Planet

To quantify what sustainability means, LCF Fashion Business School has identified four distinct yet interlinked pillars; Planet, People, Profit and Purpose. The environmental pillar, Planet, assesses how consumers treat the earth’s resources and ecosystems. Humankind has been known to have two innate desires; sufficiency and longevity (Singh 2017)  consequently causing conflict between how one treats the planet and how the planet should be treated. This builds upon the 1987 Brundtland Report defining sustainability as, ‘meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’. This definition is renowned, yet it fails due to a lack of a perfect example of how to achieve this model of sustainability. Brundtland’s broad definition of “needs” is subjective to one’s standard of living (Kashani et al, 2021) and fails to account for the disparity between first and third-world countries. Undoubtedly, this created confusion about how individual consumers are able to achieve sustainability, shifting responsibility onto larger corporations to create change. To challenge this belief system, consumers should become accustomed to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals developed in 2015. The SDG’s are a policy framework calling for action to end, ‘poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity,’ (United Nations 2015). Sustainable development is the only viable path for humanity (Sachs, 2012) meaning it has become increasingly urgent for these SDGs to achieve success. In relation to how the fashion industry can become more sustainable, one goal, in particular, stands out – this being Responsible Consumption and Production. Promisingly, conscious consumerism is thriving with 62% of millennials claiming they are conscious about purchasing from local, sustainable or ethically sourced brands, (Mullen, 2021). Millennials are tasked with confronting the impacts of environmental degradation, providing hope for genuine consumer progress towards sustainability and the planet. On the other hand, fast fashion has progressively become more popular, thriving on the idea of more for less (Bick et al, 2018)

.Fig 2. Clothing in landfill (Spring, 2017)

 Consequently, this encourages the mass production of low-quality, cheap resale-value clothing which is detrimental to the environment. Increased consumer demand means brands are producing almost twice the amount of clothing today compared to before 2000 (Kirsi Niinimäki et al 2020). Countries need to actively adopt a circular economy, a model of production and consumerism emphasising reusability. 
Fig 1, Circular Economy (Cohen 2022)

A circular business model leads to less demand, production and consumption paving the way for a more sustainable planet.  

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Rachel Bick et al (2018):The global environmental injustice of fast fashion

Naomi Cohen (2022):Making the Linear Circular: a short guide to the circular economy

Mohammadhadi Hajian et al (2021): Evolution of the concept of sustainability. From Brundtland Report to sustainable development goals

Caitlin Mullen (2021):Nearly 6 in 10 consider themselves conscious consumers

Kirsi Niinimäki et al (2020): The environmental price of fast fashion

Jeffrey Sachs (2012):From Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals

Tej Vir Singh (2017): Is our planet in peril? The imperative of sustainability, Tourism Recreation Research

Alexandra Spring (2017):Landfill becomes the latest fashion victim in Australia’s throwaway clothes culture

The Planet Pilar

The fashion industry has been called one of the most polluting industrial sectors. It has a long supply chain consisting of a variety of production steps, with each of them harming the environment due to water, material, chemical, and energy use. As fast fashion has gained massive popularity since the early 2000s, fashion brands are now producing almost twice the amount of clothing today compared with before the year 2000 (Niinimäki., Peters, G, Dahlbo, H. et al., 2020). The planet pilar’s main focus is to understand how exactly the fashion industry is affecting the environment in order to build a strategy that would limit the amounts of textile waste and pollution.

Circular economy

The circular economy is a model where products, components, and materials continually flow re-entering the production cycle which decreases the effect of a company’s operation on the ecosystem. This simple definition can be further explained by four main principles:

• Focus on green technologies and minimize the use of raw materials.

• Maximization of the utilization rate of assets.

• Circulate flows of products and materials at the highest rate.

• Minimization of negative environmental externalities. (Tonelli, Cristoni, 2018)

Environment-conscious economists insist that the traditional linear economy has to be replaced by a circular economy due to the linear model’s implication of using natural resources in an unsustainable way and producing large quantities of toxic waste which creates pollution thereby negatively impacting the environment (Jørgensen, Petersen, 2018).

Sustainability in relation to fashion

The process of sustainability persuades the fashion industry to change and turn into something that would be less damaging and polluting, and more efficient. A more sustainable approach can be achieved by a series of small changes made by fashion brands (Fletcher, Grose, 2012). One perfect example of a brand adopting a more sustainable approach is PANGAIA. Launched in 2018, it generated $75 million in revenue in 2020 (Nanda, 2021). PANGAIA follows a variety of eco-friendly practices but what made it stand out the most is the next-generation sustainable materials created by its group of biologists and scientists. Examples of the materials produced by PANGAIA include FLWRDWN which is made using a combination of wildflowers, a bio polymer, and aerogel (pangaia.com).

Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been adopted by the United Nations in 2015 to create solutions to massive problems such as poverty, hunger, and climate change by 2030. One SDG that has a massive impact on the fashion industry is Goal 12: ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. In today’s world of fast fashion, the wasteful and polluting impacts of the industry are set to dramatically increase by 2050 (Ellen Macarthur foundation, 2017), therefore it is extremely important to make changes now.

References

• M.C. Nanda. (2021) Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/retail/pangaia-won-over-consumers-can-it-do-the-same-for-businesses/

• Kirstie Niinimäki, Greg Peters, Helena Dahlbo, Patsy Perry, Timo Rissanen & Alison Gwilt. The environmental price of fast fashion. (2020). Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-020-0039-9

• Kate Fletcher, Lynda Grose. Fashion and Sustainability: Design for Change. (2012). Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/reader.action?docID=1876120

• Sveinung Jørgensen & Lars Jacob Tynes Pedersen. The Circular Rather than the Linear Economy. (2018). Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-91971-3_8

• Marcello Tonelli, Nicolò Cristoni. Strategic Management and the Circular Economy. (2018). Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/reader.action?docID=5583067

• https://pangaia.com/pages/flowerdown

Sustainability refers to garments, accessories that are accessed in an ecologically way. When sustainable comes in the fashion landscape, the approach becomes complex. Sustainable fashion has different approaches from various perspectives, what sustainability means for the consumers might not have relevance for the brands. 

Sustainable fashion for brands is to be responsible for all stages of a product’s life cycle – production to distribution. All elements are taken into consideration, when all of elements are taken into consideration of socio- economic developments and planet welfare, a brand can be defined as sustainable.

From consumer’s perspective, sustainable fashion is all about understanding the power and the importance of your choice of purchase (Chan,2022):

• Quality over quantality: Buy less to achieve a long-term circular economy goal to make better enviroment future. Fashion industry is most wasteful on the planet (Drapers,2022), 100 billion garments are being produced globally every year, companies have been unable to match their sales gains with the equal improvements for the planet, as consumer spending increases, especially the clothing industry’s environmental impact expand greatly. When it comes to disposing of clothing, technologies today cannot turn unwanted apparel to make new goods. There are no markets large enough to absorb the large volume of material that would recycling clothes, every five garments produced, the equivalent of three end up in a landfill or incinerated each year. Fashion should not cost the earth.
• Purchase sustainable fashion brands: Buying better also mean you are supporting designers that are promoting a voice of sustainable, Example, designers such as Ahluwalia, Connor Ives. Who all uses upcycled textiles in their designs. Brands such as Adidas, the brands aim to only use recycled polyester from 2024, minimum the effect they have on the environments, they also reducing water consumption I production, twenty percent of the energy used is renewable. 
• Buy Second hand: Shopping second hand have a huge positive social and environment impact. It is reducing pollution in the form of carbon miles, save lots of resources, water and energy, also prevent old clothing from landfill or incinerated.

Industry developed for sustainable developments goals for economic and consumer, completion by 2030 to save the planet. One of the goals we looking to end in is World Poverty. Fashion contributes to poverty; the fashion industry is part of the feminist movement as it is a female – dominated industry. Eighty percent of the garment workers worldwide are women. They work up to eighteen hours per day for wages that are five times less than what is needed to live sufficiently. 

By buying ethical fashion, consumer directly aid companies that care about their employees, shoppers also opening many new industries within world economies and providing the employees a better quality of life.

As a whole, a better future environments.

Reference

www.mckinsey.com

www.vogue.co.uk

www.consciouslifeandstyle.com

www.northmist.com

ellenmacarthurfoundation.org

www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment

www.weforum.org/

borgenproject.org

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/style-thats-sustainable-a-new-fast-fashion-formula

The fashion industry has introduced four pillars, among them planet which focuses on how fashion industry achieves sustainable but with impacts of earth. For example, consumption and pollution, not only in the production of clothes, but also in their washing. The use of chemicals in the production of raw materials such as cotton. Climate disasters will lead to extreme heat, drought, flooding and the risk of poverty. If companies and industry do not pay attention to the effects of climate change, the situation will get worse as temperatures rise by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (UN IPCC Report, 2021). People consume and use water causing serious health and environmental damage – including increased cancer risk, skin problems and extinction of animal populations. As the world becomes more aware of environmental issues, the fashion industry is looking for different ways to balance business economics and environmental protection, scientists have discovered many pre-hydrolytic coagulants, such as polymeric aluminum chloride, ferric polymeric aluminum chloride instead of fibre production (Uddin, 2021).

The Sustainable Development goals have 17 goals to achieve environmental, economic and consumer sustainability goals. Goal 12 is the responsibility of the fashion industry in consumption and production for protecting the earth. Achieving economic growth and sustainable development requires that human urgently reduce their activity by changing the way we produce and consume goods and resources. It is now known that the amount of production and consumption in the fashion industry has increased substantially, and it will have many impacts on the planet. Millions of tons of clothing are produced, worn and thrown away every year. According to statistics, the annual output of textiles can reach billion carbon dioxide (Hussein, 2013). Apparel accounts for more than 60% of all textile use and has roughly doubled in the last 15 years, as the growth of the global middle class population and higher sales per capita in mature economies. Clothing cannot be produced without textile industry production lines and consumers buy cheap but fashionable clothing in large quantities. However, it is often forgotten that these production lines are harmful to the environment. For example, the textile industry uses large amounts of chemicals such as pigments or dyes, and the leftover waste water is discharged directly into the environment as it cannot be broken down.

Companies in the fashion industry seek to design and manufacture products that are durable, create more comfortable products and services for their customers and provide the necessary knowledge that, through continuous innovation in product quality, safe recycling or renewable materials, products and their materials do not contain harmful substances and do not release harmful substances into the environment. A business model that maintains the attractiveness of the product over time and is able to maintain the highest value of the product creates the conditions for the resilience and prosperity of the fashion industry and the optimization of the environment, and is aligned with the business model to achieve these goals (Cernansky, 2022). By adopting new business models and eliminating waste from design, the fashion industry has the potential to unlock more economic opportunities globally.

References

Uddin, F. (2021). Environmental hazard in textile dyeing wastewater from local textile industry. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10570-021-04228-4 [Accessed 2 Oct. 2021].
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Falah, Hussein. (2013). Chemical Properties of Treated Textile Dyeing Wastewater. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Falah-Hussein/publication/258365448_Chemical_Properties_of_Treated_Textile_Dyeing_Wastewater/links/5c55d3d5299bf12be3f68477/Chemical-Properties-of-Treated-Textile-Dyeing-Wastewater.pdf [Accessed 25 Sep. 2013].

Maxine, Bédat. (2021). The Life and Death of a Garment. [online] Avialable at: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/65971946/pdf-ebook-download-unraveled-the-life-and-death-of-a-garment [Accessed 3 Jun. 2021].

archive.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org. (n.d.). Fashion and the circular economy. [online] Available at: https://archive.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/explore/fashion-and-the-circular-economy?_ga=2.226442266.1272248944.1665330792-697752685.1665330792 [Accessed 9 Oct. 2022].

Cernansky, R. (2022). Sustainability: Where fashion is heading in 2022. [online] Vogue Business. Available at: https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/sustainability-where-fashion-is-heading-in-2022 [Accessed 5 Jan. 2022].

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Playing an important role in society, national economy and the environment, sustainable development provides an effective solution for the whole world to protect the planet while receiving the benefits of resources without any waste. It is also beneficial to our future generations. There are important four pillars which were identified by LCF Fashion Business School: planet, people, profit, and purpose.  They are also referred to as social, environmental, and economic pillars. This blog will focus on the planet pillar to explore the environmental impact of the fashion industry.

The circular economy, as an effective system in the fashion industry, entails recycle, refuse, reduce, re-use, repair, re-gift, and recover. All materials will end up being infinitely recyclable or biodegradable. (Gwilt,2020) Moreover, according to The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017, the circular economy plays a key role in mitigating the negative impact of fashion consumption and pollution, which acts as a financial buffer. Apart from that, it presents more business and economic opportunities while protecting the environment and creating social benefits.

Regarding sustainability in relation to fashion, The fashion industry is now known as one of the most wasteful industries. (Moran,2022) This is largely attributed to the prevalence of overproduction. According to McKinsey & Company, the scale of clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014, followed by a further surge. Additionally, there are 500,000 tonnes of plastic microfibres are discharged each year into the ocean due to laundered clothing, equivalent to over 50 billion plastic bottles. (Mccartney,2018)

Furthermore, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Fig1.) were set out by the UN in 2015, which is a move that urges different industries to collaborate in working towards sustainable development. (Zhenmin, 2022) As a huge industry, the fashion industry is linked to many other industries such as the chemical industry, transportation , etc. Therefore, the fashion industry is more related to and influential on SDGs. The first thing that comes to mind is The first thing that comes to mind is the 11 goal, Sustainable Cities And Communities. (Fig2.) United Nations (2022) point out that Cities and metropolises are important areas of economic growth, accounting for around 60% of GDP, therefore this also leads to some negative impacts, for example, they also account for around 70% of global carbon emissions. The fashion industry influences Sustainable Cities And Communities in different aspects such as packing aspect. Due to its dependence on plastic and paper across the supply chain, including paper return labels, plastic packaging for online orders, and polybags in factories. (Brown,2020) Thus, more brands take positive action for 11 goal. For example, British brand weird fish announced in November 2020 the introduction of wood pulp and at least 30% grass fibre eco-straw paper bags (Fig3.)  in 17 physical shops in order to replace plastic bags. (Brown,2020) According to this effective action, would reduce CO2 emissions by 75%, which is a good way to reduce the carbon footprint. Another packaging is available on the market, for example, the platform SupplyCompass. Launch biodegradable garment bags (Fig 4.)  to retailers (Brown,2020)

References

Brown, H., 2022. Unpacking fashion’s packaging problem. [online] Drapers. Available at: <https://www.drapersonline.com/topics/sustainable-fashion/unpacking-fashions-packaging-problem> [Accessed 9 October 2022].

Division, U., 2022. — SDG Indicators. [online] Unstats.un.org. Available at: <https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2020/> [Accessed 9 October 2022].

Gwilt, A., 2020. A practical guide to sustainable fashion. London ; Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020.

Liu, Z., 2022. Finding transformative pathways in turbulent times — SDG Indicators. [online] Unstats.un.org. Available at: <https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2020/finding-transformative-pathways-in-turbulent-times/> [Accessed 8 October 2022].

McCartney, S., 2018. H&M, Gap and Stella McCartney Join Forces for Sustainable Fashion. [online] The Business of Fashion. Available at: <https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/hm-gap-and-stella-mccartney-join-forces-for-sustainable-fashion/> [Accessed 8 October 2022].

Moran, G., 2022. Collaborating for Change: Sustainability Report 2022 – Drapers. [online] Drapers. Available at: <https://www.drapersonline.com/guides/collaborating-for-change-sustainability-report-2022> [Accessed 8 October 2022].

Unstats.un.org. 2022. Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. [online] Available at: <https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/> [Accessed 9 October 2022].

Figure list:

Figure 1. The 17 Sustainble Development Goals ( United Nations,n.d.)

Figure 2. ‪Sustainable Cites And Communities (Unired Nations,n.d.)

Figure 3. ‪SupplyCinpass (Drapers,n.d.)

Figure 4. ‪Weird Fish (Drapers,n.d.)

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]. 

In the 19th and 20th century, planet Earth was so badly treated that when the 21st century started, humanity was threatened with getting to the limit of its resistance (Fletcher K. And Grose L., 2012). Action was needed, so the UNEP defined “Environment” as one of the basic pillars for human existence and the UN created 17 SDGs to try to safeguard it. Six of these goals are directly linked to environmental care, consisting basically in achieving ecological stability (Gwilt A., 2020). 

This means changing the conventional linear economy that consists in taking, making and wasting, and conversing it into a new circular economy that makes a responsible use of what it takes, keeping resources in use for as long as possible (Lench A., 2022). 

Fashion industry is one of the most affected by this change, as it connects every other one in its production. From the obtaining of raw material to the retail or waste of these used pieces, the whole system is facing the need to change towards a more responsible way of producing. This not only means not creating waste or pollution, it means achieving a production that doesn’t put any other pillar in danger, creating a revolution running towards transparency and consideration for everything that surrounds it. 

Given that 80% of the worlds resources are being consumed by 20% of the population (Gwilt A., 2020), this could start by seeking an equilibrium between peoples actual needs and what is produced. More than 100 billion garments are produced each year (Fashion Revolution, 2019), an unbalanced number knowing that there are only 8 billion people in the world. 

Focusing on the “Responsible consumption and production” goal could be the trigger for many other SDGs to thrive. In fact, all of these goals are linked to one-another and by simply taking action in one of them, many others could benefit from it. In this case, the challenge that fashion industry currently faces in becoming transparent about their textile sources, worker conditions, usage and after use effects amongst many others, is a very good opening move towards the completing of other goals such as “clean water”, “good health and well-being” and even “peace, justice and strong institutions”. 

Todays society has an opportunity to create a pattern of evolution that  starts in creating a circular economy fashion-wise but end up in the achieving of all of the sustainable development goals. Because as well as the fashion production is a chain, society’s behavior and customs are one, and the change of an attitude in one segment of the population has a domino effect on everything that surrounds it. 

Citations:

AtKisson, A. (2017). With the SDGs, everything is connected. [online] GreenBiz. Available at: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/sdgs-everything-connected [Accessed 5 Oct. 2022].

‌Constanzo Snow, S. (2016). Sustainable Development – What is there to know and why should we care? Available at: https://www.unssc.org/news-and-insights/blog/sustainable-development-what-there-know-and-why-should-we-care [Accessed 6 Oct. 2022].

Dean, C. (2019). Waste – is it ‘really’ in fashion? [online] Fashion Revolution. Available at: https://www.fashionrevolution.org/waste-is-it-really-in-fashion/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2022].

Fletcher, K. and Grose, L. (2012). Fashion & sustainability : design for change. London, England: Laurence King.

Gwilt, A. (2020). Practical Guide To Sustainable Fashion. S.L.: Ava Academia.

Lench, A. (2022). Intro to Fashion Sustainability & the Sustainable Development Goals. [online] Available at: https://moodle.arts.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/1469932/mod_label/intro/FBS%20Intro%20to%20Fashion%20Sustainability%20and%20the%20SDGs%20%20%20%281%29.pdf.

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Planet represents 1 of the 4 pillars of business. It represents environmental sustainability and the effect of consumers on the economy and the environment. Economic stability is about using practices that support long-term economic growth without negatively impacting the social, environmental, and cultural aspects of the community. Planet in fashion relates most to three sustainable development goals: affordable and clean energy, climate action and responsible consumption and production. In 2007, B-Corp Models were established. A total of 150 questions dig into a business. Companies need over 80 points to achieve a pass, but they also have to be accountable for their employees, society and the environment in order to become certified. Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

A circular economy tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution for products to be reusable and reduce waste. Currently, the economy is only 8.6% circular and has therefore got a set target of becoming 17% circular by 2030. By making the economy more circular we would reduce the energy consumption used when manufacturing products and therefore reduce carbon emissions. If done right, the circular economy shrinks harmful activities such as carbon emissions, air pollution and toxicity exposure, and increases positive actions such as habitat restoration, renewable energy and cleaning the air.

The word ‘sustainability’ in the context of fashion most prominently refers to the environmental impacts of making, wearing, and caring for use and the disposal of clothing. Sustainability in fashion is becoming increasingly important to our planet. The Pulse of the Fashion Industry Survey has identified that 75% of consumers across Brazil, USA, China and the UK consider sustainability an important factor in purchases The clothing made by fast fashion brands isn’t made to last, the aim is to get you to buy more, and as we buy more it creates more landfill and toxins for our planet. Indeed in 2010 cotton and polyester together accounted for 85% of world fibre production. (Fletcher, K. (2014). Sustainable fashion and textiles : design journeys. 2nd ed. London ; New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Cop.) Companies that work on sustainability supply better quality, longer-lasting clothing and cause less damage to the environment. An example of a sustainable brand in fashion is Pangaia. They use recycled cotton to help extend the life span of the clothes and organic cotton as its less pollutant to the planet and a percentage of all profits go to help tackle global warming. ‘Organic cotton is a perfect way to bridge the gap between demand and sustainability by complying with stringent organic agricultural standards and certifications’ Wearme Fashion (2021). Sustainable Fashion. Promopress.

The twelfth SDG is responsible consumption and production and is very relevant to our planet and sustainability. Consumption and production drive the global economy, but also cause damage to our planetary health through the unsustainable use of natural resources. The global material footprint is increasing faster than population growth and economic output.  Especially considering fast fashion brands are so popular, causing such a huge addition to the carbon footprint. 

Chatham House (2021). What is the circular economy? [online] Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank. Available at: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/06/what-circular-economy.

Fletcher, K. (2014). Sustainable fashion and textiles : design journeys. 2nd ed. London ; New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Cop.

Cultivating Capital (2019). What You Ought to Know About Certified B Corps. [online] Cultivating Capital. Available at: https://www.cultivatingcapital.com/b-corporation/.‌

Wearme Fashion (2021). Sustainable Fashion. Promopress.

GOV.UK (2021). Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. [online] GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-the-sustainable-development-goals/implementing-the-sustainable-development-goals–2.

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Week 2 – Please upload your 1^st blog post –Planet by 9^th October