It’s been forty years since the swinging sixties, when the T-shirt has become a must-have for all summer wardrobes. But today it’s not the old tie-dyed version that has to be considered as both a fashion and a political statement. The modern T-shirt has to be made of organic cotton and generally bears a slogan for a charity or cause. Everybody from H&M to M&S has found room for T-shirts made of environmentally-friendly materials, most of them with slogans like ‘preserve Mother Earth’ or ‘no sweat in my T-shirt’ with a picture of a sweatshop worker underneath.
According to a recent MSNBC report, around 2 billion T-shirts were sold worldwide in 2007 and this year sales will rise again. Choices for organic versions of the classic T-shirt include hemp, bamboo, tencel, soy fabric, modal and organic cotton and while wearing a T-shirt is an obvious way to promote a favourite cause or announce a belief system, it also helps to save the planet. Literacy T-shirt courtesy of Wrote
July 11th, 2008
The supermarket chain has announced that it’s found a new way to deal with that pesky plastic packaging we all complain about – by turning it into clothing that it will sell back to us!
Apparently, in the next twelve months, we can expect to see clothes on their shelves made from recycled plastic that has been thrown away by shops or returned to recycling bins, including: soft drink bottles, fruit and vegetable packaging, and even meat trays. The plastic waste will be made into shirts, T-shirts, trousers and skirts which will then be sold at around 250 large Sainsbury’s stores, at a price comparable to the Tu fashion range that is Sainsbury’s in-house line. The clothes will be manufactured in Europe to save on transport emissions and costs, and in addition, Sainsbury’s has committed to having only Fair Trade cotton clothing in the next two years.
It’s an interesting approach – but several commentators from the sustainability world have already suggested that Sainsbury’s would do better to reduce packaging in the first place, and some consumers have raised their eyebrows at the idea of being asked to pay for clothing made from packaging recycled through Sainsbury’s, as it does seem a bit like paying twice for the same thing!
Recycling bins courtesy of soylentgreen23
February 26th, 2008
