Earth Watch: Mending is Trending

Today, with personal budgets being tight and with the rising concern for overconsumption of the earth's resources, I'm told that “Mending is Trending”. Last fall, the New Westminster library hosted a series of events on climate change. One of the very popular ones was 'on mending' by Cheryl Lewis and Kristin Andrews. 

We are not allowed to film presentations at the library, but NewWest.tv was able to catch up with them recently. It was a fun and informative conversation. I learned a great deal about mending clothes – including new trends in making your clothing patches obvious in trendy ways. We covered lots on upcycling second hand clothes to make quilts and other items. They gave lots of great 'how to' information. And they showed many examples of their work.

Did you know that the textile industry creates more fossil fuel emissions than the air transport and shipping industries combined? We talked about the why and wherefores of that and steps people can take to reduce this problem. 

Here are some of the ideas they presented: Buy quality clothes that will last. Buy clothes from natural sources such as wool, linen, bamboo, rather than polyester and nylon as they are made from petroleum products. Don't buy cheap clothes that will last for a short time – the worst offenders are companies like Shein where clothes may last only one wearing. Re-use textiles from discarded clothes and bed linens to make new things. Buy second-hand clothes and use some basic sewing skills to make them fit you. Borrow or buy books on mending – today people enhance their clothes with interesting mending designs.

Many of the manufacturers in the Asia exploit labour terribly. Many work in horrible conditions for long hours. They have very little time off, if any. The climate change cost of sending clothes to western markets is in the huge carbon emission toll from shipping. And because so many clothes are discarded in a short time, there is a huge problem of sorting and disposing of clothes which is another large industry in some countries. The making of textiles is also costly in fossil fuel emissions, particularly when it comes to un-natural products.