Images magazine Digital Edition April 2018

INDUSTRY ISSUE www.images-magazine.com 44 images APRIL 2018 But what is sustainability? At Mantis, we define it as ‘minimising environmental impact and improving the social conditions for everyone in the supply chain’. It is important to note the word ‘minimising’, because everything we consume or produce has an impact, therefore all we can do is try to minimise that impact. The clothing industry is huge. It employs around 400 million people in over 100 countries. The world now consumes about 80 billion items of new clothing per year – that’s 400% more than what we consumed just two decades ago. But what’s wrong with making more – more sales equals more economic growth, right? Well, when we look at the ‘true cost’, I n 2018, I’m hoping the printwear industry will come together to make a real difference to people’s lives. At the end of last year, Mantis World signed up to the Sustainable Cotton Communiqué, which commits signatories to using 100% sustainable cotton by 2025. In January this year, I sent an invitation to all my fellow suppliers to join us in this pledge in the hope that we can all come together to make a real change to our impact on the planet. Prama Bhardwaj, CEO and founder of Mantis World, explains why Mantis World has signed up to the Sustainable Cotton Communiqué and her hopes for a more sustainable future for the garment decoration industry A call to action it’s a very different picture. Economic costs are easy for us to see and measure – that’s reported easily on our profit and loss and balance sheets. However, we also need to look at the invisible costs. Environmental costs ∞ One-third of all unwanted clothes end up in landfill. That’s 430,000 tonnes per year in the UK. ∞ Untreated wastewater from the dyeing process puts toxic chemicals into rivers and pollutes land. 20% of global water pollution is from the textile industry. ∞ The use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides leads to loss of biodiversity. ∞ The use of factories that rely on coal and gas contributes to climate change ∞ Over-exploitation of natural resources: Prama Bhardwaj