Valuing Ecosystems in Fashion
What is an Ecosystem? It's a combination of organisms and the physical and chemical environment, functioning as an ecological unit.
An ecosystem is diverse, just as fashion is, and guess what… fashion is grown in an ecosystem, a farm! We don’t often think about this, but the shirt you are wearing right now was made from fiber grown in the ground. Textile materials—wool, cotton, silk—are grown in soil by farmers. So yes, just like food made from crops, our beautiful fashion started on a farm.
Lets get into farming
Soil is made of millions of micro- and macro-organisms, all passing nutrients back and forth with each other and the plants. Without this living system in our soil, fertilizer is needed, which is basically toxic. The plant will pick the fertilizer over the microbial network in the soil, which in turn kills that biodiversity underground. This extends above ground as well. In an ideal ecosystem, there are many varieties of plants, all working together to stay healthy. However, it is common today to see farms with only one variety of plant, and that variety only. Nature abhors it though! It may seem satisfying, organized, and pretty to us now, but in reality, this lack of root systems creates flooding, biodiversity loss, pollution, and other negative side effects.
A great farm should look like a forest, very diverse with many insects, species under and above ground.
Sourcing and Production in Industry
Here's the problem in the fashion industry when it comes to our ecosystems: We source our materials the wrong way, taking as much from the Earth without looking at the cost. Farming right now is just focused on inputs and outputs, neglecting the biodiversity of the farm ecosystem.
There is also the more talked-about issue of over-production of clothing. Whether it be people not buying the estimated produced clothing made by a company or the fast fashion version. You as a consumer can make a change, but don’t put all the blame on yourself. The production of these clothing pieces is at the heart of the issue. It is so hard to know if something is sustainable, whereas if every brand was forced to create sustainable pieces, we wouldn’t be blaming.
Main Takeaway
Our clothing should be grown in a biodiverse farm, in soil rich in nutrients, making for a regenerative process for the Earth. Also, they should be produced in a non-toxic way, without bleaching or dyeing. Finally, at the end of the garment's life, we should compost it.