Planet
According to Liz Gee, the pillar planet is being explained as “Redefining sustainability rewards businesses for embracing ‘Re’ practices that keep our finite resources in a closed loop.”. She gave out seven key words about the planet which are: Reduce, Repair, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose, Restore, Regenerate. This briefly explains the Pillar — Planet within fashion business, which brings in the concern of the sustainability of fashion industry, this mainly puts the focus on the ability of recycling and ability of waste minimisation.
The fashion industry’s production process and method has had a significant environmental impact. The McKinsey & Company has reported that the garment production is being doubled between 2000 and 2014, companies such as H&M and Zara are producing 10,000-15,000 new items per year. This massive amount of textile production is due to the operation of fast fashion and consumer need for catching up with new trends. This resulted in overproduction and resource waste, which raised the emission rate. This environmental damage caused by the fashion industry has re-emphasised the necessity of fashion sustainability, which may help to break the vicious cycle.
The concept of circular economy could then be brought in, the term ‘Circular Economy’ is an approach to promote the responsible and cyclical use of resources. It’s aiming to achieve it through reducing material input and reducing waste creation by decoupling economic growth from the usage of natural resources. Slowing and closing the resources loop are two features of the circular economy. Slowing means extending the product life cycle of goods so they can be used longer; closing the resources loop means creating a circular flow of resources using, preventing material from being over exploited, and keeping them in cycle usage.
Sustainable Development Goal, known as SDG are the 17 Goals adopted by all UN Member States in 2015 to end poverty and protect the planet. The 12th goal, ‘Responsible consumption and production’ is the SDG that fashion industry should focus on due to the running out of resources on our planet, consumption and manufacturing behaviours should be altered to avoid resource waste. It’s stated on the UN SDG’s official website “If the global population reaches 9.8 billion by 2050, the equivalent of almost three planets will be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles.” Referring to the extract, fashion businesses should commit to sustainable production to reduce waste in order to ensure that current and future generations’ livelihoods do not suffer from lack of resources in the future. This recalls fashion business should be responsible for the CSR (Cooperate Social Responsibility), acting as a part of the social group and the planet.
References:
Liz G., Dean. (2023). Welcome to Fashion Business School [Power Point] University of the Arts London: London College of Fashion.
Moraga, G., Huysveld, S., Mathieux, F., Blengini, G.A., Alaerts, L., Van Acker, K., de Meester, S. and Dewulf, J. (2019). Circular economy indicators: What do they measure? Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 146(1), pp.452–461. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.03.045.
Moran, G. (2022). Collaborating for Change: Sustainability Report 2022. [online] Drapers. Available at: https://www.drapersonline.com/guides/collaborating-for-change-sustainability-report-2022.
Silva, E.S., Hassani, H. and Madsen, D.Ø. (2019). Big Data in fashion: Transforming the Retail Sector. Journal of Business Strategy, 41(4). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/jbs-04-2019-0062.
United Nations (n.d.). Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. [online] United Nations Sustainable Development. Available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/.
United Nations (2023). The Sustainable Development Agenda. [online] United Nations Sustainable Development. Available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/.