Green is the new Black

Written  by Ruth MacGilp

 

For the first time in history, a pair of jeans can cost you less than the price of a sandwich – you can buy them from the same shop too.

In a culture of supermarket fashion, we’ve become so far detached

geographically (and mentally) from the people who make our clothes that we forget how much it actually costs to craft them.

As an insight, let’s list all the stages of making and selling a pair of jeans.

Consider all the people involved at each stage of production, as well as shipping to and from several different locations for each development stage:

  1. Developing design ideas, conducting market research
  2. Designing the end product, creating samples
  3. Planting, growing, harvesting the cotton plant
  4. Sorting, ginning, sampling, combing and carding the cotton fibre
  5. Dyeing the fibre using hundreds of gallons of water and environmentally toxic dyes, applying easy-care finishes
  6. Spinning the yarn and weaving or knitting it into denim fabric, transporting it to the next processing location
  7. Cutting the pattern pieces and constructing the garment
  8. Sewing buttons, zips, pockets and any other embellishment or detailing
  9. Conducting quality control tests
  10. Packaging and shipping, sending and merchandising to retail stores and outlets