Planet
The fashion industry accounts for around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (United Nations, 2018). Through its production, manufacturing, and transporting process, the fashion industry is one of the major contributors to climate change. In order to shift from this, the fashion industry must implement and shift towards achieving the circular economy model. A circular economy focuses on increasing and extending the life cycle of products in order to minimize as much waste as possible. This heavily contrasts with the traditional linear economy model which focuses on using and throwing away products with little to no effort to reuse or recycle.
Most notably the brand Stella McCartney has adopted this model. Cradle to Cradle certified, the luxury brand is coming up with creative ways to reuse materials like nylon and polyester. The brand also focuses on increasing the use of renewable materials which are classified into two groups: technical and biological materials. Technical materials consist of materials derived from nonrenewable sources e.g., nylon. They can be used multiple times without losing any quality when recycled properly, maintaining a continuous cycle. Moreover, the brand further explores this through ECONYL®, an innovative approach focused on regenerating nylon and further encouraging a circular model in fashion.
The United Nations Sustainable Development twelfth goal “Responsible Consumption and Production” clearly demonstrates the negative consequences of the fashion industry on the environment.
The twelfth SDG demands that we implement more environmentally friendly management of materials through the production, consumption, and disposal stages. In the production of garments, mass amounts of toxic wastewater and effluents are released into the surrounding environment, putting aquatic life in danger. Furthermore, harmful chemicals used in the production of textiles raise serious health concerns as they can potentially cause respiratory and skin diseases. In addition to this, the fashion industry’s massive water consumption is largely ignored. With dyed fabrics requiring 200 tons of freshwater per ton of dyed fabric and garments made from cotton or polyester using 20,000 litres just to produce just 1kg, it is reported that the fashion industry produces approximately 20 per cent of global wastewater (Adegeest, 2020). This is also interconnected to the sixth and fourteenth SDG goals, clean water and sanitation and life below water, respectively.
With the ever-increasing threats and concerns of climate change, it is vital that the fashion industry shifts towards a more sustainable future.
Reference list
Adegeest, D.-A. (2020). Wastewater: fashion’s grotesk sustainability problem. [online] fashionunited.uk. Available at: https://fashionunited.uk/news/fashion/wastewater-fashion-s-grotesk-sustainability-problem/2020050548770 [Accessed 6 Oct. 2022].
Environmental Impacts — SustainYourStyle (2014). SustainYourStyle. [online] SustainYourStyle. Available at: https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/en/environmental-impacts [Accessed 6 Oct. 2022].
European Parliament (2015). Circular economy: definition, importance and benefits | News | European Parliament. [online] www.europarl.europa.eu. Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/economy/20151201STO05603/circular-economy-definition-importance-and-benefits [Accessed 6 Oct. 2022].
Geneva Environment Network (2021). Environmental Sustainability in the Fashion Industry. [online] www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org. Available at: https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/sustainable-fashion/ [Accessed 5 Oct. 2022].
Glasco, J. (2019). The Circular Economy: Vision, Problems and Smart City Solutions. [online] hub.beesmart.city. Available at: https://hub.beesmart.city/en/strategy/the-circular-economy-and-smart-city-solutions [Accessed 8 Oct. 2022].
Pereira, J. (2020). Top 9 Sustainable Fashion Brands Leading the Circular Economy. [online] Good On You. Available at: https://goodonyou.eco/circular-fashion-brands/ [Accessed 8 Oct. 2022].
Stellamccartney. (n.d.). Circularity. [online] Available at: https://www.stellamccartney.com/gb/en/sustainability/circularity-2.html [Accessed 9 Oct. 2022].
Stellamccartney. (n.d.). Recycled nylon and polyester. [online] Available at: https://www.stellamccartney.com/gb/en/sustainability/recycled-nylon-polyester.html.
United Nations (2018). UN Helps Fashion Industry Shift to Low Carbon | UNFCCC. [online] Unfccc.int. Available at: https://unfccc.int/news/un-helps-fashion-industry-shift-to-low-carbon [Accessed 7 Oct. 2022].