Fashion Sustainability - What is it and Why is it Important?

November 16, 2019

Fashion Sustainability – What is it and Why is it Important?

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE FASHION?

“It’s a movement aimed at making the fashion industry more environmentally responsible by changing the way clothes are designed, made, transported, used, and discarded.” (1)

HOW DOES FASHION HARM THE ENVIRONMENT?

Some might say that the Fashion Industry is one of the hardest industries on the environment. Carbon emissions from textile production exceed those of all maritime shipping and international flights combined (1).

Many synthetic fibers used in clothing today are non-recyclable and even just their production can cause a lot of harm. Stretchy fibers like lurex (Spandex is the brand name most are familiar with) are used in most clothing today because it helps to narrow the breakdown of size runs by allowing the fabric to stretch and fit a wider range of sizes. However this is a non-recyclable material so once the other fibers are mixed with it, there’s no possible way to separate them to breakdown and reuse or recycle them.

On the other end, natural fibers aren’t any better. In order to cultivate as much as possible and keep the prices low, cotton production uses a lot of harmful pesticides and tremendous amounts of water. So unless the garments are made with organic resources chances are they’re causing a lot of harm to the ecosystem.

The environmental issues aren’t just in the production phase, but since most of our clothing is now bought to be worn only a few times and then thrown out due to fast fashion trends and overall lack of garment quality, a lot of clothing and textile is ending up in landfills.

“People are buying more clothes and keeping them for shorter periods. The average number of times a garment is worn in Europe before it is retired has dropped by a third in 15 years.” (1)

Lurex and nylon cannot be recycled so unless those items can be repurposed they will inevitably wind up in landfills and can take decades to biodegrade. On top of that, the dye and chemicals from the fabric can leach into the soil and contaminate local water supplies (FabScrap.org).

Examples of biodegradable textiles: cotton linen, wool, bamboo, hemp, silk, rayon (most rayon manufacturing processes in use today are not considered environmentally friendly) (4).

HOW DOES THE FASHION INDUSTRY EFFECT PEOPLE AND CURRENT SOCIAL ISSUES?

Fast fashion and even high end retailers send manufacturing overseas to take advantage of the dramatic cost decreases. They need to utilize these resources to keep up with the consumer demand for paying bottom dollar for most items today.

In 2013 there was a catastrophic building collapse at a sweater factory in Bangladesh after there were some concerns raised about the state of the infrastructure not being able to hold up against the power of the knitting machines. Over a thousand workers died and many more were injured after being pressured into going back to work that day despite the concerns (see sources below for more info).

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/04/24/remember-rana-plaza#

“Each year, some $30 billion worth of clothing leaves Bangladesh bound for stores like H&M and Zara.” (2)

“between 2011 and 2016 profit margins at supplier factories in Bangladesh fell by around 13 percent, according to a report published by Pennsylvania State University’s Centre for Global Workers’ Rights last year.” (2)

We’re producing so much in these countries but not paying them enough because stores want to be able to give their customers the lowest, most competitive prices while still maintaining a high profit margin. How can we expect the factories to improve pay and working conditions while also refusing to adjust our pricing models? If anything our pricing strategy is getting even worse for the factories and they aren’t getting enough profit to make adequate changes. It’s crazy to just expect these worker’s conditions and quality of life to improve if we’re not even willing to pay a little more for the items we purchase. Even though you can purchase a top for $10, someone somewhere may be paying a price for that.

HOW CAN WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

“In 2017 millennials in the US alone spent about $200 billion and it is estimated that, by the end of 2018, they will have more spending power than any generation.” (3)

Some people may think, how can we make a difference? We have the power to control where we put our money. When we spend it on items that are bad for the environment and to their factory workers we are only enabling the industry to keep using the same practices. But when they see patterns of customers making an effort to purchase items because they come from sustainable resources they will make the change. They will do whatever it takes to get and keep as many customers as possible.

So far H&M and Zara have both made sustainability pledges. “All of the cotton, linen and polyester used by Zara will be organic, sustainable or recycled by 2025” (5) and H&M pledged to transition to 100% sustainable cotton by 2020 and is around 95% there as of this year (6). On top of that H&M is also aiming to use only recycled or sustainable materials by 2030 (6).

Vintage, resale, and clothing rental sites have also become very popular in recent years. These are fantastic ways to get new clothes that you only intend to wear a few times without being wasteful. Even Express is jumping on the bandwagon with their new clothing rental subscription Express Style Trial.

Of course we can’t fix the problem over night. People can’t necessarily just stop buying everything, that would be catastrophic to the economy. But if we just make a little more effort to start finding and purchasing items from sustainable places and not buying items to throw away in a week, hopefully we can see some turnaround in years to come.

By choosing to put our money in the right places we have the power to make a difference. All it takes is a little education and some integrity.

Below are some resources for sustainable shopping and also solutions for repurposing, donating, and recycling old clothing that we don’t want to throw away.