The Fashion Industry and The Planet
The four pillars of sustainability consist of Planet, People, Profit, and Purpose and these are what dominate the fashion industry in regard to sustainability. There is a significant focus on the ‘Planet’ pillar and what this means in regard to the fashion and textiles industry. The planet pillar is concerned with the fact that industrial and business activity can take a huge toll on the planet and environment. All inhabitants, animals, flora, and fauna can benefit from positive initiatives. Fashion companies are renowned for their contribution to the destruction of the planet, so areas of the entire supply chain and product life cycle need to be considered. Setting of goals such as conscious and limited electricity consumption, waste management, land usage; safe work environments; animal welfare, raw-material replenishment, reduction of hazardous substances etc. and deadlines to achieve them (Mitterfellner , 2023).
When aiming to create a more sustainable industry, consumers must consider the importance of a circular economy. Circular economy tackles climate change and other global challenges like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. In the fashion industry circularity is an alternative to traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which resources and materials are kept in use for as long as possible. This also means getting the most from these resources as well as recovering and regenerating products and materials.
Why is circularity needed in the fashion industry? The fashion industry is a major contributor to world pollution and climate change: textiles production uses 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 annually; 120 billion garments produced every year; 85% of textiles are sent to landfills (Rimarcikova, 2023).
Sustainability has been part of the fashion repertoire since the 1960s (Hethorn and Ulasewicz, 2015), yet in more recent years society has shed a light on the harmful consequences of unsustainability throughout the industry. Sustainability is presently overused and often misused. ‘Sustainability means meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (UN, Brundtland report, 1987). In relation to fashion this means that fashion businesses must avoid harm to the planet, enhance the well-being of people who interact with the planet and enhance the well-being of the environment in which it is developed and used, and this starts with consumers who must start recycling and reusing!
A key organisation to highlight when discussing the ‘Planet’ pillar of the fashion industry is the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), created on 25 September 2015, which aimed to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. SDG 13, climate action, falls under the planet pillar, which aims to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (United Nations, 2023). With textile production generating more greenhouse gas emission that all international flights and maritime shipping combined, the fashion industry is a key sector for this SDG (Geneva, 2018). See, even with something as earth-threatening and widespread as climate action, the fashion industry has immense impact, and as such, must aim to and continue to better the planet; to ensure that sustainability is at the forefront of everything they do.
Bibliography
Mitterfellner, O. (2023). Chapter 7- Luxury Fashion and the Sustainable Approach, page. 185, ebook (last accessed: 3/10/2023)
Katerina Rimarcikova, Planet Earth and Fashion, 2 October 2023 (lecture)
Hethorn, J., & Ulasewicz C, 2015. The fashion of sustainability: Chapter 1 page 4 , ebook (last accessed: 3/10/2023)
United Nations, Brundtland report, 1987
United Nation, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development, The 17 Goals, 2023, (online), (last accessed: 6/10/2023) https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13
Fashion and the SDGs: what role for the UN?, Geneva, 1st of March, 2018, International Conference Center Geneva, 2018, (online), (last accessed: 6/10/2023) https://unece.org/DAM/RCM_Website/RFSD_2018_Side_event_sustainable_fashion.pdf