Introduction
Fashion Industry is responsive to people’s demands which makes it evolving at a fast pace. But when it comes to sustainability in fashion industry then there are many issues lying which need our focus. Both the fashion companies producing clothes and the consumers buying the clothes have not yet understood the negative impacts their choices are creating for our planet earth. As per a report of McKinsey, in year 2018 fashion industry produced around 2.1 billion metric tonnes of GHG emissions, much higher than few countries’ total annual GHG emissions.
What is Sustainability?
Sustainability means using resources in a way through which we accomplish our needs while simultaneously saving the resources for our future generations so as to make them meet their needs as well. It is important to think about sustainability because the resources that are present in the world are limited.
What is Sustainable Fashion?
Sustainable fashion is something with which we can focus on our wasteful conduct and our non-grateful attitude simultaneously. Sustainable fashion is a process of manufacturing and distributing clothes to consumers in manners which are not just trendy but are also friendly to the environment and takes into consideration the amount of water and energy consumption, harmful gas emissions while producing a cloth item and also how consumers are using and recycling the clothes. It is one of those effective processes that by its practice we as humans can actually transform the world-health related situations. By making a shift to sustainable fashion, we can altogether bring down the effects of the fashion industry and produce less waste that is normally a massive part of the fashion industry.
Though, with a great turn of events, sustainable fashion is now becoming a necessity and a trend. Nowadays, fashion brands are trying to reduce their carbon footprint and any other environmental issue starting from point of production to the ending point of selling to the consumers.
Why is sustainability important in the Fashion Industry?
Sustainability in the fashion industry is important because we as consumers get influenced by new and trendy fashion styles put up by either movies/movie stars or models. This phenomenon leads us to buy clothes which we might not be needing in the very first place. In the pursuit of following “trendy” styles we create a demand for fast fashion and forget the negative impacts it carries along for the environment. Fast fashion also creates wastes that are much higher than it should be, as per the data, around 92 million tonnes of waste is generated globally because of fast fashion trends. There can be many reasons as to why sustainability is important in the fashion industry, few of them are:
- Sustainable Fashion can help save animal’s lives– It has been estimated that the leather industry alone is accountable for slaughtering and killing of over 430 million animals per year.
- Sustainable Fashion can save water– Water is being used in dyeing and finishing process of our clothes. As per the data it takes an incredible amount of 2,700 litres of water to produce a single T-shirt.
- Sustainable Fashion can help in getting rid of Fast Fashion– The availability of sustainable clothing alternatives for our regular clothing choices that can fit into the monetary range of fast fashion will help in getting rid of fast fashion.
- Sustainable Fashion provides better working conditions– There are movies like ‘The True Cost’ or ‘Fashion Factories Undercover’ which shows the ugly/dark side of fast fashion sector. Shifting from fast fashion to sustainable fashion can also help in providing the workers in fashion industries better working conditions.
What does being sustainable mean in the Fashion Industry ?
As mentioned earlier, sustainable fashion does not just one comprise of doing one good thing and calling it quits. Sustainable fashion is a process that comprises of different steps which needs to be followed or practiced forever. A sustainable fashion industry is an industry that should function in manners that can keep working for a really long time to come. Sustainable fashion means clothing or attire that is planned, produced, distributed, and utilized in manners that are harmless to the ecosystem.
Sustainability in fashion means-
- Using materials like organic fabrics such as linen, hemp, organic cotton & TENCEL™ for production of clothes instead of materials like polyester, acrylic & nylon which are made from petroleum and fossil fuels, these materials require altogether more energy in the creation stage than natural or reused materials.
- Not focusing on fast fashion trends but shifting its production to sustainable fashion and concentrating on the longevity of a cloth item.
- Producing clothes in a fair and ethical fashion since now consumers are shifting their brands choices to those whose production doesn’t harm the animals, workers and their working environment and the planet.
Being sustainable in fashion doesn’t come just from producer’s/manufacturer’s side, consumers and buyers play an important role as well. If we as consumers won’t shift our buying patterns then companies involved in fashion industry will also not change their producing and distributing patterns.
Key challenges related to sustainability in fashion industry
- Changing consumer’s mindset– Though there has been a shift in the consumer preferences of buying and wearing clothing items but there are still large numbers of buyers who believe in the concept of Fast Fashion. This needs to be changed otherwise companies will keep on producing clothes for such buyers.
- Lack of knowledge– In a country like India, where there are small factories of clothing running in rural areas or are being run by people who don’t have any idea what social, environmental impact their choices in production creates.
- Lack of technological advancements- In order to make fashion industry sustainable, companies need to know how to recycle their clothing items in order to be reused. But since there are many micro/small level factories that are producing clothing items and they do not have the adequate technology to produce clothes with an intent to recycle and reuse.
- Putting environment over profit- The transition from fast fashion to sustainable fashion is still in process. A small clothing company may create less profit if it chooses to produce sustainable fashion clothing since its demand is still not as high as the fast fashion clothing items, so putting environment over profit is a challenge.
Important disclosures by companies in Sustainable Fashion
Environmental disclosures-
As per reports, fashion industry ranks second in causing environment pollution. Therefore, it is necessary for companies to have disclosures related to environment like:
- Disclosure on the amount of water consumption in production– It requires 20,000 liters of water for producing 1 kg of cotton and then a large amount of water is also being used for dyeing processes.
- Disclosure on the usage of chemicals– As per data, 8000 different types of chemicals are used which leads to pollution and can even cause harmful effects to people.
- Disclosure on the carbon footprint– Since the consumption of fossil fuels for synthetic fibers in contrast to natural fibers is more, more energy is consumed, producing gases, which leads to greenhouse effects.
Social disclosures-
- Disclosure on child labor– Reputed brands, such as, Adidas, H&M and Nike are found to be engaged in child labor practices therefore, it is necessary for the companies to disclose their profile in this regard.
- Disclosure on the discrimination– As per studies by ILO in 2016, women were seen to be paid less than their male counterparts in 8 out of 9 Asia-Pacific countries like India and Pakistan in garment and textiles industries.
Economic disclosures-
Following economic disclosures are important by companies in Sustainable fashion-
- Wage rate– It has been observed that people working in garment factories work with a cheap wage rate.
- Working hours- In countries like Bangladesh, workers work more than 60 hours/week which is beyond the recommended working hours.
- Type of employment– Irregular employment is a very common practice with regards to the fashion industry.
Leading examples of companies in sustainable fashion industry-
- Tentree – It is a Canada based clothing company that plants 10 trees for every product they sell. Their clothing is made from sustainable materials like cork, coconut and recycled polyester and are produced in ethical factories. Since it was founded in (2012), TenTree has planted 6,16,14,184(as per the data on their site) new trees on earth and by 2030, the company’s goal is to plant 1 billion.
- Everlane – It believes in transparency by sharing with customers the cost analysis of each item and showing the factories in which, their garments are made. They also share their carbon-footprint on their official website and have made a target of 55% lower per product carbon emissions by 2030.
Conclusion
Fashion industry and consumer’s wants/demands are highly dependent on each other and therefore in order to bring a change in the fashion industry there has to be a change in our demands/wants for clothes. If we as consumers stop getting influenced by fast fashion then companies will stop producing fast fashion clothes. Right now, there’s a long way ahead which fashion companies need to travel in order to become sustainable but some of them has started their journey and we as consumers should promote those companies and should also try become a rational consumer with respect to the buying patterns.
Bibliography
- Univeristy of Bath. (2017, June 13). Retrieved from www.phys.org
- https://phys.org/news/2017-06-tackling-child-labour-fashion-industry.html
- (2022). Retrieved from www.tentree.com
- (2022). Retrieved from www.everlane.com
- Mazharul Islam. (2021, November 10). Retrieved from www.textilelearner.net
- https://textilelearner.net/sustainability-challenges-in-fashion-industry/
- Retrieved from www.fashinza.com
- Martina Igini. (2022, August 2). Retrieved from www.earth.org
- Achim Berg, Anna Granskog, Libbi Lee. Retrieved from www. Mckinsey.com
- https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/fashion-on-climate
- Image Credits: unsplash.com
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed above are those of the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of Center for Research and Implementation of Sustainable Practices or the CRISP Global.
