Sustainability Highlight: Pamela D'Ettorre

Fashion Arts professor and creator of the "Ethics and Sustainability" course, Pamela D’Ettorre highlights the perils of conventional fashion practices and speaks of a better way to source, manufacture, and dispose of our clothing.

Meet Pamela D’Ettorre, a professor at Humber College. D’Ettorre developed Humber's Ethics and Sustainability course in the Fashion Arts Program with the hopes of instilling the same passion for sustainable fashion in her students as she has.

"Sustainable fashion is an untapped potential," says D’Ettorre. "Most people don't even realize it’s an option." With 95 per cent of textiles used globally ending up in landfills, it is a big environmental problem.

The course teaches students about sourcing, manufacturing and the ultimate disposal processes currently used in the fashion industry. Students develop an understanding of the difference between ethical/sustainable fashion and conventional practices. D’Ettorre examines case studies of the big box stores like Walmart and Forever 21, discussing the role they play within the industry.

"[Consumers] expect to get jeans for $30 which is unrealistic. When you factor in the water and energy needed to grow materials like cotton to produce the fabrics, the cost of the manual labour to pick, process the materials and sew the clothing, and the cost to transport products to the store, your pair of jeans should be much more expensive than $30. Yet [consumers] refuse to pay the actual cost of the clothing we buy.” The clothing buyers set the terms for what is to be produced: who, where, when, and at what price. In the end, garment workers in places like Bangladesh and India are underpaid, less than minimum wage, which is a big reason the costs are able to be so low.

"We do have options," D’Ettorre notes. "Quality versus quantity is important. Buying fewer, high quality items is much more sustainable, plus higher quality clothing lasts longer. We should also remember that when we find a hole in our sweater, it doesn’t have to be the end of its useful life. Clothing that is no longer going to be worn can be cut into pieces to be used to make other products such as carpet backings, seat covers and industrial insulation."

The simplest thing that consumers can do is just consume less. Studies have found that people in developed countries own upwards of eight pairs of jeans compared to zero to one pair owned by people in developing countries.

D’Ettore says that sustainable fashion also includes washing your clothing in cold water and hanging them dry. This saves energy, water and detergent and gives your clothing a longer life.

No matter what you do, remember that every little change you make makes a big difference. Just think what would happen if 7 million people also made that small little change! Start today by checking out the ;Best Green Retailers in Toronto on BlogTO.