3rd and 4th Class: SPHE

Tie Dying

Múinteoir John's lesson today was all about fast fashion. Let’s have a recap about what fast fashion is and then answer a few questions about what we have learned.

Fast Fashion

Fashion is a huge industry around the world. People everywhere enjoy looking good and buying the latest fashion trends. Clothes come in and out of fashion all the time and change with every season.

Up to about 20 years ago buying clothes was a big event and would only happen once or twice a year. The clothes you got would have to last you until you grew out of them, and then they could be passed on to a sibling or relative. If the clothes got damaged, then they would be repaired.

Nowadays you can buy clothes so cheaply that people are able to go shopping more often and buy a lot more clothes. These clothes are usually poor quality and are thrown out when they fall apart or go out of fashion. This is called fast fashion, and it has a terrible effect on the environment.

A lot of the clothes we wear are made from cotton, so cotton is in high demand. When cotton is being grown, it needs a lot of water, pesticides, and chemicals to speed along the process, to get it to the factories quicker. These chemicals damage the health of the field workers and the eco systems around them. When the cotton is then treated in the factories, it is bleached, and more dye and chemicals are added.

All these chemicals are being used to make a t-shirt that we wear for a couple of weeks and then throw away, adding to the massive piles of rubbish already in landfills. Why is so much cotton being produced? Because we keep buying it. To reduce the amount of cotton we grow and the amount of clothes we send to landfill, what do we need to do?

1. Be more careful about what clothes we buy. Buy clothes that are good quality and that will last a long time. Really think to yourself 'Do I need this item of clothing' before you buy it.

2. Shop in second-hand shops rather than buying new clothes and donate your old clothes to charity shops if they’re in good condition.

3. Recycle or upcycle your old clothes. Learn to sew so you can repair or alter old clothes to make new ones. Buy patches, fabric paint, sequins, and other decorations to make an old item of clothing look like new.

Questions:

1) What is fast fashion?

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2) Why is fast fashion bad for the environment?

3) How can we reduce the amount of cotton being grown?

4) Write a letter to someone who loves to buy fast fashion to try and persuade them that they need to try and change their shopping habits.

Send us pictures or videos of what you have done. Ask your parents to help you send them to rte.ie/learn

Tie Dye Your Old Clothes

A great way to upcycle an old t-shirt is to use food colouring to tie dye it.

What you will need –

Water, vinegar, food colouring, a plastic bottle with a small bit of water for each colour you are using (sport bottles would be best so you can sprinkle rather than pour, otherwise an adult could pierce a normal water bottle lid with a thumb tack) , white t-shirt (polyester works best), bucket/ bin / basin / large pot, apron, table cloth.

Add a bottle of vinegar and the same amount of water to the pot
Soak the t-shirt in the vinegar and water mixture and then squeeze out as much as you can

Lay the t-shirt out flat.
Pinch the centre of the t-shirt and twist around and around, nice and tight into a compact swirl.
Put some elastic bands around the t-shirt to hold it together. Place the t-shirt into a basin.
Choose what colours you want to dye your t-shirt. Add plenty of the food colouring to the water in each of your plastic bottles. The more food colouring you use the more vibrant the colour will be.
Sprinkle your colours onto the t-shirt whatever way you want.
Put the t-shirt into a plastic bag. Squeeze out any air in the bag. Leave the t-shirt for about 8 hours or overnight.
Rinse the t-shirt in cold salty water, let dry and then it's ready to wear.

Fabulous Fashion Show

Set yourself, your family or a few friends the challenge of upcycling some old pieces of clothes and revamping them into a new outfit e.g. make a shirt into a dress, cut worn out jeans into shorts, make holey socks into leg warmers, there's so much you can do.

Then organise a socially distant fashion show in your garden or on the street and strut your stuff on the catwalk, showing off your fabulous designs.