We all know that we should "think of the environment before printing that email," like the little green frog suggests, but have you ever thought of the environment before buying a new tshirt? This issue doesn't get the column inches that greenhouse gases get, but the fashion industry is a serious environmental offender. Your simple cotton tshirt is just one of millions produced each year, and together they involve the use of huge amounts of pesticides, large volumes of water for irrigation and result in the production of massive amounts of toxic chemicals, which are discharged into the environment. Add to that, the human cost of the textiles industry and this issue gets really disturbing when you consider how the turnaround in trends and garments in fashion industry has accelerated since the industrial revolution, particularly in the past 10 years.
Taking a different tack to my usual reaction to environmental issues (despair, anxiety and denial) , the Better Thinking company decide to create a positive alternative - the Perfect Tshirt Project, with the ultimate aim of developing a tshirt that is as ethically and environmentally sound as possible. After loads of research, the team of finally created the perfect (well, as close as possible) tshirt and they've joined forces with British knitwear company, John Smedley and cotton growers and textile works in Peru to put it into production. The perfect tshirt will be on sale in the Spring 2008 (northern hemisphere).
More information
Luxury Redefined
The Perfect Tshirt Project
Check out their blog for posts from my old flatmate and textiles designer, Clara, who worked on the project.
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