Design Life-Cycle

Sanjana Pethe

Maia Zhu, Victoria Kerslake

DES 40A

Professor Cogdell

3 March 2023

Girlfriend Collective Leggings Raw Materials 

The first leggings were worn by soldiers in the 14th century to protect their legs from sharp plants and harmful bacteria. The leggings worn by soldiers were tight “pants” made of light and breathable material to ensure that soldiers were comfortable on the battlefield (“Facts About Leggings”). In addition, the material had to be stretchy so that the leggings would hug the wearer's figure to avoid the pants from being caught on bushes and branches. Today, about 200 years later, leggings have evolved to be commonly worn by women for exercising because they comfortably allow for movement. Many say that they enjoy wearing leggings because they are comfortable and hug their body in a flattering way. Typically leggings are created with spandex and polyester to create a stretchy and durable fabric. However, spandex and polyester are commonly made from fossil fuels which makes the production and collection of the necessary raw materials unsustainable. There is a company aiming to fix this problem: The Girlfriend Collective. The Girlfriend Collective claims that their leggings are made from recycled materials (“Sustainability FAQs.”). Throughout their product life cycle they stay true to their promise of using recycled raw materials in their product, however they also use virgin materials to make spandex (“Sustainability FAQs.”). Most of the recycled materials used during the production of their leggings come from the polymerization and depolymerization of plastic water bottles. In addition to the production of the leggings, the Girlfriend Collective packaging also requires a significant amount of recycled materials. 

A product’s life cycle begins with the collection of necessary raw materials. Since the Girlfriend Collective’s compressive leggings are made of 79% recycled polyester and 21% virgin spandex, raw material acquisition begins with plastic water bottles and the materials needed to make spandex (Southey). The first step to make recycled polyester is to clean and remove any labels on the water bottles brought to the Girlfriend Collective’s partner recycling plant in Taiwan (“Sustainability FAQs.”). The clean and label-free water bottles are then crushed into tiny pieces so that they can be easily and evenly melted during the depolymerization and polymerization stage of product manufacturing (Mukherjee). Typically the polymerization stage of making virgin polyester involves the use of petroleum to make the polymers. However, the Girlfriend Collective uses plastic water bottles which already have polymers that were formed during the bottle’s production process. Since the bottles have polymers this requires another step: depolymerization. The bottles must be depolymerized and then polymerized again before being ready to use to make the fabric for the leggings (Mukherjee). A parallel process of raw material acquisition is needed to make the virgin spandex used in the compressive legging fabric. Polyester alone is not stretchy enough and does not have the correct texture to be the sole material used to make the leggings, so spandex is needed to provide stretchiness and texture. Spandex requires a base material of polyurethane in addition to prepolymers, stabilizers and colorants to be made (Support Team). The polymers are sourced from byproducts of petroleum (Belson). This means that though the Girlfriend Collective’s leggings are primarily made from recycled materials they do use fossil fuels to make spandex. The next step in the product’s life cycle is to process these raw materials into usable forms in the product manufacturing phase.  

After collecting the necessary raw materials, the Girlfriend Collective needs to make the fabric used to make their compressive leggings. The first step is to depolymerize the crushed plastic water bottle pieces. Depolymerization involves heat and solvents to break down the polymers into monomers. Monomers are the building blocks of polymers. Plastic and polyester are built from fibers made by a combination of many polymers. After undergoing intense heat and reacting with solvents, the monomers are taken to be cleaned. Potential contaminants are cleaned off of the monomers to prepare them for the polymerization process (“Depolymerization”). Now that the monomers are ready, they must undergo a process called polymerization so that they can be made into threads that can be used to make leggings. During polymerization, the monomers taken from the depolymerization process are fed into the normal plastic production. This means that rather than using monomers that come from fossil fuel byproducts, the plant will use the monomers sourced from the recycled plastic water bottles. After undergoing the typical plastic production process, the polymers are strung into threads that can be used to make the fabric for the leggings (Lewis). The next component needed to make the textiles for the Girlfriend Collective leggings is virgin spandex. Spandex is made by holding repeating chains of monomers, sourced from a fossil fuel byproduct, together with an acid. Macroglycol, an acid, is mixed with a monomer under a specific temperature and pressure to create a prepolymer (“Spandex.”). This prepolymer is then mixed with an acid to start a chemical reaction called chain extrusion. The solution from the chain extrusion reaction is then diluted with a solvent to make it thin enough to be malleable. Lastly, the material is forced into thin threads through a mixture of pressure and heat (Support Team). The Girlfriend Collective takes the threads from the spandex production process and the plastic water bottle recycling to form the fabric used to make their leggings. After the fabric has been cut and shaped in the Girlfriend Collective factory, the leggings are ready to ship to consumers.

Though the Girlfriend Collective’s packaging is primarily made of recycled materials, fossil fuels are used to distribute and transport raw materials during production. In addition, the cars, trucks, and ships that are used to ship the products to consumers use fossil fuels. During the raw materials phase fossil fuels are used to ship plastic water bottles from around the world to the recycling plant in Taiwan. After the water bottles are turned into textiles the ships and trucks that transport the material to the Girlfriend Collective factory in Seattle, Washington use fossil fuels (“Sustainability FAQs.”). Since the Girlfriend Collective does not have its own physical stores, fossil fuels are also required to power the transportation used to ship the goods to consumers. This requires a significant amount of fossil fuels since they have to ship to customers all over the world. Another aspect of the distribution phase involves packaging. In an effort to reduce waste, the Girlfriend Collective’s packaging is made to be reused by the customer. They distribute their leggings in a durable and multi-use pouch designed by and made by the CRP creative agency (Lin). In addition, CRP claims to use 100% recycled and responsibly sourced materials to make the “outer packaging,” such as packets and tags, for the Girlfriend Collective products (“E-Commerce Packaging Program”). The materials used include recycled cardboard and other recycled materials as well as sustainably produced paper. They claim that the pouch the leggings are placed in is also made from recycled fabric. Since Girlfriend Collective leggings are made to be durable and for multi-use, consumers only have to maintain their leggings by using laundry detergent and water to wash their Girlfriend Collective leggings. 

After consumers have gotten the most out of their Girlfriend Collective leggings they can send their old leggings to the Girlfriend Collective’s “Regirlfriend” program. The Regirlfriend program encourages customers to send their old leggings to the Girlfriend Collective so that their old leggings can be recycled into new leggings. By encouraging recycling, the company is maximizing the potential of a circular life cycle for their products. The company says that they use every part of the leggings sent to them, from the fabric to the stitching, to make new leggings (“Legging Recyclable.”). All of the effort put into the Regirlfriend program is in line with their mission to avoid contributing to landfills around the world.

Though the Girlfriend Collective claims to use only recycled materials to make their leggings true, this is not entirely true. Materials technology has not developed enough for companies to use 100% recycled material to make new products because the recycled material still needs to be boosted by virgin materials to meet quality standards. This is why it is not possible for the Girlfriend Collected to only use recycled water bottles and recycled spandex to make their leggings. In addition, though the company prides themselves on being as transparent about their production process as possible, some information can be quite hard to find and unspecific making it difficult to fully believe their claims of making leggings from only recycled materials. Their lack of transparency means that consumers have to do their own research and make assumptions about the company’s practices that blur what is really happening behind the scenes. However, the company does what they can to minimize the impact that they and their products have on the environment. By using recycled water bottles the company prevents excess waste from ending up in landfills as well as minimizes the amount of fossil fuels needed to produce the polyester used in the legging material. It is admirable that during all parts of the product’s lifecycle, from distribution to disposal, the Girlfriend Collective has thought of a way to make their products as kind to the environment as possible.

Works Cited

Belson, Sheryl. “Fabric Sources: Minerals - Acrylics, Polyester, & Nylon.” American Sewing Guild, American Sewing Guild, 28 Jan. 2022, https://www.asg.org/fabric-sources-minerals-acrylics-polyester-nylon/. Accessed 17 Feb. 2023. 

“Depolymerization: Breaking It Down To Basic Building Blocks.” CEFIC, CEFIC, https://cefic.org/a-solution-provider-for-sustainability/chemical-recycling-making-plastics-circular/chemical-recycling-via-depolymerisation-to-monomer/. 

“Facts About Leggings That'll Knock Your Socks Off!” Its All Leggings, Its All Leggings, 6 Apr. 2021, https://itsallleggings.com/facts-about-leggings-thatll-knock-your-socks-off.

“Girlfriend Collective: E-Commerce Packaging Program.” CRP, Creative Retail Packaging, 2023, https://creativeretailpackaging.com/clients/girlfriend-collective/. 

“Is the Entire Legging Recyclable.” Girlfriend Collective, Girlfriend Collective, May 2022, https://girlfriend.gorgias.help/en-US/is-the-entire-legging-recyclable-82220. 

Lewis, Ian. “The Future of Fashion: Turning Recycled Plastic Into Clothes.” Causeartist, Causeartist, 2023, https://causeartist.com/future-of-fashion-recycled-plastic-into-clothes/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2023. 

Lin, Derrick. “Girlfriend Collective: Challenging the Sustainable Quo.” Packaging of The World, Packaging of The World, 5 Feb. 2018, https://packagingoftheworld.com/2018/02/girlfriend-collective-challenging.html.

Mukherjee, Abhas. Science Reporter, 2017, Clothes From Plastic Bottles!, https://nopr.niscpr.res.in/bitstream/123456789/42128/1/SR%2054(6)%2040-41.pdf. Accessed 16 Feb. 2023. 

Perella, Maxine. New Fabrics Make Recycling Possible, but Are They Suitable for High Street?, 22 Jan. 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-blog/2015/jan/22/fabric-recycling-closed-loop-process-high-street-fashion. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. 

Southey, Emily. “Girlfriend Collective's Activewear Is Made Out of Recycled Water Bottles.” Setting Mind, Setting Mind, 26 June 2020, https://settingmind.com/girlfriend-collectives-activewear-is-made-out-of-recycled-water-bottles/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. 

“Spandex.” How Products Are Made, Advameg Inc., 2023, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Spandex.html. Accessed 7 Feb 2023

Support Team, Sewport. “What Is Spandex Fabric: Properties, How Its Made and Where.” Sewport, Beila Ltd., 12 Mar. 2023, https://sewport.com/fabrics-directory/spandex-fabric.

“Sustainability FAQs.” Girlfriend Collective, Girlfriend Collective, 2023, https://girlfriend.com/pages/about-girlfriend. 

Yang, Rulin, et al. "A “Polymer to Polymer” Chemical Recycling of PLA Plastics by the “DE–RE Polymerization” Strategy." Macromolecules 55.5 (2022): 1726-1735.

Victoria Kerslake

Sanjana Pethe, Maia Zhu

DES 40A

Professor Cogdell

The Embodied Energy of Girlfriend Collective Leggings 

When you first think of leggings, you probably imagine their use for casual day to day wear or exercise. Surprisingly, however, the first leggings were actually made for a very different reason; they originally served as battle gear for Scottish soldiers during the 14th century. For the next hundreds of years, the concept of leggings continued to evolve. The modern day evolution of leggings didn’t appear until the 1950s, when they were popularized by Hollywood star Audrey Hepburn’s 1954 hit film, Sabrina. Another key moment in the development of leggings was the creation of Lycra (also known as Spandex) in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers. Lycra was revolutionary in the textile industry for its ability to stretch, comfortability, lightweight feel and resistance to sweat. While lycra provided these benefits, it also had devastating environmental impacts. The production of spandex involves many harmful chemicals which compromise water quality and harm aquatic life. Spandex is not biodegradable, and when it eventually does break down it only separates into microplastics. After learning about the environmental impacts of spandex leggings and the textile industry, Ellie Dinh and her husband Quang decided they wanted to start an eco-friendly alternative to leggings, and Girlfriend Collective was born. Girlfriend Collective is a sustainable activewear brand which makes clothing from recycled plastic bottles. While Girlfriend Collective makes an effort to minimize their energy usage and be as sustainable as possible, this ultimately is not completely successful as most of the life cycle still relies primarily upon the use of fossil fuels. 

     The first phase of the product’s life cycle is collection of raw materials. Girlfriend collective leggings are fabricated from 79% recycled polyester (rPET) and 21% virgin spandex (Girlfriend Collective Website). The energy from the raw materials phase comes from collecting, transporting, and recycling plastic water bottles as well as creating new spandex. The water bottles are first transported to the factory in Taiwan by trucks, which are powered by fossil fuels such as gasoline. After the bottles arrive at the factory, they are then converted into usable fabric by large, energy intensive machines which are also primarily powered by fossil fuels. During this process, the bottles are physically crushed into small pellets (using mechanical energy) and then heated (using thermal energy). The use of rPET as opposed to virgin polyester in this process saves large amounts of energy (estimated 1 full gallon of gasoline saved per 2kg of rPET yarn) (Mukherjee). Production of virgin spandex, however, is extremely energy intensive as the initial chemicals must first undergo a chemical reaction (chemical energy), then the fibers are spinned (mechanical energy), and finally heated (thermal energy). According to one study worldwide fabrication of synthetic fabrics consumes an estimated 1.35 percent of the world's oil resources (more than Spain's annual oil consumption!) (TRVST). 

     After the initial recycled fabrics are created, the product moves on to its second phase, Product Manufacturing. The fabrics are first transported from Taiwan to a different factory in Vietnam for clothing assembly. The flight between Taiwan and Vietnam is around 1,062 miles, meaning the plane will use approximately 5,310 gallons of fuel for the journey. Upon arrival at the next factory, the fabrics are dyed before they can be cut and sewn. The dyeing process is usually incredibly energy intensive, taking large amounts of water and electricity. According to the journal “An Assessment of Energy and Groundwater Consumption of Textile Dyeing Mills”, conventional textile dyeing and finishing processes require a massive 1.5 million liters of water for every ton of textile processing, and consume a significant amount of energy from the national grid, using fossil fuels and natural gas. However, Girlfriend Collective minimizes this energy and water consumption through a new dying system which requires less water and funnels dyed water directly into a treatment plant where it can be immediately treated and reused. The production process also relies on human labor as the garments are assembled. These garment factories also rely on electricity for lighting during working hours. The specific energy source for Girlfriend Collective’s factories is unknown, but it is assumed to be coal or hydropower as they are the primary energy sources throughout Vietnam (Vietnam’s Energy Crunch, Koty).

     The next phase in the life cycle is transportation and distribution. The first energy usage in this step comes from the production of packaging. Girlfriend Collective packages their products using recyclable cardboard and paper which are embellished with a printed logo. Commercial printers such as those used to fabricate this packaging typically draw 300-500 watts of energy while in use. Next, the product is shipped back to Girlfriend Collective’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Transport from Vietnam all the way to Washington covers a long distance (5939.45 miles) therefore requiring over 36,000 gallons of fuel. Upon arrival at Girlfriend Collective headquarters in Seattle, the product is then shipped out to customers. This shipping is done on trucks, which also use gasoline. In order to combat this heavy energy use, Girlfriend Collective has partnered with the “EcoCart” program, which offsets the carbon footprint of shipping by funding projects such as planting trees or building wind farms. However, this does not negate the fact that the shipping process takes a large amount of energy.

     The following phase in the life cycle of Girlfriend Collective leggings is Use, Re-use, and Maintenance. The main energy consumption in standard use is when washing the leggings. The amount of energy used in this process varies greatly depending on the type of washing machine used. In horizontal access washing machines, only the bottom half of the machine is filled with water, while vertical axis machines are completely filled with water and so take longer to run. The heating level also influences the energy usage; in Asia most washing machines run without heating and therefore use much less energy than the typical American machine (Electricity and water consumption for laundry washing by washing machine worldwide). The number of wash cycles per year also depends on the country, with households in Japan and North America typically running their washing machines more often than households in Western Europe and China. Another aspect of maintenance is repair to the leggings due to wear and tear. This process doesn’t require any energy other than manual labor (sewing up holes, patches, etc). 

     The next stage in the life cycle is Recycling. Girlfriend Collective has launched their “Re-Girlfriend” program in order to make recycling their product easier. In this program, the customer can mail back their old used leggings in return for store credit. The recycling process takes lots of energy because the product essentially has to go back through the first two stages of the life cycle. Large amounts of fossil fuels are used to power the shipping back to Girlfriend Collective’s Headquarters, and are continued to be used as the product is shipped back to Taiwan to be broken back down into its base materials, then shipped again to the factory in Vietnam where it is reassembled into a new pair of leggings. 

     The final stage in the life cycle of Girlfriend Collective leggings is waste management. Because these leggings are made of synthetic materials, they are not biodegradable and so are sent to the landfill. The first use of energy is the gasoline powered garbage trucks that transport the leggings to the landfills. After arriving at the landfill, a large gasoline-powered trash compactor weighing over 100,000 lbs runs back and forth over the landfill to compact the waste and then cover it with soil. Every day the landfill will be covered with new trash and soil in order to clear more space. Because this process repeats indefinitely, it will consume large amounts of energy over time.  

     In conclusion, though Girlfriend Collective is more energy conscious that most fashion brands, it still relies heavily on the use of fossil fuels. One main driver of this is transportation, although it is not something directly controllable by the company (most of the shipment infrastructure is based upon fossil fuel powered vehicles). One potential solution to this could be manufacturing products more locally, so there is less back and forth shipment needed. While not perfect, Girlfriend Collective still lives up to most of their claims, and should serve as an example of making efforts to minimize energy consumption and the carbon footprint of products.

Works Cited

Admin. “Lightbox Feature: Ellie Dinh // Girlfriend Collective.” Creative Retail Packaging, 17 Aug. 2021, https://creativeretailpackaging.com/blog/ellie-dinh-girlfriend-collective/. 

Altimari, Kristin. “Lycra® Brand Celebrates 60 Years of Groundbreaking Innovations.” LYCRA® Brand Celebrates 60 Years of Groundbreaking Innovations | Business Wire, 2 May 2018, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180502005197/en/LYCRA%C2%AE-Brand-Celebrates-60-Years-of-Groundbreaking-Innovations. 

“Electricity Usage of a Printer.” Electricity Usage of a Printer - Energy Use Calculator, https://energyusecalculator.com/electricity_printer.htm#:~:text=An%20average%20ink%2Djet%20which,to%20500%20watts%20when%20printing. 

Girlfriend Collective. Are You Carbon Neutral?, https://girlfriend.gorgias.help/en-US/are-you-carbon-neutral-160237. 

Hu, Nini. “Spandex Is Elastic but the Environment Is Not.” AndHerShop, AndHerShop, 19 Aug. 2022, https://www.andher.us/blogs/news/spandex#:~:text=Non%2DBiodegradable,fabrics%20could%20release%20toxic%20chemicals. 

Koty, Alexander. “Vietnam's Energy Crunch.” ASEAN Business News, 27 Oct. 2022, https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/vietnams-energy-crunch/#:~:text=Vietnam's%20energy%20composition%20is%20dominated,hydroelectric%20renewables%20(5%20percent). 

Mamun, Abdullah Al, et al. “An Assessment of Energy and Groundwater Consumption of Textile Dyeing Mills in Bangladesh and Minimization of Environmental Impacts via Long-Term Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Baseline.” Textiles, vol. 2, no. 4, 2022, pp. 511–523., https://doi.org/10.3390/textiles2040029. 

Mukherjee, Abhas. “Clothes From Plastic Bottles!” Science Reporter, June 2017, https://nopr.niscpr.res.in/bitstream/123456789/42128/1/SR%2054%286%29%2040-41.pdf. 

Okafor, Jennifer. “Lycra Fabric, or Spandex, What Is It and Is It and Sustainable?” TRVST, 4 Feb. 2023, https://www.trvst.world/sustainable-living/fashion/lycra-fabric-and-sustainability/. 

Pakula, Christiane, and Rainer Stamminger. “Electricity and Water Consumption for Laundry Washing by Washing Machine Worldwide.” Energy Efficiency, vol. 3, no. 4, 2010, pp. 365–382., https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-009-9072-8. 

Payer, Allyson. “The Little-Known History of Leggings.” Who What Wear, Who What Wear, 12 June 2020, https://www.whowhatwear.com/history-of-leggings-trend/slide6. 

Maia Zhu

Professor Christina Cogdell 

DES 40A: Energy, Material and Design 

1 March 2023

Girlfriend Collective Leggings Waste & Pollution Essay

Girlfriend Collective, established in 2016, is an environmentally friendly brand made from a variety of consumer recycled goods; they were one of the first brands to turn consumer plastic bottles into eco-friendly activewear garments. While the final product may be marketed as eco-friendly, our group was interested in discovering if the company is as green as they depict themselves to be. Despite being advertised as “sustainably and ethically [created] from recycled materials,” (Collective, Girlfriend) the Compressive Pocket Leggings from Girlfriend Collective still generate a significant amount of waste during its life cycle stages in the form of air pollution, microplastics, and toxic chemical compounds leaving detrimental impacts on the environment. While they are taking active steps to reduce their global footprint, a majority of their actions during the life cycle stage would say otherwise. 

According to a sustainability report listed on Girlfriend Collective’s website for their Compressive Pocket Leggings made from 79 percent recycled water bottles and 21 percent spandex (Girlfriend Collective), the process of developing the leggings diverted 25 water bottles from landfills, prevented 18.61 lbs of Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) from being spewed into the atmosphere, and saved 3.11 gallons of water. The production of plastic and spandex are all processes that require heavy machinery and laborious amounts of processing. Every machine that is responsible for creating polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the primary polyester used to create water bottles, runs on fossil fuels generating a significant amount of CO₂ contributing to air pollution (Changing Markets Foundation). PET is produced from petroleum hydrocarbons reacted with ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid in order to create long molecular chains when polymerized. These chemicals, ethane and propane, are then derived from raw materials like natural gas, oil, or plants. After extraction, ethane and propane are given a type of high temperature treatment, otherwise known as cracking, turning individual monomers into the hydrocarbon ethylene and propylene in PET, further emitting CO₂ and unwanted ethane (City to Sea Charity). Plastic is then cooled into long tubes which are cut into smaller pieces before being shipped to factories that are responsible for melting and molding them into water bottles, which creates CO₂ from the transport required (Congressional Budget Office). Additionally, the leggings are made from spandex, a type of synthetic fiber chemically made up of long chain polyglycol and at least 85 percent polyurethane. The spandex is interwoven with elastomer and polymer strands in order to create the soft fiber for textile manufacturing.The actual process of creating spandex also relies excessively on fossil fuels like oil and gas; this process also requires an abundant amount of water in order to generate the processing of polyester, with about 100 to 200 kg of water discharged, as natural fibers have difficulty absorbing water (Palacious-Mateo, 5). 

The majority of wastes during the manufacturing, processing, and formulation step is from burning fossil fuels in order to power machinery, especially those responsible for sorting through functional pieces of plastic water bottles. The process of creating leggings begins with  “post-consumer water bottles that have their labels removed, are crushed into billions of minuscule chips, and then washed until they’re sparkling clean (Liao).” Anything that can’t be processed with the bottles like caps or rings becomes waste before heading to a machine that breaks the bottle down into smaller pieces. The textile industry alone has generated over 1.7B tons of CO₂ emissions since 2015 and has consumed 79B cubic meters of water and counting. These are substantial amounts of natural resources being consumed as part of a detrimental process to the environment, causing pollution that may put human health at risk. During this stage, dye and pigment is also applied to the leggings in order to achieve the variety of colors they offer their customers. However, 20 percent of global water pollution can be attributed to the dyeing and finishing of textile products (Daelman, 6). Many of the fibers and textiles are hydrophobic, requiring thermal assistance in order for the pigment to penetrate through the fiber, generating pollution and further waste. In addition, this process is estimated to emit 2.31 to 4.41 kg of CO₂. Although the company does not specify which dye process they use, we assumed the dependence on batch dye—the most popular amongst textile companies. This process involves the submergence of textiles into aqueous solutions containing dyes and chemicals generating wastewater that must be treated creating greater amounts of waste. Even though their website states their use of eco-friendly dyes with waste water being reused to create sidewalks and roads, we cannot forget the other 15,000 chemicals used during this process. With just 1kg of textiles, it is estimated that 0.58 kgs of chemicals are consumed with the residual compounds being discharged directly back into the environment, possibly endangering wildlife and our food chain (Palacious-Mateo, 8). Girlfriend Collective prides themselves on creating a work environment, ensuring employees receive a living wage and fair working conditions, with an emphasis on no child or forced labor with their SA8000 certificates for their Vietnam factory (Girlfriend Collective). Information cannot be found on the other manufacturing companies as they only disclose relevant details related to their Vietnam and Taiwan companies’ respective certifications. However, one can hope they treat all their employees involved in this process ethically.

A majority of the factories and companies Girlfriend Collective partners with are based overseas, requiring a significant amount of air and road transportation, generating excessive CO₂ and air pollution. This does not even account for the potential accidents that may occur on the road leading to further waste pollution, such as spillages of oils, chemicals and PET pellets during transit. While legal enforcement through legislation can work to reduce the spillage amount overall, the best way to approach the environmental impacts related to distribution would be by creating shorter supply chains between the industries involved in textile manufacturing. A large variety of Girlfriend Collective’s manufacturing sites are located overseas in places like Vietnam, Taiwan, and Japan; the company is relatively vague regarding the exact responsibilities of these respective facilities as they only specify that the water bottles are sourced from Taiwan and that their final production factory is in Vietnam (Girlfriend Collective). According to a study conducted by the Congressional Budget Office on the emissions of carbon dioxide in the transportation sector, 25 percent of emissions are from commercial trucks and buses while 17 percent of the emissions are from air transportation (including air cargo), pipelines, rails, and water transportation (Congressional Budget Office). This begs the question of how their goods are transported from factory to factory and from which factory to consumer. Based on product reviews conducted by customers, Girlfriend Collective supposedly ships out all orders from a fulfillment center near their main factory in Vietnam in an attempt to reduce their CO₂ emissions, though there are also contradicting reports in which the shipping label and packaging indicate that the shipments originate in Hong Kong. 

There are even still waste-associated environmental impacts from the leggings after they have been manufactured and shipped to consumers. Because the leggings are made from PET, there is no way to completely eliminate the amount of microplastics and microfibers that are shed, which are often linked to greenhouse gas emissions associated with washing and drying them. Each time synthetic textiles are washed, they shed tiny particles that find their way into human food, air, and water sources. Francesca de Falco, a post doctoral research student at University of Plymouth commented: “because they are plastic particles in the environment, they are not going to disappear…fibers are released when we wear clothes, when we wash clothes, during manufacturing, and so on (Liu, 3).” Roughly 80 percent of synthetic fibers are not biodegradable and shed microplastics with most fabrics made from spandex (like Girlfriend Collective) hard to recycle and reduce shedding. It is because the leggings are made from plastics and refurbished water bottles that they shed microplastics harming the environment regardless of how the clothing is cared for; spandex in itself is not an eco-friendly material and makes garments impossible to recycle (Bauck). That is not to say that while the leggings are being used they cannot generate waste in other forms such as through carbon emissions and energy consumption. At some point during their usage, they must be washed, which requires natural resources like electricity and water which can lead to waterborne and airborne pollution elements. 

Used Girlfriend Collective leggings can be recycled through the company’s “Re-Girlfriend Club,” taking old, or worn in, leggings and upcycling them into new leggings. Although the company does not directly specify how this process works, it ideally closes the cycle of refurbishing old leggings through the program so that they can be worn again. More brands should enforce programs like Girlfriend Collective accepting polyester garments as they do not decompose, making them difficult to recycle due to the heterogeneity of their materials (Palacious, 10); recycled polyester is often blended with cotton and other materials, making it hard to separate out and recycle again and again. Using recycled water bottles is almost like a silver bullet—on one hand you are creating a sustainable product, however, on the other hand you are creating a product that is impossible to recycle at the end of  its natural life cycle. The current process that is barely capable of separating PET from polyester, cotton, and other materials emits a significant amount of carbon dioxide, further contributing to the airborne waste already created throughout its life cycle (City to Sea Charity). Even though PET is a versatile material with the ability to be remade from polymer state through mechanical recycling, it is an extremely difficult process that currently lacks the technology and workforce to make it a commercially viable option. 

Despite being branded as the company who makes leggings from water bottles and encourages consumers to return their leggings to the “Re-Girlfriend Club,” it is difficult to control what consumers will do and ensure that they are properly disposing of their leggings. In order to control the waste management for these leggings, there needs to be a more efficient system in place for the materials to be decomposed. Because PET is a versatile material with the ability to be remade into a variety of things, encouraging consumers to recycle their leggings to companies who understand how the process works would help to alleviate the amount of waste produced. When sent to a landfill, the leggings will not break down and instead be resistant to biodegradation for long periods of time. The future of recycling PET and water bottle based leggings may eventually be possible, but it is currently one of the hardest materials to recycle and decompose. 

While Girlfriend Collective does live up to its title of being “green” and an environmentally conscious brand, there’s still a variety of decisions the company makes that contradict their image. Although they do provide a decided amount of information on their website regarding their products, much is still  left to speculation by the consumer in regards to their waste output from microfibers to air and water borne waste materials. The company places great importance on its title of being environmentally friendly and sustainable. If they truly cared, however, they would be more transparent about the entirety of their products’ life cycle, creating systems in place to offset the excessive waste and pollution they generate from their transport stage alone. It's important for consumers to be considerate of a product’s entire life cycle before deeming it “environmentally friendly,” as they are unaware of the waste and pollution that may be generated during the transport and raw materials acquisition stage. No matter how much effort is expended to create a product from consumer waste materials, it defeats the purpose if the final stage of the product is eventually discarded in a landfill, unable to be decomposed.

Bibliography 

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