FASHION'S
WATER FOOTPRINT
Learn about the unseen impacts of the fashion industry on water pollution, water wastage, and marine ecosystems.
Water Scarcity
The fashion industry requires significant amounts of water, most notably through the cultivation of raw materials. Specifically, the process of growing cotton is extremely water intensive, both through the irrigation needed for growing cotton, and the dying and finishing of this raw material. Data provided by Common Objective states that it takes on average 10,000-20,000 liters of water to cultivate just one kilogram of raw cotton depending on where it is grown.​
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Water Pollution
Although many people are aware of the impacts when a plastic bottle is thrown into the ocean, they often overlook the fact that textiles have equal, if not more detriment to oceans. According to CNN, the annual water pollution of garment wash is the equivalent of leaking 50 billion plastic bottles into the ocean per year.
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The fashion industry’s main forms of pollution include agricultural runoff from cotton fields, the dying process, and these are present throughout all stages in the production process of clothing. Main forms of pollutants include artificial dyes, pesticides and fertilizers for cotton, microplastics, and other toxic chemicals. Pollution from the fashion industry can lead to algal blooms which kill marine ecosystems, or “choke” rivers.
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Other facets of the fashion industry also have detrimental effects on water pollution. For example, clothes washing, a seemingly harmless everyday task, can break synthetic fabric (polyester, etc.) down into microplastics. Microplastics are fragments of plastic that can travel into the ocean and are often consumed by marine animals. Although small in size, the accumulation of microplastics in any marine ecosystem can increase toxins both in marine wildlife and in the water. The repetitive washing of synthetic materials will cause the fabric to release microplastics.
