America and the world have a waste problem. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2018, each American was producing 4.9lbs of waste a day. Waste includes items such as food, plastics and textiles. Textile waste is a huge problem, according to Bloomberg, “The US throws away up to 11.3 million tons of textile waste each year–around 2150 pieces of clothing each second.” This huge waste problem comes from a lack of knowledge and processes to easily recycle clothing and textiles. Because of this gap of knowledge, “87% of the total fiber input used for clothing is ultimately incinerated or sent to a landfill.” Textile waste produces greenhouse gasses, as well as introduces harmful chemicals into the earth. To keep clothes color or shape chemicals are added to the fabric which when left to disintegrate can seep into the ground, harming the environment. Choosing to recycle clothing, donate clothing or shop second hand is one way in which we can help reduce textile waste in landfills. 

While fast fashion profits retailers and makes cheap clothing accessible to consumers, it comes at a great cost to the environment. The U.S Geological Survey found 71% of microplastics found in samples of river water which can be traced back to fibers. On a global scale, 35% of microplastics polluting oceans can be traced to textiles. Moreover, fashion workers are paid low wages and forced to face poor working conditions. These problems, compounded by overproduction by companies and mass-consumption by consumers, has resulted in environmental and social degradation across the fashion supply chain. When consumers choose to shop second-hand instead of buying something new, they prevent additional social and environmental degradation from occurring. 

POP! participates in Shopify's Millennium carbon neutral shipping plan. This means that for every order, 15 cents goes towards funding innovative sustainability solutions, such as direct air capture and mineralization. This also means that a portion of our profits goes towards companies such as, 44.01, Carbofex, CarbonBuilt, CarbonCure, Charm Industrial, Climeworks, DroneSeed, Grassroots Carbon, Heirloom Carbon, Loam, Noya, Pachama, Planetary, Remora, Running Tide, and Sustaera. Along with our carbon neutral shipping plan, our packaging is also 100% compostable!