We have a problem. School shirts are clogging up the environment, and here’s why: after only several uses, school shirts that are no longer pertinent get discarded, never to be seen or worn again. These garments include t-shirts, hoodies, or hats that bear the organization’s logo. School clubs and teams often put a great deal of advertising into their merchandise which, when worn together, symbolizes unity and professionalism. Organizations usually buy pre-emblemed attire and sell it to their members for a marginally higher price. This allows a small percentage of the purchase funds to go into the organization itself. 

My concern with this fundraising strategy, however, is that students only wear these clothes for spirit days and or for club events. The clothing items then go into closets where they remain, collecting dust until they are either thrown out or donated once they no longer pose any relevance. Why is this bad? Well, sustainability is living with the hopes that our current actions will preserve the world for future generations. Buying and discarding objects that don’t biodegrade easily, resulting in more and more mountains of landfill, doesn’t do quite that.

To further understand why they harm the Earth, let’s look at where your school shirt comes from. The typical cotton shirt starts its life in plant form. The fluffy white fibers that surround the seed of the cotton plant get harvested, either by machinery or by hand, and go to a processing plant. The cotton is cleaned, treated, mixed with plastics, stretched, and twisted into weavable fibers called cotton yarn. It is laced into a raw cloth that gets treated with various chemicals, including potentially carcinogenic softeners and dyes, until a piece of fabric is formed.

Next up is the actual assembling of the shirt which includes cutting the bodice, the sleeves, the collar, and stitching it all together. While the process of weaving and dying the cotton fabric is often automated, there is no technology capable of sewing together garments such as shirts. Instead, apparel companies employ women in poverty-stricken countries, providing them with industrial sewing machines to do handiwork that makes it to our closets. The employees, sometimes children, are exposed to toxic chemicals that are detrimental to health.

Already, there are so many concerning aspects of the clothing-making process. Firstly, the environmental factors: it takes over 5,000 gallons of water to produce just 1 kg of usable cotton. With weather patterns changing due to global warming, conserving as much water as possible will benefit the sustainability of civilizations in the long run. 

Additionally, the chemical pesticides and fertilizers used to grow cotton can be very harmful to the natural environment. While pesticides make farming a lot cheaper and faster, their overuse can lead to the development of superbugs and ends up leaving harmful residues on the clothing that we buy. And though fertilizers may speed up the maturation of cotton, runoff typically flows into local waterways and promotes harmful algal blooms that deplete oxygen for fish and other aquatic creatures.

Furthermore, the farming process releases plenty of greenhouse gases, aggravating the current global warming crisis. For instance, vehicles used to harvest cotton run on either diesel or gasoline. When burnt, these fuels release carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. Similarly, the transportation of the cotton from the farm to the processing center—and from the processing center to the assembly center—is a process that results in plenty of carbon emissions.

Finally comes the part where students actually play a role. The t-shirts get shipped from their country of manufacture to (typically) the U.S., where companies print, embroider, and or stamp various school-related logos onto them. Though students don’t actively participate in the unsustainable process, our purchases make a difference. By continuing to buy from this controversial industry, we are choosing to perpetuate the harmful cycle.

“You can’t really donate those school shirts because they have names written on them,” said senior Sonia Zhang. “So it’s a bit wasteful.”

 Sonia is strongly passionate about the environment and climate justice. As the captain of the Science Olympiad team at Arcadia High School, she is all too familiar with the school shirt conundrum. This year, Sonia is questioning whether or not the team should purchase apparel at all.

Her dilemma stems from the fact that she will be entering college soon, an era where high school shirts will no longer pose relevance. This is a problem many students are facing. Typically, old clothing can be donated to be sold in thrift stores or be worn by underprivileged citizens. However, in the case of organization-specific gear, donation centers may be hesitant to pass them on to a person in need. What isn’t salvageable gets thrown out.

Luckily, there are several viable solutions to prevent further damage to the environment. One is just to stop buying shirts that you don’t need. Not just school shirts, but cheaply made clothing in general. Having only several outfits that are well-fitting and comfortable should suit you. When you do need to make an apparel purchase, try to shop locally and buy from brands that are certified fair trade.

As for schools, it isn’t necessary for there to be a new t-shirt design each year. They should try to encourage students to wear the spirit attire of older siblings. Graduating students who don’t have younger siblings to pass on their clothes to should be given the option to donate old school-related clothes back to the school, to be redistributed to new students at a reduced cost. The method of reusing shirts can help schools with profits in the long run, since they do not need to go through the hassle of reordering shirts each year. 

Another method proposed by Sonia is upcycling. Since we have these clothes that can’t be donated, why not make the most of them. The process of upcycling is becoming more popular with younger generations and offers a creative outlet as well as a purpose for old wear. Sonia suggests using old clothes to make bags or blankets. The clothes can be cut into patches that can be used to mend holes in other clothing.

Lastly, awareness in general can be helpful in reducing the scale of the issue. Up until recently, I was not aware of fashion’s huge impact on the environment. With my newfound knowledge, I have become more conscious of small actions that create huge impacts. I have been actively going out to club leaders and voicing my opinion on why team merch should be a thing of the past. With enough traction, the atrocious effects of the t-shirt industry can be curbed, and the future will be ours once again.