Yearly on April 24th, Fashion Revolution brings everyone in the fashion value chain together to help raise awareness of the true cost of fashion, show the world that change is possible, and celebrate all those involved in creating a more sustainable future. As part of Fashion Revolution Day, which over the years has evolved into a suggested daily mantra to ask #whomademyclothes? we are asking a new question: #whomademycolor?
With waterways being polluted worldwide from the fashion industry and consumers literally wearing toxic clothing, we think it’s time to cast a big spotlight on how color gets on the things we wear. From lead being used to dye textiles and brighten pigments to dyes dangerous to the health of workers, ranging from chlorine bleach to known carcinogens such as arylamines, we can do better. You can do better.
And we haven’t even talked about the planet’s health.
According to Good on You, it’s estimated that around 20% of industrial water pollution in the world comes from the treatment and dyeing of textiles, and about 8,000 synthetic chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textiles. Each year, textile companies discharge millions of gallons of chemically infected water into our waterways. It’s estimated that a single mill can use 200 tons of fresh water per ton of dyed fabric. So not only does this consume water, but the chemicals pollute the water causing both environmental damage and diseases throughout developing communities.
As a strong natural dye community, it’s time for us all to take a stand.
For this whole month, we are asking you to make some noise.
- Take a picture of yourself holding a piece of clothing
- On social media, tag the brand that made the piece of clothing with “Hey [brand name] #whomademycolor?
- Tag @botanicalcolors on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and we’ll be sure to retweet/repost it
We are also more than happy to celebrate natural dyes as well and urge you to tag yourself with #imademycolor and if you tag us, we’ll be reposting and retweeting you!
Looking forward to seeing you on social media highway…