Have you ever researched the textile industry? I mean really researched it?
Let me save you the trouble and give you some of the highlights (or damning lights) of what information that research would produce.
- Toxic dyeing processes on fabrics are responsible for 17-20% of global water pollution
- 85% of all textiles end up in landfills each year.
- Washing plastic-derived textiles releases 500,000 tons of plastic microfiber into the ocean each year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles which also poses a danger to animals that consume them inhibiting growth and reproduction.
- Fashion made from petrochemical products accounts for up to 10% of global carbon dioxide output—more than international flights and shipping combined, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
- If sent to a landfill, clothes made from natural fabrics like cotton and linen may degrade in weeks to months, but synthetic fabrics can take up to 200 years to break down. And as they do, they produce methane, a powerful global warming greenhouse gas.
- Microplastics from textiles have already been found in our food, water, and air—one study found that Americans eat 74,000 microplastic particles each year.
- The U.S. throws away up to 11.3 million tons of textile waste each year—around 2,150 pieces of clothing each second.
The truth is that these facts of the textile industry could keep on going, each fact scarier than the next. It's easy to feel helpless like there's not much we can do to influence the $993.6 billion Global textile industry.
Especially when there are companies out there trying to trick consumers with what is the industry calls, "Greenwashing".
Greenwashing simply means that companies overstate their sustainability efforts to seem greener than they are. This deceit is intentional, getting environmentally conscience consumers to put their trust in companies that plant a tree and call themselves carbon neutral, with no intention of actually changing any of their practices.
The cure for this? Educated consumers and transparent brands.
So, let's address the elephant in the room and talk about what we at Superior Ink do to earn our sustainability claim and keep our practices ethical, our merch of the highest quality, and align with each of our consumer's core values to do our best to create an industry where waste and pollution are eliminated.
- Every year we recycle approximately 33,072 lbs of waste and cardboard.
- We repurpose our water-based, non-toxic ink by donating it to a local art school here in Denver, Colorado.
- By printing on high-quality All-Made recycled shirts we've saved over 6,287,040 gallons of water, and 18,157 lbs of recycled plastic from ending up in landfills.
When you do business with us, whether it's ordering merch, shipping orders, or partnering with us for raw materials, we want you to feel like you are working with the very highest sustainability standards.
Our mission is to better the environment, save the planet, and make our current collapsing industry thrive by making conscience decisions to become greener.
Need a refresher on our sustainability practices? Check out our YouTube Video on the topic: https://youtu.be/wR5cQczCC8I.
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