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Learn What Goes into Your Clothes

Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA

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By Collin Dunn
Corvallis, OR, USA | Sun Mar 23 17:21:00 EDT 2008

Think about the shirt you're wearing, or your rain jacket, or your shoes: What are they made of? It's likely your shirt is made with cotton, but do you know where the cotton came from? Do you know where it was made? And by whom? With The Footprint Chronicles, a Web site by apparel company Patagonia, now you do.

The handy online tool takes you around the globe, following each garment from start to finish, from design to fiber sourcing, spinning, sewing and distribution. In the case of a single cotton men's polo shirt, it all adds up to a long distance traveled (over 14,000 miles), a lot of carbon dioxide emissions (27 pounds per shirt), 10 ounces of waste produced (roughly the same weight of the shirt itself), and 33 kilowatt hours of energy expended. Wow.

Though Patagonia earns high marks for its green efforts from the tree-hugging crowd, the Chronicles show just how much goes in to everything you buy and use on a daily basis. ::The Footprint Chronicles

[Via ::Apartment Therapy Re-Nest]

Difficulty level: Easy

 
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