I've heard that water's wasted when clothes are made - but how?
Only 3% of water is fresh water.
And it seems we're using so much of it on the wrong things
that we're preventing its use where it's most needed.
I'm Grace, and I love fashion.
I'm finding out about sustainable fashion
and how I can be a more responsible shopper.
I need to find out how much water is used to make my clothes,
so I'm going to the local pool to find Keith -
an expert who works to improve resource efficiency.
He should be able to tell me more
about wasted being wasted in clothing production
How much water is being wasted in the fashion industry?
As the amount of water that's used in the fashion industry is huge
So, for the clothes we buy in one year in the UK,
we're talking around 5.5 billion cubic metres of water.
And how much water is wasted in a typical outfit?
A pair of jeans and a T-shirt,
then that'll be between 20-40,000 litres of water, depending where
in the world those are made.
So, to put that in context, there's enough water in this swimming pool
to make about 40 pairs of jeans.
That's not many pairs of jeans, is it? Not many pairs of jeans at all.
And this is just one swimming pool.
So, the water demand around the world is phenomenal.
Why? Why are we wasting this much water?
It's the demand from the fibres that we're choosing.
Cotton is one of the thirstiest crops that we produce on this planet.
And then the pollution that's being caused
to the fresh water after that.
Meeting Keith was really helpful.
He basically told me that jeans use a lot of water -
which is worrying, because I'm pretty sure that everyone
has a pair of jeans in their wardrobe, if not multiple.
I'm starting to think that maybe we should just stop
wearing jeans altogether.
I'm going to go meet with denim expert Mohsin to find out more.
So, there's lots of chemicals that are used on jeans?
There's a lot of horrible chemicals.
And actually, indigo itself - this is, like, chemical indigo -
is made with chemicals which are super-super-poisonous.
You know, these are, like... These are chemicals that come from oil
and chemicals that you put in rat poison.
Yeah, cos my worry is, when I wash my jeans and they've got chemicals,
that then that's just going into the water
and then that's just causing more of an impact on the environment.
Not many people wear raw jeans, or jeans that are, like, dark colours.
They most of the time will buy a pair that's already been washed in,
it's already quite soft.
So there have been chemicals put on that to make it more softer.
You know, there's places in the Far East where the water table is
literally, crazily gone - you know, they can't even grow food now.
It's quite scary.
Yeah.
Have you seen sustainable solutions?
Yeah, there's loads of sustainable solutions - like, organic cotton
is one of them, but there's lots more advances now.
People are coming up with other types of fibres
to mix with the cotton.
They're actually slightly better solutions, cos you're not
using as much cotton.
So, the future, really, is not using cotton at all.
Not using any cotton? Yeah, I believe so.
Obviously, cotton is always going to be there.
In your heart? Yeah, I love cotton.
Yeah. But the thing is, we know now
that the amount of energy it uses up,
the amount of water it uses up, it's not actually good.
And because of fast fashion,
more and more mills are opening up,
and more and more people are growing cotton.
It's not good for the environment.
So, there has to be a stop somewhere.
It's safe to say that I've never seen so many pairs of jeans.
Mohsin mentioned some alternatives, so I'm on my way to meet Tom,
who's creating jeans in a circular way.
I want to see what that means.
So I'm heading to Belgium.
Hi. I'm Grace, hello. Hi. Nice to meet you.
So, we know that cotton is pretty bad for the environment.
Yeah
What should jeans be made out of instead of cotton?
Well, so that was the main idea behind what we are doing is why not
make use of the cotton that's already out there
and re-use that cotton?
So, this is what the jeans look like... OK.
..after you put it in the shredder.
So, this is the cotton again. Which feels super-soft. Yeah.
We then mix these fibres with new fibres,
because when you recycle cotton fibres
the fibres get a bit shorter, so you do add new fibres
to get the required quality again.
And therefore, out of circular design principles, we wanted to
mix it with renewable materials, also biological materials.
So, we chose to use Tencel, and it's made from wood pulp.
So... Wood pulp? Yeah, trees.
This yarn is made in Belgium out of 50% recycled old jeans
and 50% Tencel.
So, that way we've taken out the hazardous chemicals,
and we managed to create a new denim fabric,
which is also a healthy fabric.
And then, at the end of the day, when it's completely worn out
or doesn't fit any more, we want consumers to send back the jeans.
And it's... You know that it's all recyclable, so it makes it
easier for you to repurpose your own jeans? Exactly.
We just put it into recycling loop and make it back into the fibres.
then back into the yarn and start all over again
Our pair of jeans uses 6,000 litres of water less,
compared to regular jeans. OK.
So I've just come back from Belgium, and I absolutely loved how
passionate Tom was about his jeans.
I honestly didn't even know circular design was possible
when it came to fashion.
Now what I really want to do is talk to someone who owns multiple pairs
of jeans...
Like my sister.
How many pairs of denim jeans do you own, Amelia?
Like...I own two jackets and five pairs of jeans.
But I didn't know denim was bad.
So, denim wastes a lot of water?
Yeah, a lot of water.
Also, when you wash your jeans, you're wasting a lot of water.
Do you wash them a lot as well? Yeah, cos they go baggy.
And that's because they're bad quality.
Oh. Yeah.
I guess we just need to wash our clothes less. Yeah.
We need to buy less denim. Yeah.
We need to maybe look at buying alternatives, but...
..they are expensive. Yeah.
And if we are going to buy an item of denim jeans,
we need to make sure that they last longer... Good quality.
Yeah, good quality.
And we love them. Yeah. I've learned a lot.
You and me both. I feel bad now.
No, but I think we all need to learn about this. That's true.
Good to have the discussion. Definitely.