It’s easy to assume that the clothing you purchase is safe to wear. When shopping for clothes, many consider an item’s price, practicality, and style, but what about what it’s made of? Since the early 1900s, toxic chemicals have been making their way into our clothing. These toxins are harmful to the environment, the manufacturers making the clothes, and people like you.
What’s alarming is how these harmful substances have become normalized in production processes, without most consumers even knowing. Ignorance of what we wear can have long-term health consequences.
Common Toxins
Believe it or not, there are multiple types of chemicals weaving their way into our clothes. Here are only a few of the toxins that can cause a variety of health problems and illnesses.
- Formaldehyde ─ This chemical is commonly used for stain and wrinkle resistance but is known to cause a range of health complications.
- Pesticides ─ When sending items from the manufacturer to stores, pesticides commonly make their way onto clothes.
- Flame retardants ─ These were initially put into clothes to stop them from burning if a shop were to set on fire, but they can cause serious damage to our hormones.
- Dyes ─ Azo dyes, one of the most common dyes in clothing, can cause a variety of skin allergies.
The Overlooked Risks of Synthetic Fibers
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Synthetic fibers may offer affordability and convenience, but they come with a hidden cost. Clothes made from materials such as polyester, nylon, and acrylic are often treated with various chemicals during production. What many fail to realize is that when you wear these garments, your skin, the largest organ of your body, is in constant contact with these potentially hazardous chemicals.
Prolonged exposure to synthetic fibers and the toxins they carry may cause skin irritation, allergies, and in more severe cases, hormone disruption. The risks are even higher for those with sensitive skin or pre-existing conditions, who may experience more pronounced reactions to synthetic materials.
Impact on Your Health
Don’t believe that clothes can actually make you sick? Take a look at a case at Alaska Airlines, where flight attendants started getting sick from their new, synthetic uniforms. Hundreds of Alaska Airlines flight attendants reported headaches, rashes, coughing, and much more when wearing their new uniforms.
This isn’t the only occurrence of a uniform mishap; Delta and American Airlines have had similar cases of uniforms causing health complications to flight attendants.
There is a plethora of long-lasting effects from these toxins. Direct contact with toxins and chemicals in your clothes can cause skin disorders and major diseases like cancer, reproductive issues, and hormonal disruptions.
Environmental Consequences
Our environment is also at stake due to these chemicals. Water sources face potential pollution from manufacturing companies, which damages aquatic ecosystems and our drinking water. These toxins can seep into our soil, affecting our agriculture and the food we eat.
We may even breathe these toxins in through pollutants. The state of the environment is crucial to our health, stability, and overall well-being, and these toxins cause immense harm to all sectors of life.
How to Avoid Toxic Clothing
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How can you avoid purchasing toxic chemicals in your clothing? We’ve gathered some helpful tips for you to consider the next time you’re shopping.
1. Organic Fibers
When looking for new clothes, seek out items with natural fibers. Natural fibers are commonly derived from plants, animals, and minerals and trump their synthetic fiber competitor with their durability, sustainability, and softness. Organic clothing fibers protect your skin, health, and our environment.
2. Check the Inside Tag
Although it may seem like an easy task, many people forget or don’t think to check the tags on their clothes. When reading the materials on a clothing tag, note anything that stands out to you as possibly harmful. Avoid anything that claims to be flame-retardant, stain-resistant, or cling-free, as these can be red flags for chemicals.
3. Invest in Quality
High-quality clothing is a great way to help the environment and prevent you from repeatedly repurchasing similar items. Higher quality clothing is often made with more durable and safer materials, allowing them to last longer than toxic fast fashion.
4. Shop Small
Supporting small businesses is a great way to avoid toxic clothing and shop ethically. Also, shopping secondhand can be a much more eco-friendly shopping option. Secondhand clothing is often cleaned multiple times before arriving at secondhand stores, meaning many potential toxins have been washed away.
5. Choosing Better Brands
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As demand for better and more sustainable brands rises, note that the companies are making a change and leading the way. Look for clothing brands committed to ethical sustainability and avoid using harmful chemicals.
Merci Dupre is one of those brands that is leading the way to safer clothing. Dr. Christina Rahm, PhD, a socially conscious entrepreneur and founder of DRC Ventures, created Merci Dupre to educate consumers about the safety of their clothes and provide a solution that covers all the bases of environmental and human safety. All clothing is designed to protect your skin and puts your health at the forefront of its mission while still including style and comfort.
“I started Merci Dupre to address a major gap in the fashion industry,” says Dr. Rahm. “There are not enough clean brands on the market. As someone who’s dedicated my entire career to improving holistic health outcomes, it’s been a joy creating a brand that reflects my values.”
The clothes we wear shouldn’t make us sick. That’s why we must consciously try to set a new standard when purchasing clothes and taking special care of what we already own.
Even though we wear the clothes, we are not the only ones affected. Our environment absorbs the bulk of these toxins and chemicals during manufacturing, damaging our air, water, and food quality. So, the next time you’re shopping, take note of what the clothes are made of and how you can make a positive impact in a sustainable and safe fashion.
