Talk:Environmental impact of fashion

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Fashion Top‑importance

	Fashion portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Fashion, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Fashion on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.FashionWikipedia:WikiProject FashionTemplate:WikiProject Fashionfashion
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The following references may be useful when improving this article in the future:

Niinimäki, Kirsi; Peters, Greg; Dahlbo, Helena; Perry, Patsy; Rissanen, Timo; Gwilt, Alison (April 2020). "The environmental price of fast fashion" (PDF). Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. 1 (4): 189–200. doi:10.1038/s43017-020-0039-9. ISSN 2662-138X. Archived from the original on 5 April 2024.
"Fast fashion: How clothes are linked to climate change". BBC News. 2022-06-10. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
Wang, Evelyn (22 June 2022). "How Fast Fashion Became Faster — and Worse for the Earth". The New York Times.

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Wiki Education assignment: ENVS 135

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 25 January 2022 and 12 May 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Emilygabrielle (article contribs).

Wiki Education assignment: Conservation Biology

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 21 August 2023 and 1 December 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Catbear7776 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Barred.owl.24.

— Assignment last updated by Otter246 (talk) 22:12, 16 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Need clarification for following wordings

"Further, about two thirds of synthetic fibers from clothing production will be found in the ocean from 2015 to 2050." I couldn't get a look at the contents of ciation, but I strongly doubt it. It looks to me that during this period (between 2015 to 2050), 2 thirds of the clothing will use synthietic fibers for production, and part of it will end up in the oceans by shedding microfibers. Can anyone help clarify? Thanks. ThomasYehYeh (talk) 12:37, 4 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with ThomasYehYeh's interpretation and disputing of the sentence as written. I removed it altogether, as it's pretty odd to have anything close to such a definite statement about nearly 30 years in the future. DMacks (talk) 18:03, 4 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Equitable Futures - Internet Cultures and Open Access

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 22 January 2024 and 10 May 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Lani Heiser (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Elliesamide.

— Assignment last updated by Elliesamide (talk) 18:59, 18 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: English 111 First-Semester College Composition

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 25 August 2024 and 14 December 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): SnarkySquirrel44 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: POUSHOO, Rrriley.

— Assignment last updated by Rrriley (talk) 04:30, 24 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

English 111 First-Semester College Composition

Optional Activity -

Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?

I noticed while reviewing the article that the very first citation is a biased source. Alden Wicker is a journalist and sustainable fashion expert who has created a brand around promoting alternatives for fast fashion or "toxic fashion". She has written the book 'To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick – and How We Can Fight Back'. While I agree with her position on this subject, I feel that a neutral source will hold more credibility, especially in the introduction of the article. SnarkySquirrel44 (talk) 22:32, 21 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 7 January 2025 and 8 May 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Caprisun5735323!! (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Caprisun5735323!! (talk) 06:47, 13 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Writing 340 - Advanced Writing for Arts and Humanities

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 13 January 2025 and 2 May 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Undercover Shadow (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Peoniesandtulips, Aceofspades04.

— Assignment last updated by LKgrenk (talk) 17:16, 28 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Greenhouse gas emissions

Hello @Undercover Shadow

I am glad you did not change the percentages (despite the Economist article at https://www.economist.com/business/2025/02/27/the-business-of-second-hand-clothing-is-booming which repeats the long ago debunked 10%), but please could you explain why you changed the sentence which used to read:

It emits 2% to 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.^[1]^[2]^[3] Chidgk1 (talk) 16:47, 2 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, thanks for your time! I moved the statement “2% to 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions” to the beginning of the introduction to make the organization and the context clearer. This change allows to better link the current impact with the future risks in a more coherent order. Also, I elaborated on how fashion is responsible for emissions (for example, energy-intensive production, deforestation, transportation) to make the section more informative. I would love to hear your thoughts! Feedback is welcome if there are any further changes you would like to see.

Sincerely

Undercover Shadow Undercover Shadow (talk) 18:22, 2 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that coherence is important for readability - I only wrote a very tiny part of this article - my writing often lacks flow.

In the lead we have to stick to the most important things and leave the details for the body of the article. For example I am not an expert but I doubt transportation is a significant part of fashion GHG emissions so suggest that be removed from the lead, unless you know better.

Re citations some articles have citations in the lead whereas others rely on cites in the body of the article. In this case as there is a lot of misinformation about the % GHG I am going to put back the cite which was there before as I could not find the % in the current cite. Chidgk1 (talk) 06:55, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Peters, Greg; Li, Mengyu; Lenzen, Manfred (2021-05-01). "The need to decelerate fast fashion in a hot climate - A global sustainability perspective on the garment industry". Journal of Cleaner Production. 295: 126390. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126390. ISSN 0959-6526.
^ Glover, Simon (2020-08-27). "Fashion emissions to 'double Paris limit by 2030'". Ecotextile News. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
^ "ROADMAP TO NET ZERO: DELIVERING SCIENCE-BASED TARGETS IN THE APPAREL SECTOR" (PDF).

Wiki Education assignment: ENGW3303 Adv. Writing for the Environmental Professions

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 7 January 2025 and 15 April 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Universitystudent13 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Universitystudent13 (talk) 18:49, 14 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello @Universitystudent13 I don’t have access to https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-70262-4_5 but perhaps you do and might find it useful Chidgk1 (talk) 06:19, 16 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I do have access and will take a look. Thank you. Universitystudent13 (talk) 18:35, 18 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @Chidgk1,

I have taken a look at that source and it estimates that 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are from the fashion industry, which contradicts the current stat in the wikipedia page that estimates 2-4%. According to my other research, the UN estimates 10% as well, but the UNECE only estimates 2-8%. I think it would be wise to change the article to say anywhere between 2-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, due to differing methodologies and data collection of various sources. Universitystudent13 (talk) 18:47, 21 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I plan to go through the article to fix minor spelling and grammar errors, as well as reorganize the sections to follow a more intuitive order--ideally chronological with the environmental impacts of each step of the fashion production cycle, with solutions at the end. I also plan to expand the solutions ("sustainability efforts") section. I have updated some some statistics to ensure they are the most up to date available. I wonder if the Eutrophication section is relevant to this article. Universitystudent13 (talk) 18:34, 18 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I am not an expert but you may be right as the only cite for that section does not contain the word “cotton” Chidgk1 (talk) 19:44, 18 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, based on all my research there are a multitude of environmental issues directly associated with the fashion industry, and eutrophication is not one of them. Sure it is an environmental issue, but not necessarily relevant to this article. I think it would be worthwhile to remove it. Universitystudent13 (talk) 18:50, 21 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Landscape Restoration

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 22 January 2025 and 9 May 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Supersawa (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Supersawa (talk) 03:08, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted eutrophication section

I deleted it following discussion above:

Eutrophication

Clothing often contains non-organic, excessively farmed cotton which is grown with chemicals that are known to cause eutrophication. Eutrophication is a process in which fresh water sources such as lakes and rivers become overly enriched with nutrients. This causes a dense growth of plant life that is harmful to the ecosystem, such as algae blooms. Algal blooms deplete levels of oxygen in water as they decompose, resulting in changes to the ecosystem, either through the die-off of aquatic creatures or populations moving as water becomes uninhabitable. Algal blooms can also make bodies of water unsuitable for both human consumption and recreation.^[1] Two of the main ingredients in pesticides are nitrates and phosphates, and when pesticides leak into stream systems surrounding the cropland via runoff, the nitrates and phosphates contribute to water eutrophication. Chidgk1 (talk) 08:58, 22 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

^ Glibert, Patricia; Seitzinger, Sybil; Heil, Cynthia; Burkholder, JoAnn; Parrow, Matthew; Codispoti, Louis; Kelly, Vince (1 June 2005). "The Role of Eutrophication in the Global Proliferation of Harmful Algal Blooms". Oceanography. 18 (2): 198–209. Bibcode:2005Ocgpy..18b.198G. doi:10.5670/oceanog.2005.54.

[1] Peters, Greg; Li, Mengyu; Lenzen, Manfred (2021-05-01). "The need to decelerate fast fashion in a hot climate - A global sustainability perspective on the garment industry". Journal of Cleaner Production. 295: 126390. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126390. ISSN 0959-6526.

[2] Glover, Simon (2020-08-27). "Fashion emissions to 'double Paris limit by 2030'". Ecotextile News. Retrieved 2025-01-03.

[3] "ROADMAP TO NET ZERO: DELIVERING SCIENCE-BASED TARGETS IN THE APPAREL SECTOR" (PDF).

[4] Glibert, Patricia; Seitzinger, Sybil; Heil, Cynthia; Burkholder, JoAnn; Parrow, Matthew; Codispoti, Louis; Kelly, Vince (1 June 2005). "The Role of Eutrophication in the Global Proliferation of Harmful Algal Blooms". Oceanography. 18 (2): 198–209. Bibcode:2005Ocgpy..18b.198G. doi:10.5670/oceanog.2005.54.

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