The Trillion Dollar Apparel Industry

The global apparel market is projected to grow in value from 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020 to about 2.25 trillion dollars by 2025, showing that the demand for clothing and shoes is on the rise across the world. This means there is a lot of potential for disruption in the trillion dollar apparel industry.

One major problem we are facing today with the global apparel market is that it accounts for a lot of waste, so when we came across Babble and Hemp, we were excited to learn more about their story. Reducing waste and increasing sustainability in an industry as big as the fashion and apparel industry is something we should all get behind and support.

We had the chance to sit down with Charlie Thomas, founder of Babble and Hemp, to learn more about his background and passion for sustainable fashion.

Tell us a little bit about you and your background: 

I’m a 25 year old guy on a mission to reintroduce a little known fabric called hemp to men’s wardrobes. My reason for this is that it’s a beautifully soft, elegant fabric that grows organically using 5x less water than cotton and holds many answers our fashion industry faces. The way I do this is through my men’s 100% hemp shirt brand – Babble & Hemp.

What is a fun fact about you?

I’ve done a Double Ironman. 42 hour triathlon with 40 min sleep in the middle.

Why do you think climate change and sustainability is such an important topic today? 

The film ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ was a bit of an exaggeration when it came out, but diluted versions of it have happened since then – both with extremely hot days in February and freezing cold days. This is only getting worse but is best mitigated by a huge number of people focusing on small niche areas as a way to prevent it getting too much worse.

What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?

Much less reliance on cotton, an incredibly resource hungry fabric that uses 2700 litres of water to make a men’s shirt let alone the chemical and pesticides. The way we will do that is through creating quality, comfortable and stylish hemp clothing that is much better for the environment.

What can the average person do to make a difference? 

Stop and think before they buy an item of cotton or oil based clothing (eg nylon / polyester) because if they buy it then the companies will continue to make it – meaning change won’t happen.

Disrupting The Trillion Dollar Apparel Industry

If you are interested in learning more about how you can support companies like Babble & Hemp, visit their website. Tune in and subscribe to the Going Green podcast on Apple or Spotify to listen to interviews with leading cleantech and sustainable experts.