Leading apparel manufacturers are looking for a compromise between the speed of product development and business profitability on the one hand, and the demand of customers for environmental friendliness of goods and growing threats to the environment on the other.
In the fashion industry, a conflict is brewing between the wallets of buyers and their consciousness. From the rise of Zara and H&M to brands like Boohoo, citizens have grown accustomed to the mass market and are now updating their wardrobe quickly and cheaply. But at the same time, consumers have a growing desire to harm the planet as little as possible with such behavior, because the textile industry can cause significant damage to the environment. Now clothing manufacturers are trying to bring fashion in line with the principles of a sustainable economy. Is green really the new black now?
1. What is sustainable fashion?
It’s a movement to make clothes more sustainable by making changes at the design, production, distribution and disposal stages. The task is to get away from the principles of “fast fashion” – high-speed production of clothes, by the way, not always cheap. Speed is needed due to constantly changing tastes and trends, which leads to a one-time attitude towards such things on the part of consumers. There is also the theme of caring for animals, and the theme of social responsibility of the industry. In the latter case, we are talking about the fight against child labor and poor working conditions in developing countries.
2. How do clothes harm the environment?
With global apparel production doubling over the past 15 years, CO2 emissions from the textile industry are higher than those of the shipping and international travel industries combined. Cotton and polyester account for 85% of the raw materials in the production of clothing, and both of these materials are far from environmentally friendly.
For example, polyester is made from crude oil, which can produce toxic spills and water pollution. In general, polyester cannot be biodegraded. In addition, the fabric is dyed with chemical dyes that pollute groundwater sources. Cotton as a crop requires a lot of water and insecticides. To grow cotton for one T-shirt, 2,7 thousand liters of water are needed – this is how much a person needs for three years of life. Of course, some firms use organic cotton grown without the use of pesticides, but this is only 1% of the world’s crop, and such cotton requires no less water.
3. What role do consumers play here?
People started buying more clothes and storing less. For example, in Europe, the average number of wears per piece of clothing has fallen from 200 times in 2000 to 160 times in 2015. When washed, items made of polyester and nylon release tiny fibers that pollute sewage and ultimately the oceans. While it was the demand for cheap clothes that drove the fashion industry to develop in this way, the situation is now changing. According to surveys in the UK, about 50% of consumers care about how their clothes were made. Among young people under the age of 24, this figure exceeds 60%.
4. What do companies do?
Two years ago, 94 firms, representing a combined 12,5% of the fashion market, signed the Global Fashion Agenda 2020 agreement. According to it, each company has a set of individual goals, while the overall goals are to use water more efficiently, develop sustainable fibers and create new systems. processing. Some brands also have their own initiatives.
- For example, Adidas has promised to use only recycled plastic by 2024.
- H&M aims to be 2030% recycled and sustainable by XNUMX.
- PVH, owner of the brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, intends to use raw materials only from sustainable sources: for cotton and viscose by 2025, for polyester by 2030.
- Urban Outfitters has launched a women’s clothing rental service in the US.
- Prada has promised to replace all current nylon with more environmentally friendly materials, such as synthetics made from recycled plastic from the oceans.
In addition, after decades of hearing from animal advocates, Prada recently followed the example of Burberry and Gucci by banning natural fur from the catwalks.
5. Can we already say that the ice has broken?
Not yet. The introduction of new practices still does not compensate for the rapid growth of the industry, which can reach 100 million tons of footwear and clothing purchased annually by 2030. The same Global Fashion Agenda in the 2019 edition notes that without deep and systemic changes, the fashion industry is still far from meeting the sustainable development goals set by the UN. And the fast fashion industry is hardly slowing down. For example, in India, Spanish Inditex’s partner in the development of the Zara network in the country, the Tata Group holding, is building its own textile empire, promising consumers “super fast fashion” – 12 days between the catwalk and the counter, and even at half price.
6. What about unclaimed goods?
It is believed that every second in the world is sent to a landfill or incinerated volume of textiles, equal to one dump truck. Only 1% of the materials produced for tailoring are recycled. Even some sustainable companies are burning millions of dollars worth of unclaimed clothes.
Last fall, Burberry pledged to stop the destruction of such goods. In return, the company began to ramp up clothing sales to its own employees, donate unsold merchandise to firms that make new things from scrap leather, and even donate clothes to low-income people to dress up for job interviews.
For its part, H&M assures that it destroys clothing only if it does not meet safety standards and is unsuitable for sale, recycling, or donation to charity. And if H&M burns goods, it does so only at one power plant in Sweden, which is now systematically reducing the use of fossil fuels.
7. And what do the authorities of different countries do?
As part of its G7 presidency, France (by the way, the home of many popular brands) is now leading the transformation of the fashion industry towards greater environmental responsibility. Frenchman François-Henri Pinault, CEO of Kering, which includes Balenciaga, Brioni, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, is leading the industry to reduce its environmental impact.
In addition, in the EU, manufacturers will have to adapt to the new rules approved by the European Parliament. The goal is to recycle at least 55% of municipal waste by 2025 and send no more than 10% to landfill by 2035.
True, in June 2019, the British authorities rejected a number of proposals aimed at combating “disposable fashion”, for example, a complete ban on burning clothes. In the United States, however, customs regulations inadvertently force companies to burn unclaimed imported clothing in exchange for a refund of duties paid.
Finally, there is clearly a lack of regulations around the world that would make the use of dyes a more transparent process. Without this, it is problematic to assess the real impact of the textile industry on nature.