PLANET
THE FOUR PILLARS…
PLANET
The fashion industry is a major contributor of CO2 emissions, alongside transportation and electricity, causing significant harm to the planet, humans and marine life. The industry, at face value, doesn’t seem like it contributes to much yet it relies on farming of fibres (such as cotton) as well as requiring 715 gallons of water to create 1 t-shirt. Other impacts include garments ending up in landfill; consequently, harming marine life. Additionally, 120 billion garments are produced every year – the Earth’s population currently stands at close to 8 billion. This demonstrates how much unnecessary waste ends up in landfill. The fashion industry is often considered to be heading in the right direction as more brands have decided to use their platforms to encourage purchasing pre-loved pieces from their websites (the most recent representation of that is Pretty Little Thing Marketplace and the more widely known, ASOS Marketplace specialising in vintage clothing). Furthermore, more sustainable reselling platforms such as Depop, is one of the key ways to reduce how much waste is created through garments as that is one less item of clothing needing to be made for a consumer through a fast-fashion brand.
Although this seems positive, brands like Pretty Little Thing creating their own reselling platform relies on the consumer to continue purchasing their new products from their original website to then pass onto someone else at a later date. This is a constant cycle and over time, little change is made which is the complete opposite of a what a circular economy should look like. A circular economy consists of materials being reused in any way that they can as well as products being made to last. The 12th SDG (Responsible Consumption and Production) emphasises the importance of a fast-fashion brand’s need to change their business model with immediacy. Brands have begun to label some garments as ‘recycled’. This gives the consumer peace of mind when purchasing as they believe they are making a difference to how much fabric ends up in landfill but unfortunately, this is not the case; clothing marketed as ‘recycled’ contributes more to CO2 emissions due to an additional process of having to change the fibres, which is trying to be avoided. This is a common example of greenwashing where the consumer is led to believe that they are contributing less to CO2 emissions but instead, they are contributing more. The CMA (Competion and Markets Authority) Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli added that she is “concerned that too many businesses are falsely taking credit for being green”. Since being declared, brands are in the process of sustainably sourcing but there is progress still to be made amongst fast-fashion.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Competition and Markets Authority (2021), Greenwashing: CMA Puts Businesses on Notice.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/greenwashing-cma-puts-businesses-on-notice
EPA (2022), Sources of greenhouse gas emissions, https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
The Fashion Law (2019), How Many Gallons of Water Does it Take to Make a Single Pair of Jeans?