B1 The Life Cycle of a 

T-shirt

A. Watch the video and decide if the statements are true or false.

1. T-shirts are among the most commonly worn clothes. T F

2. More than 30 bathtubs of water are required to produce a T-shirt. T F
3. Majority of T-shirts are produced without pesticides. T F
4. Knitting machines produce fabric which is not white right away. T F
5. China is a bigger exporter of T-shirts than Bangladesh. T F
6. The shipping of T-shirts across the world results in high carbon emissions. T F
7. In America and average household uses about 40 gallons of water per year.T F
8. Fashion industry produces more pollution than oil industry. T F

B. Fill in the gaps.

1. A typical T-shirt begins its life on a farm where cotton seeds are sown, irrigated and grown
for the __fluffy______ ____puffs____ they produce. Self-driving machines carefully
__harvest__________ these puffs, an industrial cotton gin _mechanically_________
____separates_______ the cotton bolls from the seeds, and the cotton lint is pressed into
225 kg bales.
2. Cotton uses more ____pesticides________ and insecticides than any other crop in the world.
These _____pollutants_______ can be carcinogenic, ___harm_______ the health of field
workers, and damage surrounding ___ecosystems____________.
3. After manufacture, all those T-shirts travel by ____ship___, __train_______, and
__truck_______ to be sold in high __income______ countries, a ____process______ that
gives cotton an enormous ___carbon_______ footprint.
4. There are things we can do. Consider shopping _secondhand__________. Try to look for
textiles from _____recycled______ or _____organic_______ fabrics. Wash clothes less and
line dry to ___save_____ resources. Instead of __throwing_______ them away at the end of
their __life______, donate, recycle, or __reuse_____ them as ___cleaning_______ rags.

C. Vocabulary
Garment – piece of clothing
Irrigate – supply water to crops
Harvest - collect
Puffs - balls
Cotton gin = cotton engine – machine separating cotton from the seeds
Cotton lint – raw fiber from the cotton plant pressed into cotton balls
Organic – natural without chemicals
Weave – create a cloth by lacing together strands of material
Stitch up - repair
Surpass – be greater than
Carbon footprint – the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere
D. Look up the translation of the following words into your language in relation to the cotton
processing industry:
Blend - zmiešať
Card - štítok
Comb - očesať
Pull - ťahať
Stretch - natiahnúť
Twist - točiť
Bleach - bieliť
Dye - zafarbiť