*[Enwl-eng] Wearing Trees

[enwl]

Wearing Trees“Natural” fabrics can have steep environmental costs too.


                                News of the world environment

                                 NEWSLETTER | JUNE 30, 2023

















                                Wearing Trees
                                I HAVE A BLACK DRESS that swings through the 
skirt down to the mid-calf. It has a slight split on one side that shows a 
little leg while you’re walking and a little more at a run. It is 
sleeveless. The waist is slightly dropped and sits just above my hips. It is 
cut on the bias. I can wear a jacket over it when there is a nip in the air. 
It is the perfect length for my long coats. I wear it with brogues and 
boots, with sandals and heels. I love to wear it on dates. It is effortless 
in the best sense, by which I mean it is both comfortable and flattering. I 
could name several important events in my life that I have worn it to. Job 
interviews. Dinners with new friends in new cities, when I was anxious and 
unsure of leaving the house. I could tell you about nights I abandoned it on 
a beach in a town I didn’t live in so I could run into the water, knowing I 
could shake the sand out later. I have worn it backstage at Burberry runway 
shows in London. I have worn it on press trips to Tokyo, Dubai, Marrakech, 
and Milan. It is made of viscose, so before it was a dress, it was a tree.

                                One warm summer evening in 2021, I was at an 
event hosted by the brand that had designed it. I approached the company’s 
PR director and explained the story of the dress and how I’d love to know 
more about where the fabric was sourced. She walked me to the brand’s 
creative director, who and said there was no way of knowing where that 
viscose was sourced from but, given the time frame (the late 1990s), it was 
unlikely they’d be proud of the answer. Viscose in that period was usually 
sourced with few limitations and little consideration of the ecological 
consequences. Given the immense beauty of forests, and the trees, plants, 
animals, and birds they provide homes to, this is a particularly sad truth 
and one of fashion’s most well-disguised secrets.


                                This adapted excerpt from regenerative 
fashion researcher, writer, and consultant Lucianne Tonti’s Sundressed: 
Natural Fibers and the Future of Fashion, takes a look at the true cost of 
producing an increasingly popular textile often marketed as eco-friendly. 
Read more in our Summer 2023 issue.


                                READ MORE


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let us know what you think about the switch and what you would like to see 
more of in our dispatches to you.

                                Photo by Daniel Beltrá / Greenpeace




                                SUGGESTED READING


                                Wild Therapy
                                “There’s nothing quite like being close to a 
powerful animal to get the blood up, the skin tingling, the eyes alive, the 
senses on high alert.” (Resurgence & Ecologist)

                                Thought Toxins
                                Children in Portland, Oregon, could have 
lower test scores due to lead emissions from a nearby racetrack, one of 
dozens across the US that use toxic leaded gasoline. (The Guardian)

                                Saving the Hot Stuff
                                A seed bank in Taiwan is home to more chili 
varieties than anywhere else on Earth. In a warming world, we’re going to 
need them. (New Yorker)

                                A Bad Tradeoff
                                Dubious biodiversity offsets supported by 
the World Bank have enabled the devastation of villages in Guinea and helped 
a mining company justify the deaths of endangered chimpanzees. (ProPublica)




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From: Earth Island Journal
Sent: Saturday, July 01, 2023 3:44 AM
Subject: Wearing Trees

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