Through years of learning and experiencing difficulties sustaining basic human needs in the current economy, I have developed an understanding of how fiber arts can be used to create avenues of self sustainability. 

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In this world of over consumption, clothing waste is on the rise, and in order to keep pace with the high demand of fashion related merchandise, there has been a disproportionate increase in carbon emissions produced by the factories in which these products are being manufactured. 

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According to the UN, the fashion industry is now responsible for 8-10% of global emissions, which is more than the aviation and shipping combined. 

The fashion industry is also the second-biggest consumer of water at nearly 215 trillion liters of water per year. 

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For every one second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textile fabrics is landfilled or burned releasing toxic micro plastics into the environment. At this rate it is projected by 2050 that the fashion industry will use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget. Textiles are also estimated to account for approximately 9% of annual microplastic losses to the ocean. 

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‘Fast Fashion’, along with its detrimental environmental impacts, plays a major role in perpetuating the mistreatment of textile workers, underpayment and inhumane factory working conditions. 

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Due to the high demand of textiles, many big name fashion brands found it advantageous to outsource their production processes to ‘developing countries’ to which they could skip over limiting labor laws that would slow their overall production timeline. 

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Subsequently, the textile factory employees of these companies internationally face exhausting hours, gender based discrimination, dangerous working conditions, minimal pay, and other barriers to keep up with the overwhelming expectations and practices of their unethical overseers. 

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Understanding these factors, it has been proven that there is an essential need for the reframing of the textile industry, shedding light on an incentive for more conscious consumption, and dissemination of information that would aid in a more communal based textile commerce. 

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Through providing educational material, access to grant information, and mutually beneficial alternatives to clothing acquisition, our goal is to decentralize the fashion industry and bring the power back into the hands of the people to be able to create our own sustainable clothing initiatives.