Sustainable Fashion
Fashion is driven solemnly by consumer choices. Public attitude drives purchasing decisions and production in the fashion industry. Collectively we can signal to the fashion industry that we need a revolution in understanding fashion. As consumers, we can demand more innovative and radical solutions to come along.
What is Sustainable Fashion?
Sustainable Fashion became one of the hot topics covered in media and worldwide. Right now you can see clothing companies transforming their business models to cover new demand towards the industry. Companies are improving their supply chains to reduce environmental impacts, improve social conditions, and adapt their production to new regulations.
It is important to note that Sustainable Fashion has many forms and ways. Some people emphasize the importance of making clothes in a more environmentally friendly manner, while others advocate secondhand/vintage or underline the benefits of swapping, renting, or borrowing clothes as opposed to purchasing newly produced garments. The following steps towards more environmentally friendly, socially, and ethically conscious production and consumption are the important steps on the way to define sustainability in the fashion industry.
There are 7 main forms of Sustainable Fashion production and consumption:
1. On-Demand & Custom Made
2. Green & Clean
3. High Quality & Timeless Design
4. Fair & Ethical
5. Repair, Redesign & Upcycle
6. Rent. Lease & Swap
7. Secondhand & Vintage
Ideally, clothes and fashion products should be produced and consumed based on the following 7 ways. Fast Fashion, on the other hand, works against us. Fast Fashion is defined as a mass-production of cheap, disposable clothing with an aim to keep consumers hooked buying new clothes. Fast fashion, in other words, samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture turning them into garments in stores at a fast speed to meet consumer demand. It displays the idea that outfit repeating is a fashion mistake. It acts as an important figure in the system of overproduction and consumption that makes the fashion industry one of the largest polluters in the world.
“Buying new clothes that are manufactured in an environmentally and socially/ethically conscious manner is something we all should aspire as much as possible, although it may entail a somewhat higher price tag.”
Why do we need to talk about it now?
The fashion industry is the second-largest polluter in the world just after the oil industry and the environmental damage is increasing as the industry grows its production supply.
Water pollution
In most of the countries where garments are produced, untreated toxic wastewaters from textile factories are dumped into the rivers. Wastewater can contain toxic substances such as lead, mercury, and arsenic, among others. These are extremely harmful to the aquatic life and the wellbeing of millions of people utilizing the water. The second major source of water contamination is the use of fertilizers for cotton production, which heavily pollutes runoff waters and evaporation waters.
Water consumption
The fashion industry among polluting the rivers is also a major water consumer. The drastic quantity of fresh water is used for the dyeing and finishing process for all of our clothes. It can take up to 200 tons of freshwater per ton of dyed fabric. Cotton, on the other hand, needs water to grow. Up to 20,000 liters of water are needed to produce 1kg of cotton. This creates pressure on water resources and has dramatic ecological consequences such as the desertification of the Aral Sea, where cotton production has entirely drained the water.
Microfibers pollution
Every time we wash a synthetic garment (polyester, nylon), about 700.000 individual microfibers are released into the water. Scientists discovered that small aquatic organisms ingest those microfibers. These are then eaten by small fish which are later eaten by bigger fish, introducing plastic in our food chain. A recent study is also showing that wearing synthetic fibers is releasing plastic microfibers to the air.
Waste problem
Fast Fashion made clothing more likely to be disposed of faster. As a result, we generate more and more textile waste. A family in the western world throws away an average of 30 kg of clothing each year. Only 15% of the clothes are properly recycled or donated, and the rest goes directly to the landfill. Synthetic fibers, such as polyester, are plastic fibers, therefore non-biodegradable and can take up to 200 years to decompose.
Chemicals
Chemicals are one of the main components of our clothes. They are used during fiber production, dyeing, bleaching, and wet processing of each of our garments. The heavy use of chemicals in cotton farming is causing diseases and premature death among cotton farmers, along with massive freshwater and ocean water pollution and soil degradation. Some of these substances are also harmful to the direct consumers of the product.
Greenhouse gases emissions
The fashion industry accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions. The global fashion industry is generating greenhouse gases due to the energy used during its production, manufacturing, and transportation of the million garments yearly. Synthetic fibers, made from fossil fuel, making production much more energy-intensive than with natural fibers. Most of our clothes are produced in the factories essentially powered by coal, which is the dirtiest type of energy in terms of carbon emissions.
Soils degradation
The massive, global degradation of soil is one of the main environmental issues our planet is currently facing. It presents a major threat to global food security and also contributes to global warming. We need healthy soil for food production but also to absorb CO2. The fashion industry plays a major part in degrading soil through overgrazing of pastures through cashmere goats and sheep raised for their wool, degradation of the soil due to massive use of chemicals to grow cotton, and deforestation caused by wood-based fibers like rayon.
Rainforest destruction
Every year, thousands of hectares of endangered and ancient forests are cut down and replaced by plantations of trees used to make wood-based fabrics such as rayon, viscose, and modal. This deforestation is threatening the ecosystem and indigenous communities, as in Indonesia where large-scale deforestation of the rainforests has taken place over the past decade.
Why should we care?
The following problems are caused not only by the producer but also influenced by the direct consumers of the fashion industry. We are a direct cause of the environmental issues created by society. As direct consumers, we can choose brands that are supporting Sustainable Fashion standards in their production.
What brands are supporting Sustainable Fashion?
For each item purchased, Tentree plants 10 trees and gives customers a code to track the growth of their trees. Their goal is to plant one billion trees by 2030. Tentree’s clothing is made from ethically sourced and sustainable materials including cork, coconut, and recycled polyester and produced in ethical factories.
Everlane focuses on ethics and transparency. They demonstrate the markup process for each garment and showcasing factories to give consumers a clear idea of where it sources from. It claims every factory gets audited and scored during the selection process.
All of the cotton garments from PACT are certified organic by GOTS showcasing to a consumer that the entire manufacturing process follows organic guidelines. They’re also Fair Trade Certified overlooking the ethical factors: wages and working conditions.
Patagonia is recognized as one of the best in ethical clothing. They use sustainable materials in production, help you repair your clothes and gear to make them last longer, and have collections that are Fair Trade Certified and Bluesign approved. Patagonia buys and resells its own styles.
Levi’s targets the finishing processes to remove water consumption possible with its Water<Less collection with the promise to use up to 96% less water to make. The brand publicly shares its in-depth sustainability commitments throughout the product lifecycle.
Each garment from Reformation comes with a description and score of environmental footprint to educate customers on the impact of their clothing. The pieces are made of upcycled and sustainable materials in fair wage environments. Reformation has been carbon neutral since 2015 and helps protect deforested areas to offset its manufacturing.
To avoid waste, Amour Vert produces smaller quantities in the US. They source fibers and focus on choosing more sustainable options when possible: organic cotton and Tencel. Amour Vert plants a tree for every tee that’s purchased, with over 220,000 trees planted so far.
Eileen Fisher is a leader in Sustainable Fashion and takes a full lifecycle approach. They analyze from fibers, dyes and finishes, to ethics during the production process, to repairs and waste at the end of the cycle. The brand buys back and resells its own label’s gently worn clothing for a lower price in excellent condition.
People Tree promotes good wages and working conditions for the people making the clothes. The brand is Fair Trade Certified with the supply chain inspected against strict standards. They also select materials like organic cotton, Tencel lyocell, and low impact dyes during production.
Alternative Apparel focuses on using organic cotton and recycled materials. The brand uses more sustainable packaging and low impact dyes, and it follows strict ethical standards for the factories it sources from.
