If Trump Won’t Fight Climate Change, Clothing Brands Will

When President Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate agreement last week and sent us careening toward a global environmental calamity—or as we called it, “a climate change-induced hellfire”—a historic collection of parties came together in response. Officially named We Are Still In (potentially stepping on the toes of whatever committee is keeping bomber jackets cool for the millionth straight year), the pledge has been signed by 1,370 businesses and investors (along with 9 states, 275 colleges and universities, and 178 cities and counties), and the list is still growing. The states represent a Trump-sized-double-scoop $6.2 trillion of the GDP while the businesses’ collective revenue totals $1.7 trillion. Warby Parker’s co-founder and co-CEO Neil Blumenthal tells me that he pledged to We Are Still In to show that no matter what the current administration does, he wants to show the U.S. is committed to fighting climate change. It’s a promise Blumenthal hopes will assuage other nations who might consider joining the U.S. in ditching the agreement. Of the 1,370 businesses involved in We Are Still In, thirty-five of those are apparel brands like Under Armour, Nike, Adidas, Gap, Levi’s, and the aforementioned Warby Parker. Not as many as you’d ideally see from an industry that is well known as one of the most devastating to the earth and climate. It can take almost 10,000 gallons of water to make a pair of jeans and Americans produce so much textile waste that recycling it would do the same amount of good as if 7.2 million people decided not to drive their cars anymore. Those are just two examples. Read more at GQ.