1. TDSB Eco Schools Slow Fashion Movement 2018-2019
Bag2School is textile diversion program and free fundraising tool for your schools.
Similar to the plastics crisis, there is also a textile crisis in our landfills and I am here today to talk to you about the only permanent, sustainable solution which is very simply to consume less.

2. The True Cost ….
The Textile Industry is the second greatest polluting industry in the world after only oil.
Image taken from the movie The True Cost - The True Cost was the first mainstream documentary to take a critical look at the fashion industry and it’s practices.
The textile industry is the 2nd greatest polluting industry in the world after ONLY oil. We hear a lot about the Tar Sands and Big Oil but much less about textiles which is something we all consume daily. And again, it is the 2nd greatest polluting industry in the world.
Although I don’t work in a landfill I have dedicated my life to cleaning up our mess and when you come to our warehouse - for a school visit or skype your classes in - you will appreciate the sheer scale of the problem – textiles are incredibly heavy, bulky and cumbersome to deal with. If disposed of in landfill they take generations to decompose.

3. This graph explains the problem; (i) the red line is the amount of textile waste generated annually in North America. From the increase was modest. From 1980 to today the amount of textile waste has increased to almost 14 Milliton Tons/year. The 1980’s is important as this was the advent of ‘fast fashion’ and cheap throw away clothing which has directly created the exponential increase in waste. (ii) the Green line is the amount of textile waste recovered (or recycled or reused). From there were virtually no programs in place. Since 1980 the amount recovered has increased modestly to around 2 Million Tons/year today.
The difference between the red and green lines is the amount of textile waste dumped in landfill – around 12 Million Tons/year. In North America, almost 85% of textile waste is disposed of in landfill yet it is almost 100% recyclable. The problem is growing exponentially year over year.

4. FACT:
Facts:
It takes 2720 litre of water to make ONE t-shirt = the amount of water ONE adult will drink over a 3-year period; or
it takes 200 gallons of water to make one pair jeans = 285 adult showers; or
The average Canadian adult hoards CAD$350 of clothing in their closet = 18 outfits per person = CAD$50 billion dollars of unworn clothing sitting in closets across Canada each year.

5. The solution? The Slow Fashion Movement
While textile recycling/diversion programs do help to mitigate the problem, they are NOT the answer. The only truly long term, sustainable solution is to consume less.
Slow Fashion Movement was a term coined by The Ecologist magazine around 2007 and takes many of it’s principals from the Slow Food Movement.

6. The slow fashion movement comprises 3 primary areas:
Ethical Fashion - human and animal rights - fair living wages and working conditions globally and providing equal opportunities for all workers.
Eco Fashion - the impact of clothing production on the environment - using local materials and resources to create products manufacturing techniques that are eco-friendly, including clothing production with sustainable fabric materials, reclaimed fabric, secondhand pieces, and vintage.
Lasting (Sustainable) Fashion - is about slowing down the clothing consumption rate. Garments that last are made of high-quality materials, are built for longevity, and do not aspire to be immediately trendy – think Patagonia (clothing that is made to last forever).