Questions about how textile manufacturing can become more sustainable and what actions consumers can take to make production and the buying of clothing more environmentally friendly were tackled at the Responsible Textiles panel at the College of Textiles Convocation Center Tuesday.
The main speaker and moderator, Mor Aframian, a graduate student in the College of Textiles, helped set up the event.
“Here at the College of Textiles we are surrounded by textiles,” Aframian said. “It’s in our cars, it’s in our homes and it’s in our office, and it’s not just the fabric themselves. It’s the chemicals and it’s a global industry — therefore all of us have a choice to make.”
Aframian and the rest of the panel wanted students to understand the environmental cost of making clothes and how students can make more sustainable choices that will lower environmental impact.
“It’s really important for us to show the way forward, and to show things that aren’t really realistic within our community,” said Beth Stewart, one of the panelists and a professional in the textiles industry. “We’re also trying to do more on the advocacy and education aspect of our mission.”
The panelists took questions that ranged from how they deal with sustainability in their own businesses to how students can help solve challenges regarding textiles around the world.
Chuck Stewart, a panelists and an owner of the dye house Tumbling Colors, explained some of the environmental challenges he faces.
“It’s difficult sometimes,” Chuck Stewart said. “I own a dye house, I am a polluter, I create a lot of color fluid that the City of Raleigh deals with, and it’s because you guys like color, I sell a lot of color, which is great for my business, and it’s a challenge.”
The issue of textile manufacturing is global, even though the textile manufacturers at the panel produced on a local scale. Jimmy Summers explained that other countries are not always as strict in enforcing environmental laws as the United States.
“There is a misconception on the environmental side,” Summers said. “In other countries, like China and Bangladesh and India, their rules are not that strong. The issue is enforcement, here we know what happens when we don’t follow the rules — we go to jail.”
According to Summers, the textile industry faces tougher regulations in the United States and the liabilities are placed on the heads of businesses to make sure that they are complying with EPA standards when they manufacture their products. Other countries such as China are beginning to see the negative environmental impacts from their industries, and they are starting to be strict about their environmental laws.
Hammad Abbasi, a doctoral student within the College of Textiles, attended the event to hear about more sustainable practices that could be done within the textile industry.
“This was a wonderful platform to understand what exactly responsible sustainability means,” Abbasi said. “Where our role is and where we can play our part in this planet to keep it a good place to live.”
