‘15 days of Economics’

Day 3: It’s just a t-shirt?

2 billion t-shirts are bought and sold around the world annually which makes it one of the most common garments in the world. However, making t-shirts impact the world, most notably environmentally. Every year 22,700,000 tonnes of cotton are produced annually.

The Cycle Of T-Shirt

1. Cotton seeds are sown, irrigated and grown for the cotton bulds they produce. Machines harvest the plants whilst separating the cotton bulbs from the seeds industrialy. Then, the cotton lint is then compressed into 225kg bailes. This typically occurs in the U.S.
2. Cotton bailes are then driven to textile mills that ship them to a spinning facility, typically in China or India. Once they arrive, they are blended, carded, combed, pulled, stretched and twisted in yarn. They are then sent to the mill and a made into thin sheets of fabric.
3. The thin white fabric is then dripped in commercial bleach and dye.
4. They are then sent to India or Bangladesh where the coloured sheets are stitched together to make intricate designs. Bangladesh is the biggest exporter of cotton t-shirts. they employ 1million people who typically face poor working conditions and low pay.
5. Post manufacture, the t-shirts are driven, shipped or flown around the world to be sold in high income countries. Giving the process an enormous carbon footprint.

The cotton plants require huge amounts of water and pesticides, in fact 2700litres of water are required to produce the average t-shirt. This amount of water is enough to supply 1350 drought affected African children for a day. Cotton uses the most insecticides and pesticides compared to any other farmed crop.

Pesticides can be carcinogenic, they can damage local ecosystems and harm the heath of farmers. Dye are also harmful as they contain lead, chromium and mercury that can cause cancer. They can also cause toxic waste water when released into rivers and oceans. Clothing production accounts for 10% of global carbon emmisions.

Cotton plantations

From 1994-2014, cheaper garments and the publics willingness to buy boosted global production by 400%. In the average American household, does 400 loads of laundry annually giving the phase the most resource intensive for the cotton. This uses 16,000 gallons of water per year. There has been a dramatic shift in clothing consumption over the last 20 years which has been driven by clothing corporations and fast fashion. This ha negatively affected the health of farmers and driven questions about working conditions. This has also made clothing the 2nd most polluting industry in the world.

To solve this problem, 2nd hand clothes can be brought and once they are not needed, they can be sold or used as towels or recycled.

The Cycle of a football

1. A designer draws a football online withe specific patterns, colour scheme and designs.
2. Plastic, Rubber, Cotton and Leather are then collected and exported to Pakistan.
3. In Pakistan, the balls are either stitched by hand, usually by underpaid or workers under the age.
4. Balls are then packeted and distributed around the world.
5. They are then brought around the world to be used to play with.

This cycle also potentially has negative environmental impacts. Plastic is made from crude oil which, when combusted released toxic gases into the atmosphere than can cause coronary heart disease. Cotton is also used and as mentioned before, they use pesticides and insecticides.

Another issue is the working conditions for stitchers or factory workers. Many of them are under the permitted age to work and are forced to work long hours to provide for their families. Furthermore, they work in harsh conditions with low pay.