The long history of the Fashion industry is marred with substantial unethical and unsustainable practices including exploitation or labor. Thanks to a surge in ethical clothing, a trend reversal is now clearly visible (now on the cards).

Unfortunately, our society has been very myopic in its outlook. Our policymakers took note of the plastic wastes being generated everywhere – at homes, offices, malls, parks, etc. They pondered upon finding ways to recycle or utilize the same. Recycling plastic into making clothes has not been the wittiest of decisions. No one could foresee where microplastics from those clothes were going when they would flow out into the rivers and streams. It is ancient wisdom that flowing water takes everything to the oceans!

The situation has worsened to the level that now we have heavy deposits of plastic on the ocean floor. This affects the marine life and ultimately human life. The rise of ocean plastic has largely been exacerbated by the two big trends of the last decade - Athleisure and rise of clothing made from recycled plastics. Then there's the intersection of the two trends - athleisure clothing being made from fabrics made from recycled fishing nets.

Synthetic textiles are a hugely overlooked contributor to plastic pollution. Every time a synthetic or synthetic blend garment goes through the spin and rinse wash cycle, it sheds a large number of plastic microfibers. Microfibers are tiny synthetic threads less than 1 mm in size (one-fourth of the diameter of a human hair). They are the biggest source of plastic deposits in the ocean.

Do we wonder how a simple chore like washing clothes can ruin aquatic life and bring them to extinction? Most washing machines don’t have filters to trap these minuscule microfibers, and neither do sewage plants that treat effluent water before letting it off into the open. The water from the washer drain carries these plastic filaments through the sewers and eventually ends up in the ocean. These microplastics do not stay afloat, hence can not be siphoned off easily. Before we even knew it, these tiny bits of plastic have already entered our Food-chain. This contamination affects Vegans too! There are millions of tiny plastics in your table salt and more recent studies indicate that it's already raining microplastics. When we talk about “Synthetic Clothing”, Polyster and Nylon are the common culprits that come to mind. Here is a comprehensive list of materials used in unethical clothing:

Acrylic

Nylon Polyamide

Polyester

Polyolefin

Spandex, Lycra or elastane

We also observe the advent of so-called “sustainable” brands that recycle plastic bottles and fishing nets into clothing. While temporarily they seem to solve the plastic menace, they are only compounding it. Those plastics which could be easily picked up from rivers are being milled into the smallest of particles to form spools for clothing. We ignorantly wash these clothes, and release the same plastics into the environment, only this time we made it easy for the plastic to go into the ocean.

While recycled plastics may seem sexy at the moment, it does not in any way solve the plastic issue. Now let this sink in for a second, we all “thought” we were making a difference as we purchased clothing that is “good” for our oceans. Turns out, it is a bridge too far!

If these synthetic fibers are omnipresent and the pollution they cause is largely unseen, a solution can be hard to imagine. Here are some things you can do to prevent the further spread of microfibers into our oceans.

Make it a point to read the fabric composition of the garment you are about to purchase. Natural ethical clothing is almost always more expensive than clothing made from synthetic fabric. Another aspect of buying ethical materials like cotton, hemp, linen or viscose is that they last you a very long time. And of course, they reduce your microfiber footprint to a minimum.

For your existing synthetic clothes, you can easily wash them after wearing 2-3 times. This is made possible due to the fact that Synthetics are sweat-wicking and odor-free by default. We may applaud the fact that most Denimers recommend washing denim only once in a few months (that would be bit of a stretch on your personal hygiene). Fact remains that by merely reducing the number of washes, we can bring down microfiber pollution in a big way.

You can easily Reduce Microfiber shedding with the following steps:

• The major source of ejection of synthetic fibers is cloth abrasion. This occurs inside the drum of your washing machine. You cannot completely avoid this as this is also the basic process of cleaning clothes. You can certainly bring it down by not washing synthetic clothes with tougher items like jeans.

• According to researchers at Newcastle University, the amount of water used per wash also makes a big impact on pollution quantities. They observed that a delicate wash cycle paradoxically released more microplastics because it used more water. Hence you should use Eco-wash option more frequently which uses less water and energy and could be your best bet. The typical ‘water usage” for different programs should be listed in your washing machine’s manual.

• Use a fabric softener and liquid laundry detergent. They both are a boon to clothes as well as to the environment.

• Do not dry synthetic clothes in the dryer, if you do, put the leftover lint into trash for recycling

Catch those pesky microfibers with modern catchers like guppyfriend washing bag.

• Guppyfriend bags catch the microfibers in the bag, and you can dispose them more sustainably as dry waste, which typically goes to a recycling plant and the ocean.

• Buy a washing machine with a microfiber filter

Ensuring that we dispose of our clothing at the end of its useful life is another important way to ensure fewer microplastics slip into the environment. Buying with brands and retailers who have an upcycling process in place, will ensure that. Alternatively, consider donating your clothes to a non-profit organization (NGO) in your state/city working to reduce the environmental impact of clothing.

To play our part, we can all avoid buying new synthetic clothes. You can also shunt out the microplastic footprint of your existing wardrobe. Buying sustainable (ethical) (or Slow Fashion) clothes is the first step and green-washing is the obvious second. Make sure you're buying less, buying things you really need, and buy things that last you a very long time. Prefer to buy only ethical clothing with natural fabrics. And, if you “have to” buy synthetic clothing, buy a micro-fiber catcher at the very least.

Together, we can do our part in reducing the microplastic waste in our oceans. After all we only have one earth!