This is a classic conundrum that simply cannot be broken down into Black and White. Truth be told, all materials have some kind of environmental cost and impact. That being said it is up to the producer, and the customer, to determine which is in fact the best to use.

  There are essentially three types of fiber: natural, synthetic, or somewhere inbetween. Natural fibers would be cotton, wool, hemp, linen, or silk, among others. Synthetic examples are polyester, lycra/spandex, nylon, or acrylic. And the “something in between” fibers may be ones that employ a chemical process on a natural fiber, like Rayon or viscose.

  So which is the best? To me, and to us at Goodwear, it is no question that natural fibers are the best choice. Cotton has been used for millennia to produce durable, comfortable, and biodegradable textiles. All textiles fall apart over time, and as cotton does, it sheds natural cotton fibers that become dust and decompose over time. Polyester on the other hand is incredibly common, incredibly cheap, and incredibly comfortable. Unfortunately, it is a plastic and therefore starts its journey derived from oil. It also sheds, only the fibers being released are microplastics that never disappear. Every shirt, dress, underwear, sock, jacket, hat, or pair of pants ever made of polyester, acrylic, or nylon is in some form still existing today. Whether that’s in the landfill, ocean, or our lungs and bodies.

  While the water cost to produce cotton is often chastised, it is simply another agricultural crop. I’d be quick to point out the amount of water used to produce the corn and soy in this country, entirely to feed the cattle (that also need water) that often end up in the landfill themselves. And that’s not to say better water usage practices can’t be implemented in the cotton industry, or that better alternatives exist. Hemp is one such alternative that we have begun using, but the domestic hemp industry is still too small to support the demand or to shake up the textile industry. But hemp is a faster growing, less needy, and more durable fiber than cotton and will have its day soon enough. Not to mention it's incredibly comfortable(this long sleeve striped hemp shirt is my favorite thing we make).

Landfill in Chile, largely fast fashion polyester-based clothing | Getty Images - Martin Bernetti

  All companies in all industries have some kind of waste, failure, spillage, or loss. It is unfortunate, but ultimately impossible to erase. But the apparel industry, on average, is an obscene offender, the worst of all being the giant Fast Fashion brands that dominate department stores, malls, and now the E-commerce space. Brands like H&M.

  The industry average for quality control failures in production is around 3-5%. At Goodwear, in a 1000 piece production, we can expect anywhere from 30-50 shirts to be damaged when it’s all said and done. This could be from tears in the fabric, missed stitches, mismatched seams, oil stains from the sewing machines, among many others. Over the course of the year, we amass several dozen boxes of these “irregulars” and donate them to local shelters, food banks, or overseas crises.

  But imagine a company like H&M. H&M pioneered the fast fashion movement and kept up it’s blistering pace without a second thought. Only 20 years later they have now rebranded as a company focused on “sustainability”. Keep in mind they produced the waste they now claim to be taking a stand against. H&M produces 3 BILLION items PER YEAR. With a conservative estimate of 3% damages, that’s 90 MILLION shirts in the landfill. Shirts made from cheap plastic polyester, by the way.

  It gets worse. Deadstock, or old styles unable to be sold any more, accounts on average to be 40% of a company’s inventory. (We use deadstock in our annual Grab Bag sales where you get 5 Goodwear shirts for $50, we also donate it with our irregulars). With 40% of H&M’s production going into deadstock, that’s over 1 Billion shirts going in the trash, year in, and year out. And that’s one company. One company claiming “Sustainability” and how they are “Leading the Change”.