Old Navy’s Sustainability Essay Example

Textile mills today rely on water throughout the production process for making textile and garments. They use, on average, 10,000 liters of water to produce only 1 kg of raw cotton. Making satisfactory clothes requires the use of natural resources and freshwater which are finite. For a long amount of time, textile mills have been using the method of making clothes that would make their profit, and those methods are almost all of the time not environmentally friendly. Textile Mills also cause plenty of water and other types of pollution. Experts argue that clothing brands should make their clothing more sustainable since wasting water and causing pollution is terrible for the environment. The major brands argue that to make their clothing eco-friendly, they will need to change their entire model of making clothes and that making clothing sustainable will make them less money as making the clothing would require more money than normal. People also argue that clothing brands should not harm animals to make clothing as brands and manufacturers use exotic animal skin, fur, and leather to make clothes. Old Navy is starting to be sustainable by using recycled water, cotton, and polymer to make their clothes and are also limiting the use of animal products to make their clothes but they are a long way away from being sustainable. Consumers should buy clothing from Old Navy since they are using 100% recycled water and cotton to make their clothes which helps the environment significantly. They also use 60% recycled polymer to make clothing and their price for clothing is relatively low compared to other clothing brands.

Old navy’s sustainable way of making clothing is better than that of the other brands, particularly because they use recycled water. By the year 2025, Old Navy is going to use 100% recycled water to make their clothing, which is adequate as in some years, the world’s freshwater will be diminished and all manufacturing practices will need recycled water to keep fresh water on the planet. Old Navy is a fashion brand, it is trying to conserve freshwater by using 100% recycled water to make clothing, Old Navy is ahead of the other clothing brands in terms of sustainability. A recent article from the fashion watchdog, Good On You states, “The American brand demonstrates leadership in managing water use in its supply chain, which we love!”(Reuturier 3). Old Navy makes its clothing in an environmentally friendly way which does minimal impact on the environment while keeping its price tag relatively low. However, it can still do more to help the environment. Companies with higher price tags than Old Navy do not use recycled water to make their clothing which harms the environment. If other brands want to be more sustainable, they would have to use more eco-friendly practices for making clothing, like using recycled water like Old Navy does to make their clothes. 

Cotton is a main part of clothing but it is also the worst part of clothing. Cotton is found in cottonseed, a bunch of water is needed to remove the cotton from the seed and make it safe for clothing. Furthermore, cotton also harms the environment because of the runoff of pesticides and fertilizers from cotton fields which contaminate rivers, lakes, and wetlands. These pollutants affect biodiversity directly by immediate toxicity or indirectly through long-term accumulation. Old Navy is going to use 100% recycled cotton by the end of 2022, which will help the environment by not using a lot of water for cotton production and not causing biodiversity problems by the runoff of pesticides or fertilizers from cotton fields. According to the Old Navy, “100% of cotton will be recycled, verified US-grown, and BCI by 2022”(Old Navy). Old navy is not only going to use 100% recycled cotton, but they are also going to use US-grown, and BCI verified which will make sure that the producers are only using 100% recycled and not getting new ones from another country that sells cotton for affordable prices. Using 100% recycled cotton also helps the environment and water conservation because less water will be needed for cotton production and also fewer runoffs of fertilizer/chemicals will happen from the farm to rivers which is poor for the environment. If other brands that want to keep up on sustainability, they will also need to use recycled fiber and materials for making their clothing.

Polymer is a dominant part of the fibers that are needed to produce quality clothing. Polymer production also causes water and ocean pollution because of the runoffs of the fertilizers and chemicals used on farms to grow and produce polymers. In addition to polymers' persistence in oceans and water pollution from their production, synthetic polymers are a serious challenge on land as they are often disposed of in landfills where they will remain for centuries into the future slowly leaking toxins into the soil as time passes. As stated on the Old Navy Website, “60% of our polymer will be recycled by 2025”(Old Navy- Sustainability). The Old Navy is going to use 60% recycled polymer to manufacture their clothing which will help the environment and the humans because Polymer production causes water and ocean pollution, which is bad for the environment. Polymer production causes water pollution because of the runoffs of the fertilizers and chemicals in the water from the fields. Water pollution can cause water to become toxic for humans and the environment. Furthermore, the landfills created by polymers harm the environment by leaking toxins into the soil. Old Navy’s sustainability will reduce these problems but will not solve them. If we want to solve these serious problems, many other major clothing brands will also have to use recycled fibers for making their clothing.

Animals and their products also play an important role in the making of clothes. Every year, billions of animals suffer and die for clothing. Skin is torn from them to fabricate leather, birds are held down while handfuls of feathers are ripped out of their sensitive skin, and small animals are caged for life before getting killed for their fur. The Old Navy is limiting the use of animals for making clothes by not using exotic animal skin and fur. But they are still not doing well enough. Old Navy also provides everyone with the name of their supplier which is rare for a key brand to do as the suppliers could be worse and worse, but Old Navy still provides the supplier lists which tells us that they are not lying. Article from Style Wise stated, “International Labour Organization (ILO) has applauded the fact that they’ve released a supplier list, because this will help watchdog agencies do their own assessments.” (Stylewise-blog)  And the Article from Good On You stated, “It has a basic formal policy to protect animal welfare, but it still uses leather, wool, and exotic animal hair. The good news is that Old Navy does not use fur, angora, down, or exotic animal skin.”(Reuturier 3)This shows how the Old Navy is still using animals for making clothes, but it is not killing/executing the animals to create clothes which is a start but still not enough. But it also shows how the Old Navy is not trying to hide things. The Old Navy can do much more to protect animals and not use them to produce clothes. Other brands also should be doing what Old Navy is doing to help animal welfare and be more sustainable.

Even though the Old Navy is not fully sustainable, it is a start towards sustainability. People should buy from the old navy because it is moving towards sustainability while keeping the price of its clothes low and is doing better in terms of sustainability than of the other brands. Old Navy is using recycled fibers like 100% recycled cotton and 60% recycled polymer to construct their clothing to be sustainable. It is also using 100% recycled water to manufacture its clothing which will help the environment drastically making the clothes more eco-friendly. Lastly, we need to keep in mind the damage clothes do to the environment and to reduce it, we should buy clothes from brands that put together their clothing in an environmentally friendly way.

Work Cited

Navy, Old. “A Better Future for Future Generations - Imagine Mission: Old Navy.” A Better Future for Future Generations - Imagine Mission | Old Navy, 2021, https://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/info.do?cid=1160383#sustainability. 

Reuturier, Solene. “How Ethical Is Old Navy?” Good On You, 1 Mar. 2022, https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-old-navy/. 

Wise, Style. “Is Old Navy Ethical?” StyleWise, 1 Jan. 2022, https://stylewise-blog.com/is-old-navy-ethical/.