Sustainability in Fashion Industry
Sustainable fashion can be defined as clothing, shoes, and accessories that are manufactured, marketed, and used in the most sustainable manner possible, taking into account both environmental and socio-economic aspects. Also, it’s about more sustainable patterns of consumption and use, which necessitate shifts in individual attitudes and behavior.
The clothing industry is an inclusive domain in the sustainable fashion industry and our approach is to impart sustainability to the core of it. So the first and foremost task that needs to be done is breaking down the procedures and components of this industry. This will make analysis simple and easy to comprehend.
The target is to make all the above factors conform to overall sustainability. One important thing we need to remember throughout this research study is that it’s for low-price clothing and it’s really tough to implement innovative solutions because of the low margins on prices. Achieving overall sustainability for low-price clothing is a different challenge altogether.
Moving further, here is the breakup of the carbon footprint of procedures involved in manufacturing clothes. This data will help us locate our focus to that critical point having a significant impact.
It’s fairly visible that the majority of carbon emission comes from the manufacturing process and our prior focus will hover around it.
Let’s start with the start — Raw Materials
‘Sustainable’ raw materials — a guilt-free purchasing option or the marketing hook? We’ll discuss this but for now, we are going by the approach to minimize the damage at the source. It is said that one small error at the start integrates to a larger one in later stages.
Mind it, a small error produces an exponential curve, reducing overall efficiency.
Agricultural Innovations
- Drip Irrigation and micro-irrigation systems — It’s evident that irrigation requires heavy usage of water for extremely large agricultural lands and a huge amount of water is being wasted in that process due to an inefficient water delivery system. Drip irrigation and micro-irrigation systems help in the precise delivery of water where needed.
- Organic cotton farming — can eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizers.
Reduce water consumption by 91%(cotton accounts for 69% of water footprint in textile industry)
Reduce greenhouse emissions by 46%
Reduce energy consumption by 62%
Apart from these, agricultural waste can be converted into dairy feed and mulch for soil fertility. Usage of organic cotton leads to non-toxic water effluents after washing the fabric and hence water can be further reused after treatment. Using Recycled Polyester made from PET plastics rather than virgin ones saves a lot of energy due to less disposal, incineration, and less virgin fiber usage. This leads to savings from using less virgin fiber.
Considering the socio-economic aspect, organic cotton fiber adds up 1–2% cost on the final clothing product according to a report of Mckinsey. Through organic farming, soil improvements, reduced exposure to toxic chemicals, employment generation, lower input costs will boost farmers' livelihood.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing fabric from the fiber is a bit drawn-out process and it involves a load of the process that makes a significant contribution to the carbon emission as discussed earlier. Having said that about low-price clothing, we found it feasible to impart innovation in dyeing technology.
The lack of quality and shade variation along with non-sustainable practices made the clothing industry propel the dyeing process towards a more efficient and sustainable process — Air Dyeing technology.
Air-Dyeing Technology
- 95% less water and 86% less energy consumption than conventional fabric dyeing processes.
- With Air-Dye tech, for every 25,000 T-shirts sold, the plant can save Energy — 1,132,500 MJ, Water — 157,500 gallons, GHG emissions — 57,500 (Kg CO2 equivalent emissions).
On average in a factory, we need 2400 liters capacity approximately. We can use 4 units(600 ltr) which cost around 45–50 lakh(total cost) which can be recovered by the money saved on energy and water bills in a certain period of time.
Infrastructure
How efficient is the infrastructure? — helps in determining the target and time utilized in achieving that. Highly maintained and efficient machines and other infrastructural services help in applying our sustainable approach.
- Reduction in energy consumption by using more efficient technology. (air conditioning, heating) ~30%
- ~80% energy improvement by switching to LEDs
- 20% energy improvement in using efficient sewing machines
Economic impact: Reduced operating costs due to lower energy consumption; initial Capex needed for energy improvement measures for lighting, sewing machine, and HVAC(air conditioning and heating) solutions.
Supply Chain
When considering sustainability in the supply chain, the first concepts that typically come to mind are solutions like green warehouse space or fuel-efficient trucks. Sustainability in the supply chain extends much further than that. In retail, for instance, the clothing and fashion industry has the opportunity to progress through building a more sustainable approach.
For low-price clothing, we have prepared a business model that enhances the circular economic model of an industry.
The suggested model is that people can sell their old clothes at a fixed price(according to the condition of the clothes) at the retail store of the brand and then they can sell back those clothes after minimal repair and washing and profit can be easily shared with the manufacturing company. According to a report of World Bank, around 40% of the clothes purchased are never used and hence it’s a viable idea to pursue and also easily adaptable. This model will improve the brand image towards sustainability which will encourage consumers to buy sustainable products. The extra margin earned can add to the salary of the employees involved, making the process overall sustainable.
Packaging & Delivery
According to a climate report by Mckinsey & Company, material usage assumes ~40% weight reduction in corrugated boxes by reducing the number of layers from 5 to 3 and the use of two garments per polybag among ~80% of the market as well as a reduction in polybag weight by ~20% through improved material functionality can be achieved. This induces operational cost savings due to the price of recycled vs. virgin corrugated boxes and reduction in polybag usage.
The importance of technology is unparalleled in any sphere and here also, we can successfully use that to bring the table in our favor.
- E-commerce returns rate can be improved, based on a combination of technological improvements on predicting size, fit, and behavior changes from consumers to reduce purchases with intent to return.
- Using data & analytics from e-commerce websites can reduce overproduction through investments in more demand-focused supply chains and forecasting technology which will significantly reduce the operating costs.
Conclusions
The clothing industry is about emotional attachment, loyalty, and excitement for brands. The main responsibility of fashion companies is obviously to change their production, distribution, and marketing practices and strategies towards greater sustainability. But companies also have the possibility to contribute to more sustainable consumption patterns. Not only the economy and environment but the companies should also focus on improving working conditions through the inclusion of all types of people can be done to ensure equal representation, menstrual leaves, effective grievance redressal system for solving issues related to workers.
Our ideas support all the above strategies and activities that increase a company’s sustainability performance and encourage more sustainable production and consumption patterns. Major companies like H&M, Nike, Adidas, Blueberry have taken the pledge to become 100% sustainable by 2025. Consumers will increasingly expect — and demand — an emphasis on sustainability from fashion brands. Circular business models won’t be optional.
~ Written by Ashutosh Kumar; Research credits — Praharsh Agrawal & Nitin
