| Peppermint Magazine: Pushing Green in the Fashion Scene |
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| Thursday, 06 May 2010 | Victoria Cho | Blog Entry |
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First published in 2008, Peppermint was conceived when Kelley Sheenan and her husband were researching organic materials to incorporate into their small clothing line in Australia. Sheenan was shocked by what she found. “After food, clothing purchases have the second-highest environmental impact (in terms of land disturbance, energy and water use) in all our consumption activities,” she writes. “About 700,000 tons of clothing are sent annually to landfills in the UK alone. Hot washing creates up to 4kg [8.8 pounds – Ed.] of greenhouse gases each time, and a clothes dryer generates 3kg [6.6 pounds – Ed.]. The only question left about global warming is what to wear while fighting it!” Sheenan uncovered some environmental effects and human-rights violations particular to the cotton industry as well. For example, Worldwide, conventional cotton uses approximately 25% of the world’s insecticides and 10% of the world’s pesticides. The World Health Organization estimates up to 1 million cases of long-term illness from pesticide poisoning every year, resulting in 20,000 reported deaths…. In India, every 8 hours a cotton farmer commits suicide from spiraling pesticide debts and underpaid crop. Every year, over $2 billion of chemical pesticides will be poured into the ground and will wind up back in the food chain. A single t-shirt uses approximately 1.5 kg of toxic chemicals to create. According to Sheenan, Peppermint was created to provide the fashion world with an alternative. If we want to protest conventionally made clothing and industry practices, we can learn about bamboo, hemp or vintage materials in her magazine. We can also read about upcoming eco-designers, artists, photographers, and other related products and movements. To minimize her own carbon footprint, Sheenan prints Peppermint on 100% recycled paper in a process absent of water. She donates 35 cents of every issue sold to a nonprofit and holds competitions for artists who interweave environmentally friendly messages in their work, publishing the winner’s work in a later issue. Future plans, as Sheenan explained, include launching a social-awareness nonprofit to be funded by magazine sales. A recession may discourage consumers from spending extra on fair-trade and organic materials versus those available at their local Target or Gap, but Sheehan encourages people to “search out the good from the good-for-now.” Because most clothing is produced at the expense of the environment and workers’ rights, we may voice our concern by choosing wisely and looking beyond seasonal trends. As the pages of Peppermint prove, nothing need be sacrificed to be fair trade and eco-friendly. Not even your fashion sense. Peppermint Provides a Green Alternative to the Fashion Industry
After reading through an issue[http://issuu.com/peppermintmag/docs/peppermint_issue2] of the Australia-based Peppermint Magazine, I’m not sure such a beautifully designed, stylish and compassionate project exists elsewhere. There may be close calls, but it is difficult to immediately conjure up an organization as dedicated to revolutionizing the fashion industry by illuminating its carbon footprint and drawing attention to its human-rights abuses. Peppermint manages to produce flawless, stunning looks that would be coveted by any stylist, regardless of their eco-friendliness.
First published in 2008, Peppermint was conceived when Kelley Sheenan and her husband were researching organic materials to incorporate into their small clothing line in Australia. Sheenan was shocked by what she found.
“After food, clothing purchases have the second-highest environmental impact (in terms of land disturbance, energy and water use) in all our consumption activities,” she writes[ http://www.indie.com.au/taxonomy/term/333]. “About 700,000 tons of clothing are sent annually to landfills in the UK alone. Hot washing creates up to 4kg [8.8 pounds – Ed.] of greenhouse gases each time, and a clothes dryer generates 3kg [6.6 pounds – Ed.]. The only question left about global warming is what to wear while fighting it!”
Sheenan uncovered some environmental effects and human-rights violations particular to the cotton industry as well. For example,
Worldwide, conventional cotton uses approximately 25% of the world’s insecticides and 10% of the world’s pesticides. The World Health Organization estimates up to 1 million cases of long-term illness from pesticide poisoning every year, resulting in 20,000 reported deaths…. In India, every 8 hours a cotton farmer commits suicide from spiraling pesticide debts and underpaid crop. Every year, over $2 billion of chemical pesticides will be poured into the ground and will wind up back in the food chain. A single t-shirt uses approximately 1.5 kg of toxic chemicals to create.
According to Sheenan, Peppermint was created to provide the fashion world with an alternative. If we want to protest conventionally made clothing and industry practices, we can learn about bamboo, hemp or vintage materials in her magazine. We can also read about upcoming eco-designers, artists, photographers, and other related products and movements.
To minimize her own carbon footprint, Sheenan prints Peppermint on 100% recycled paper in a process absent of water. She donates 35 cents of every issue sold to a nonprofit and holds competitions for artists who interweave environmentally friendly messages in their work, publishing the winner’s work in a later issue. Future plans, as Sheenan explained, include launching a social-awareness nonprofit[http://www.brisbanemediamap.com.au/public/profile/49] to be funded by magazine sales.
A recession may discourage consumers from spending extra on fair-trade and organic materials versus those available at their local Target or Gap, but Sheehan encourages people to “search out the good from the good-for-now.” Because most clothing is produced at the expense of the environment and workers’ rights, we may voice our concern by choosing wisely and looking beyond seasonal trends. As the pages of Peppermint prove, nothing need be sacrificed to be fair trade and eco-friendly.
Not even your fashion sens
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