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Cotton: A case study in Misinformation

Fashion has a major misinformation problem. While there have been attempts to debunk fashion misinformation, we have not taken the problem seriously enough. Fashion misinformation is part of the same society wide information disorder destabilizing democracies and undermining public trust. While we need not agree on a one-sizefits all solution to environmental and social problems, all players in fashion—from journalists and non-profits to consumers, suppliers and brands—need to agree on the facts, or hope for progress will fade from view.

This report aims to take a new approach, using the cotton industry as a lens through which to tackle misinformation. Most of the common claims about the cotton industry are inaccurate or highly misleading (from the idea that cotton is water-thirsty to the notion that it takes 20,000 liters of water to make a T-shirt and a pair of jeans). It is an ideal place to begin to unpack how misinformation operates. In this paper, readers will:

  • Become critical consumers of data, using the cotton industry’s environmental impact as a case study.
  • Learn how to debunk the most common myths about the cotton industry and gain much-needed context about water consumption and pesticide use in the cotton industry.
  • Gain access to the latest and best available public data and context on cotton’s environmental impact to use in place of misinformation.

Herausgeber*in/Autor*in: Transformers Foundation; Autor*in: Elizabeth L. Cline, Marzia Lanfranchi
Medienart: Hintergrundinformation
Erscheinungsjahr: 2021

Zielgruppe: Student*innen, Schüler*innen Sek I/II, Berufsschule, Erwachsene
Sprache: Englisch
Umfang: 137 Seiten
Bezug: kostenfrei zum Download

Suchbegriffe: Baumwolle, Bekleidungsindustrie, Greenwashing, Jeans, Kritischer Konsum, Mode, Nachhaltigkeit, Qualität, Pestizide, Wasserverbrauch

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