Made in Cotton     

Cotton shirts...they come in checks, polka dots, stripes and in every shade the rainbow has to offer. And more. But all these colours entwined in the threads of the shirt carry dyes. Some threads are even made of polyester!And synthetic dyes. Dyes that hold onto toxins.

From the time they are made till the time they enter the land and soil, when you discard your old cotton shirt. What path do these synthetic dyes take in their lifetime? Here is the life cycle of dyes…

m a k i n g d y e s

Dye manufacturing

Colouring agents

Synthetic dye

Toxic by-products in tanneries (Effluents-wastewater)

Life cycle in the making of a cotton shirt-how and when dyes make their entry

Cotton Shirt

1. Cotton Fields: picking up raw cotton from the crops.
     
2. Threads Manufacturing weaving industry: Beating cotton to neat threads.

       

3. Technical Cycle: Dyes and chemicals colour your thread.
      
4. Cotton Thread: Red, blue, yellow, violet…ready to be woven into fabric for the shirt
        
5. Production of cotton Shirt: Scissors, needles,machines and  lots of coloured thread are used to make it. cotton shirt.
       
6. Residual Cotton Thread: Some thread is leftover. Goes into the
   technical cycle for fining.
         
7. Residual Cotton Tissue: Some thin fabric is left over. It goes back to the environment.
        
8. Biological Cycle

Biological cycle: In a sustainable life cycle, the remains in the production of a cotton shirt return to nature and enter the biological cycle, where they decompose naturally and can be retrieved for future needs.

Technical cycle: The raw material- cotton threads go through a synthetic process, where they are treated with chemicals and dyes.