in the first place. Yes I wear poly, I treat It well. And it lasts me years. The easiest way to avoid Waste is to not buy it in the first place. Swapping out to Natural textiles is not the answer either. To purchase products mindfully, not give in to marketting fomo, or social perception, and not make buyers's remorse someone else's problem, are lasting solutions every one can do right now, regardless of what their clothes are fabricated from.
What about brands like frank and oak ?
The carbon emissions and fossil fuel consumption of fast fashion is the same or more than driving a gas guzzling 8 cylinder SUV 24/7...
Great show as always. However I’m sorry that you did not mention that LuluLemon is using coal burning manufacturing and very likely cheap labour.
I knew they all ly. The solution is becoming a minimalist.
More! More!
You are TERRIFIC!
Bravo to YOU! ....George!....Western University teacher....Ms Greer....!
for doing the video and opening our EYES!
....until we wear clothes made from....FOOD ;) is it not " NOT buying (or little); buy great quality (for lonnnng term wear) " and/or exchanging with friends/family members ; going to second hand stores?
....we NEED to do something NOW!!??
Again and again...thank you! thank you!
I will share your video with hundreds of students in high school!!! B.R.A.V.O!!
helene (Quebec, Canada)
No Patagonia?
I wish there better tips for consumers...
Recycled or not I will never ever buy or wear polyester ever again !!!
You only reviewed fast fashion brands that use greenwashing marketing strategies. How is that exposing the secrets of sustainable fashion?
Ends up inland fills because it cost the consumers too much money to buy the products.
Привет крутые видео
I wonder what H&M do with the clothes they collect for clothing recycling? If they still do it...
They dump it in countries too where officials are too corrupted to prevent wealthy countries from sending their trash, countries like Chile, Ghana, and Ukraine.
After people watch this episode, they will forget everything and still support these big fashion companies and nothing will change.
One of the biggest problems is that we don't have options in our stores. I refuse to buy the "cheap" goods available but sourcing sustainable options is challenging.
@@JBaxter-pi8ojBut online you can buy from ethical brands like Allbirds, Vieja, SmartWool, Rich &Sporty, Robinhood or 10Trees
Im grateful that plastic is being reused but it really shouldnt be made into clothing.
Is there an alternative to polyester? Cotton maybe?
It's tough because cultivating cotton is not easy. Most cotton cultivated uses pesticides and fertilizers, and requires a ton of water. From what I've heard, hemp and flax (flax is used to make linen) require much less water to grow and process, so they may be better alternatives.
Cotton is also bad for the environment because it requires a huge amount of water to make and dyed cotton is often not recyclable.
Agree with others. Options including bamboo viscose and lyocell still involve lots of chemical.
Wool
What can you do as a consumer? Buy second-hand and spend money to get it tailored.
Annoying background tapping. Yeah it ended 0:57
Sickening. I basically buy nothing anymore. I buy the occasional bra. If I need a new dress I borrow from friends. I use the buy nothing group or find stuff on the street or my building basement. Occasionally thrift stores. Corporations have ruined the planet. They’re all evil.
Shop your own closet first. Get creative & reuse clothing. Repair & thrift when possible!
I am truly carbon neutral. I harvest seeds every Fall to plant in Spring (lots of them!); do not buy things (I re-use, upcycle or make it) unless I absolutely need to (like a washing machine); upcycle waste, especially plastic; only take what I know I'll eat or use electricity when needed. So much more! I also use Ecosia for my search engine. Whatever I do use, I give back to the Earth in other ways. You can too 🤜🤛❤
Do you walk everywhere? Only eat what you produce? I seriously doubt it.
Not to mention the PFOA and PFAS that are in the polyester material. Shame.
Reitmans’ ads brag about responsible clothes… 😂
Really? Composted plastic instead of looking at the regulatory differences in places like the Netherlands that remove greenwashing labels and how to implement them in Canada? If systemic change is needed, then why put the onus back on individual consumers without the systemic tools in place? Shoddy reporting.
How come the video has so few likes?
If the u.s makes too many clothes then just donate them to nigeria to be resold
O.o 0 suggestions to thrift/buy old clothes, or buy ones made of organic materials...
Old CBC here. Child icon
Too big to fail. If fast fashion dies so does all the retail districts around the world......sad predicament we gottwn ourselves into
If big will fall small boutiques will emerge. And clothes made in those will be of better quality and more ethically made coz you gotta admit 6 cents per shirt is not a far wage for a garment worker
The secrets of sustainable fashion: It doesn't exist
How about we just stop excessively buying clothing
❤.West=42.5 Inch❤
We should all thrift! It's good for saving money & the planet. Avoid buying new, if possible.
Cotton can be bio-degrade, plastics can be incenerated. Both of these are never going to be fully recycled. It's a fools errand.
We need to make regulations that keep bottles, as bottles and reuse them. Everything you pick up in the grocery store should be packaged in aluminum or cardboard.
You can’t find a shoe growing on a tree, so it’s far from nature
Buy less crap, keep your money, don't listen to brands...
Traducir
.
Careful way older men made you a long time ago. Make it? Try it miss.
Oh cool! First