The textiles industry is extremely polluting and globally complex.
A massive amount of land, water, energy, and chemicals are needed to convert fibres to fabrics. In the life cycle stages of production, there is also a considerable amount of emissions and waste (both solid and liquid). The impact is felt globally, and the pollution created in many parts of the world is often unregulated. Initially starting at the farms, these environmental impacts continue through to the fabric mills, the garment finishing and wet processing partners, the garment cut and sew factories, the customer (laundering) and continue even after the garment is thrown away and sent to landfill (creation of greenhouse gases). Transportation between all these parties and the use of pesticides and fertilizers adds to the waste creation in terms of fuel use (to fuel the vehicles and make the fertilizers) and greenhouse gas creation (during combustion of the fuel). To protect our wonderful planet Earth, it is critical to understand how sustainability and the horrific impacts of fabric and garment manufacturing are intertwined. If we are to ever get out of this horrid mess of global warming, sustainability and the fashion industry must go hand in hand. However, in North America, most people are unaware of the environmental and ethical impacts of fashion, and if aware, a lot of the times do not care. People want their fast fashion fix, so they turn a blind eye to what devastation the fashion industry is creating upon our world.
So, what can be done?
CURB CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
First off, consumers must stop their fixation on fast fashion and their need for crap. Their excessive need for physical goods must be curbed. Stop buying clothes that you do not need. Easier said than done. A lot of times people will go out and purchase something to fill a void or need they feel. They feel sad or fat, or unattractive, so they go buy something. Once they get it, they are happy for a bit, but then the urge to buy the next best dress or necklace, starts again. Just stop and ask yourself, will this make me happy? The real work is not on your outside physical appearance but on the inside. What are you missing on the inside that make you insatiably needing more? Working on being happy and doing things that make you happy. This will make you feel better and will eventually create less of an urge to need something physical.
BRANDS MUST CONSIDER ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FACTORS OF THE CULTURES
Fashion and apparel brands must consider the economic and social factors affecting the cultural diversity of a given society for fashion to be truly sustainable. Where a brand decides to manufacture their garments is critical. The people who make our clothes and the manufacturers are victims of social injustice and often underpaid. What people must realize is that every garment created on average has 20-30 or more individuals that have worked on it, to create it. These 20-30 plus people include the farmers, the fabric manufacturers, the cutters, the sewers, the embroiderers, the fabric dyers, the button and zipper creators, transporters etc. The list can be very long, but we often forget that. Every piece of clothing has its own story, before it even touches a buyer’s hands.
SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY AT THE FOREFRONT
Sustainability strategy development needs to be at the forefront of a brands operations. Sustainability strategies of a brand mush be of the highest priority. This is critical for the future of the fashion industry.
A radical shift is required that must include the re-imagination of design of our clothing and how they were made. Brands must understand the fundamental issues of what the clothes are made of, where the clothes were made, who were they made by and how they were designed to preserve our planet. Customers must begin demanding brands to improve on their sustainability performance and be accountable and transparent. Sustainability Assessments are required to help and assist brands to navigate the complex waters of sustainability. Sustainability Assessments allow a brand to know where they are doing well and where additional action and improvements are required. These assessments form a baseline for a brand to begin improving and cover issues on governance, environmental issues, ethical and social issues, circularity and transparency.
CIRCULAR FASHION IS THE NEW FASHION
In the future, there should be no such thing as the type of fast fashion creation we have today. In the future, fashion should be created in a circular manner. Having circular designed clothing is part and parcel of being a sustainable brand. There is no other way. Circular fashion is whereby waste is designed out from the creation and the clothes are created with the highest environmental and socially and ethical performance as possible. Clothing must be initially designed to be eventually disassembled. This disassembly of a garment will provide the pieces required for the creation of other garments to be made. This will create a continual circle of life for the garment. This change to full circular fashion not only includes the design of the clothing, but what fabric is chosen. Natural fabric choices such as linen, hemp, organic cotton and jute are leading the pack in terms of energy use and greenhouse gas creation through their lifecycles. Re-using deadstock and old garments is crucial to ensure the value of the garment is kept in play and use, for as long as possible. Longevity of a garment is created by ensuring quality craftmanship and proper laundering and repair processes. Upcycling garments into new garments will be critical. Repair is a critical piece of this puzzle and when garments get damaged, repair must happen if possible. Clothing must not be looked at as disposable any longer. If you have unwanted old clothing, it must be recycled, re-used or if ripped or torn, it must be repaired. If the garment eventually must be disposed of, it should be made from a fiber that can easily degraded by the microbes in the soil and thus be regenerated as part of the soil ecosystem.
CHOOSE YOUR BEST LIFE
By choosing sustainable and ethical fashion and apparel brands over fast fashion brands, reflects the way we choose to live our lives. Clothes are our expressions, symbols, and signs of our culture. The way we feel about activism, politics, the environment, and human justice is represented by the clothes we wear. We must all work together to help build a new vision where the responsibility and awareness of clothing’s environmental and social impacts is in every piece of clothing we wear. Creating strong sustainable fashion strategies and implementing these strategies every step of the way is critical for our sustainable fashion future.