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    Ari Schwartz: Dark Lord of the SnarkDodai Stewart
    7/03/13 6:38pm

    The real solution to the environmental impact to clothing is to buy less stuff but have it be of higher quality. All clothes require processing that will have an impact. By buying fewer articles but having them be of higher quality (and therefore lasting longer), it's much easier to reduce your impact.

    Sadly, the apparel industry is really not interested in that, and they have two price ranges: shitty and cheap, and less shitty and super expensive. Unless you go bespoke, which is pretty much out of anyone's price range.

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      bullshit reservoir is fullAri Schwartz: Dark Lord of the Snark
      7/03/13 6:41pm

      Now this may be because of the extreme lack of variety in my wardrobe and my sedate lifestyle, but I've never really had problems wearing out clothes. Even really cheap ones.

      SHOES yes. The pairs at Target or Walmart or whathaveyou that are < $20 don't last long.

      But clothing doesn't seem to deteriorate for me.

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      Ari Schwartz: Dark Lord of the Snarkbullshit reservoir is full
      7/03/13 6:44pm

      I go through shoes and I kill jeans for some reason. I don't know why, but I always wear through the seat in a couple of years or so. Otherwise, I wear shirts until they start fraying.

      My suits are going on 5+ years. It helps that I don't wear them much anymore. :-D

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    sheara121Dodai Stewart
    7/03/13 6:48pm

    What about an app that rates how labor friendly your clothes are? Were your yoga pants made in a sweatshop in Bangladesh, or a free-trade community of women who have escaped abusive situations and are now able to make a life for themselves in... wherever? Not that the latter is common, but if we knew, perhaps we could help shift the spending, little by little.

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      Ari Schwartz: Dark Lord of the Snarksheara121
      7/03/13 7:27pm

      It's from Nike, so I wouldn't hold your breath there...

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      Kaizykatsheara121
      7/03/13 9:04pm

      That is exactly what I thought. If we're going to worry about the impact on the environment, shouldn't we also worry about the impact on other people?

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    Manon Lescaut is good to goDodai Stewart
    7/03/13 7:18pm

    This isn't going to happen industry-wide any time soon because most companies don't know where their clothing comes from. Sure, they might know the finished goods factories, but those factories subcontract out a lot of the work. Same with the factories supplying raw materials. Tracking down the information of all of the resources that went into a finished product, from farm to textile mill, to factory, to factory, to factory, to store is quite difficult and not something most companies want to invest in.

    For now, you can look out for a few certification programs like BlueSign and learn a little about materials. Conventional cotton is responsible for about 25% of the world's pesticide use so buying organic can make a big difference, but cotton requires a lot of water to grow. Linen and hemp require much less water. Bamboo is touted as an endlessly renewable resource, but the processing it takes to make it a soft fabric is intense and chemical-laden. Polyester is petroleum based, but it is easily recyclable into new fabric: this is great if the company takes back clothing and uses recycled fibers but meaningless otherwise. Wool has many awesome qualities but many companies chemically treat it to make it less itchy, animal cruelty can be an issue, and greenhouse gases produced by the animals (yep, sheep farts). Etc. There's a lot of info out there and it can be overwhelming, but educating ourselves a bit can be helpful. If nothing else it serves as a great reminder that everything we consume has its costs and there's no problem-free product.

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