Review: Fashioned From Nature
Textile factories in Great Britain fueled the expansion of the Industrial Revolution in the 18
th and 19
th centuries, the beginning of our human-made, global ecological crisis. These factories, along with Britain’s global trade network, helped meet the world-wide demand for clothing made from American cotton, which not only led to air and water pollution but also to the expansion of slavery and, ultimately, the American Civil War. The first Industrial Revolution in Britain would lead to a vast increase in the British population and a consumer economy of affordable mass-produced goods that began long-term harm to the environment. Although we know of many evils in the contemporary clothing industry – low-wage workers in poorer countries, brutal working conditions, inhuman work hours, child labor – we must also acknowledge that the fashion industry currently produces about one-tenth of our carbon emissions while consuming and contaminating vast am