Planet
The fashion industry is considered the second among the most wasteful to the environment, which accounts for 98 million tons of non-renewable sources and 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide released yearly, along with an excessive waste of water ( Grant, 2009). For this reason, sustainability is one of the main concepts evaluated within the pillar “Planet.”
Indicating that care must be taken, the majority of people believe that the responsibility is in the hands of big brands and the government. Nonetheless, it is crucial to note that consumers who buy the end product contribute to the industry’s impact on the planet to the same extent. Thus, it is estimated that by 2050, 22 million tons of microfibres will be in the ocean from washing synthetic clothing ( Muthu, 2022).
Regardless of the recent progress of brands implementing new changes to become sustainable by using eco-friendly fabrics and switching to renewable energy sources, the major problem of linear economy persists. In the last two decades, garments usage has risen by 400% (Muthu, 2022), meaning that the issue of overconsumption is one of the most relevant. The fundamental shift would be implementing a circular economy, which includes recycling clothes and, most importantly, caring for the product by keeping it as long as possible. The newly launched brand “Early majority” is an excellent example of this concept. The business model is based on paid membership, and clothes are worn as a set that could be combined in different ways. (Moran,2022) Consequently, the brand encourages consumers to buy less by not providing an immoderate choice of clothing but simultaneously welcoming them to commit to the brand ideology by paying membership fees.
It is crucial to highlight that sustainability concerning fashion is not solely based on environmental impact. Both economic and social sustainability are relevant. It is estimated that around 80 million workers in the industry get paid below the living wage. Thus, solely paying a living wage would slightly add to a retail cost but drastically improve the lives of people that work at the factories ( McMullen, 2014).
Summarising these three subgroups, which focus on environmental, social, and economic sustainability, United Nations agreed to set up 17 sustainable development goals to achieve by 2030. One of the most relevant SDGs to the fashion industry is goal 12: responsible consumption and production, which requires effort from consumers and businesses. Overproduction of clothing is one of the significant impacts on the environment, as solving this could cut carbon emissions by 158 million tonnes a year. Therefore, production will become responsible if more businesses such as Birdsong ( Moran,2022) with the “make-to-order” model become the new normal. From the consumption side, it is vital to link it back to the idea of a circular economy, as particularly it may contribute to a vast difference.
Bibliography:
GOV.UK (2021). ‘Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals’. Available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-the-sustainable-development-goals/implementing-the-sustainable-development-goals–2.(Accessed: 09/10/22)
Grant, J.( 2009) ‘The Green Marketing Manifesto’. Available at: https://libsearch.arts.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=203177&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20the%20green%20marketing.(Accessed: 08/10/22)
McMullen, A.(2014) ‘Tailored Wages UK’. Available at: http://labourbehindthelabel.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/TailoredWagesUKweb_1.pdf.(Accessed: 08/10/22)
Moran, G.( 2022) ‘Collaborating for change: Sustainability report 2022’, Drapers. Available at: https://www.drapersonline.com/guides/collaborating-for-change-sustainability-report-2022.(Accessed: 08/10/22)
Muthu, S.(2022) ‘Sustainable approaches in textiles and fashion’. Available at: https://libsearch.arts.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=1499035&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20sustainability%20muthu.(Accessed: 08/10/22)
United Nations (n.d.). Goal 12 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs. sdgs.un.org. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12. (Accessed: 09/10/22)