Sustainable Fashion

Why we need an ever-green trend for sustainable fashion

The clothing industry is worth $1.5 trillion but based on a model of exploitation - the industry has, since its inception, hunted profit at the expense of people and planet. Today, the clothing industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world; responsible for 8-10% of global GHG emissions and 20% of industrial wastewater pollution. From a social perspective, the industry is culprit of a myriad of humanitarian violations such as inhumane working conditions and extremely low pay. These fundamentals have created an unsustainable and unethical industry.

The fashion industry promotes a culture of speed - with fast production, fast consumption and fast disposal at its core. The fashion industry follows 52 ‘micro-seasons’ a year, meaning that trends – and associated must-have items - can nascent the market and fall into outdated irrelevance within just a week. And in order to produce such a large volume of clothing that enters the market at remarkably low prices, costs have to be saved elsewhere; usually manifesting in unaccounted for costs to people and/or the planet.

With the available price signal it is hard for individuals to calculate the true cost of their purchases and consumers can lose sight of the vast amount of resources – materials, manufacturing, labour, treatment, shipping etc. – that are channelled into every physical item purchased. Cheap is the norm, and people become jaded as the characteristic is increasingly commonplace. Dearer garments are considered the outlier in high street shopping, often avoided even at the expense of higher quality or superior brand practices (although problematically, high price does not necessarily indicate this). 

Sustainable fashion

Today, consumers are increasingly concerned with the environmental and social sustainability of their purchases and these changing preferences alongside pressure from investors and stricter environmental regulations are starting to weave sustainability essentials into industry standards.

Embracing sustainability in fashion is an issue for the entire value chain. From the sourcing of materials, to upstream activities involved in the manufacturing and distribution of garments. In one holistic approach, circularity – attention is directed to the entire life-cycle of products, from sustainable sourcing to resource-efficient manufacturing to increasing product lifespans so that less needs to be produced overall. In fashion this means forgetting micro-seasons and designing ‘evergreen trends’ that increase garment longevity and prevent wasteful single-use fashion items. Once all is said and worn, instruments for disposal such as textiles recycling and support for the burgeoning second-hand market are employed to return materials back to the production cycle.  

In recent years, sustainability has been transitioning from suggestive to definitive. Seasons change and (clothing) trends change even faster, but in light of evolving principals in fashion and beyond, the industry needs to reinvent itself to be one of relentless sustainability . As consumers, we must seek brand transparency, educate ourselves and adjust our actions accordingly. 

How does your closet contribute to climate change? Find out with this fashion footprint calculator