Planet Blog

The “three Ps”- Profit, People, and Planet- derive from the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ concept in business and sustainability, in which the Planet pillar is a remarkably gigantic element of the fashion market.

It is a well-known fact that the fashion industry has brought a very high pollution level to the planet in the last few years. “Apart from the pollution incurred during the production process, clothing disposal and landfill problem also impose a great problem to the environment, and the situation has become increasingly adverse with the tremendous number of clothing being disposed of yearly.” (Pui-Sze Chow, 2017; Cinty K.Y.Li, 2017) While the fast fashion trend is undoubtedly to blame, consumers also take this trend for granted.

Consequently, they would think that it is inevitable for fashion brands to damage the environment. Moreover, the fashion industry has not yet been able to fully enable all brands to offer clothes that look good and are 100% eco-friendly. As a result, they will choose to buy clothes that look better rather than those that are more sustainable, and so ‘there would be a tension between crafting briefs that achieve business objectives’ (Helen Brain, 2023), which is maximising profits by adopting to consumers’ needs and wants ‘and the desire to contribute to positive change’ (Helen Brain, 2023).

However, with the worsening of pollution on the planet, the UN has recently declared that the earth is entering from Global Warming to Global Boiling (Shahid Kamal, 2023) with the expectation pinned on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to solve the multiple problems like poverty, hunger and climate change of the planet by 2030.

Nevertheless, the fashion market has also struggled with sustainability in recent years. One such change from the usual linear economy is adopting circular economy principles. Unlike the typical “Take-Make-Dispose” model from the linear economy, the circular economy seeks to “Repair, Reuse, and Transform” resources for as long as possible.

The UN SDGs, as a solution to the world’s problems (Shahid Kamal, 2023), like climate change, have led more brands to adopt SDGs in their production processes. Take responsible consumption and production, which is one of the SDGs, as an example:

“Japan-based fibre and textiles firm Asahi Kasei said German apparel brand Drykorn selected Cupro, its “natural smart material,” as a “circular economy” fibre for its fall collection.” (Tracey Meyers, 2017)

Based on second-hand data, Uniqlo has been running a recycling programme to collect used clothes from customers. The collected clothing is resold or donated as second-hand clothing or recycled into fibre or fuel, depending on the circumstances. (Pui-Sze Chow, 2017; Cinty K.Y.Li, 2017)

Additionally, not only sellers but more consumers are becoming attentive to environmental pollution, and more people are starting to pay attention to the loyalty of fashion brands to sustainability. Especially, Gen Z they are generally more concerned about the sustainability of the fashion industry than older generations. Furthermore, it is also because Gen Z is now one of the main target generations for fashion brands; growing interest in sustainable fashion has led many brands to adopt more environmentally friendly methods and materials to be more circular.

References:

Pui-Sze Chow& Cinty K.Y.Li ‘Contemporary Case Studies on Fashion Production, Marketing and Operations’ (05 December 2017)https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-7007-5_13 

Shahid Kamal https://ojs.njhsciences.com/index.php/njhs/article/view/447 

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

Tracey Meyers https://wwd-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/feature/drykorn-selects-circular-economy-material-11027199/ 

Uniqlo https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-7007-5_13