We needed to move toward local economies. At the same time that we were making these long-term plans, we began an environmental audit to investigate the impact of the clothing we make. The results are still preliminary, but to no one's surprise, the news is bad. Everything we make pollutes. Synthetics like polyester and nylon, because they are made from petroleum, are obvious villains, but cotton and wool are no better.
Wool relies on flocks of sheep and goats that often denude environmentally fragile land.
It's nearly impossible to manufacture something without using more material and energy than results in the final product. For instance, in modern agriculture it takes three thousand calories of fossil fuel to produce a net of one thousand calories of food. To make and deliver a 100 percent cotton shirt requires as much as five gallons of petroleum. The average so-called 100 percent cotton product is only 73 percent cotton fiber, the rest being chemicals and resins. Other than shutting down the doors and giving up, what Patagonia can do is to constantly assess what we are doing.