Research
What we study, and how.
An STS investigation of how PFAS — the "forever chemicals" — in clothing reach the bodies of consumers and the workers who make them, and how the knowledge needed to act on that harm goes unproduced.
The approach
Three threads, one supply chain
The project works across the supply chain and the household at once — combining consumer surveys and interviews, laboratory testing of everyday garments, and ethnographic fieldwork — to build evidence where the science is thin. The harms it traces are not evenly shared: they fall hardest on women, garment workers, and communities of color.
What people know they're wearing
Surveys and interviews on how much consumers understand about the chemicals in their clothing — and what would actually change how they shop.
Measuring PFAS in apparel
Laboratory testing of everyday undergarment brands to establish which chemicals are present, and at what levels.
Who is held accountable
Ethnographic and policy analysis of how chemical-management decisions are made — and unmade — across the supply chain, and how responsibility is assigned or avoided.
Support
Funding & support
PFAS Testing of Consumer Textiles
Fast Fashion, Chemical Exposure, and Reproductive Health
Clothing as Public Health Crisis: Consumer Knowledge and Forever-Chemical Exposure
STS Research Cluster
Outputs
Findings & publications
Writing, conference presentations, and publications from the project live on the Life of Project page — alongside the wider body of PFAS-and-fashion research the work is in conversation with.