Arts & Culture

April is Earth Month and a chance to mindfully pause and consider the environment and the impact humanity and we personally have on our planet. Toronto Public Library is honouring this with "Our Fragile Planet" displays in branches, many free programs and booklists of recommended readings.

With spring in the air and post Easter (did you get a new coat or hat?) my mind turns to clothes, the role of the eco-fashion movement and the increased awareness of sustainable fashion today. Think about how many millions of people are employed within the global clothing and fashion worlds: farmers of cotton or hemp, miners processing metal, factory workers in manufacturing making cloth, zippers, buttons and jewellery, the sweat shops sewing, clothing designers, fashion show organizers, magazine publishers, advertising firms, photographers etc. Think of what's involved in selling clothes: the retailers, the sales clerks, the mall builders and plastic bag manufacturers.  

I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  

Also, think about the business of fashion, the environmental impact of cheap clothing and human cost on those who make it. Remember the 1130 dead in the Dhaka garment factory, the 72 workers in a slipper factory in the Philippines who died in 2015 or the Tazreen Fashions garment factory fire outside Dhaka that killed 112 workers. Consider the infamous 1911 tragedy of 146 garment workers (again mainly women) who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City.

Ask yourself, does the search for fashionable clothing make us constantly buy new items? Does cheap and almost disposable clothing encourage over consumption? Consider is the cloth we're wearing grown in such a way that it's sustainable and has minimal impact on the environment. Are we buying from local designers with product made locally to reduce the carbon footprint?

When Goodwill suddenly closed did you ask yourself these questions:

• where will I take my old clothes and stuff?
• where will I buy my "new to me" clothes?
• where is all that stuff going now?

I'm reminded of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in their catchy song Thrift Shop "I wear your granddad's clothes….I look incredible" and their indictment of the $50 t-shirt.

The good news is that the eco-fashion and sustainable fashion movements are gaining wider awareness and some acceptance. It's hard to challenge a capitalist industrial complex …. but you can nudge it a different direction.

You may want to consider upcycling clothes and the broader upcycle trend:

I am reminded that Gandhi knew the real value of homespun undyed cloth as a protest against British imperialism and imported cloth, part of the Swadeshi movement:

For lovely textile design and broader sustainability these may be of interest: 

And, of course, fashion is only part of the sustainability movement:

Make sure to check out (borrow and read too!) the recommended Our Fragile Planet reading list on the environment.  See some of our branch displays below as well.