The London Science Museum is running a fascinating exhibition called Trash Fashion: Designing Out Waste. With inexpensive labor to produce clothing, apparel prices have dropped and according to the London Museum's Science News, we're spending a third more on clothing than we did a decade ago.
When you add in that fashion trends come and go with the drop of a hat, an incredible amount of waste is created. Here are a few bits of info according to the London Science Museum News site:
- More than a million tons of textiles end up in landfills each year
- The average household contributes 26 items of wearable clothing to landfills each year
- Fashion designers scrap 15% of fabric during the design process
- Dying of fabrics account for 17-20% of worldwide water pollution
Dr. Richard Blackburn, Coloration Expert
- Technologists use nanotechnology to develop a material called Morphotex. One textile company employes ultra-thin and alternating layers of polyester and nylon to create a multitude of colors. This eliminates the use of dyes.
- Making coloring part of the creation process of synthetic fabrics helps to reduce waste, explains Richard Blackburn, an expert in coloration technology from the University of Leeds and a company called DyeCat.
- Creation of eco-friendly enzymes during material processing and in wool to make it softer, more environmentally friendly, and shrink less.
- Using corn to develop polymers that help create a designer dress.
- Use of 3-D body scans to create clothing tailored to your exact measurements can reduce waste and look better on you. The Guardian put together a video explaining this technology: