Planet
The planet pillar is all about exploring the ideas that come with sustainability and how we can use our voices in the fashion industry to have a positive impact on our environment. To put into perspective the severity of the climate crisis in relation to the fashion industry, we know that this industry takes up approximately 20% of all the water used on our planet (Shaikh, M.A., 2009) and that this contributes to a severe part of the “climate catastrophe” stated by the United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres. Textile production globally produces 1.2 billion tonnes of Carbon dioxide annually (Parvin, F., Islam, S., Akm, S.I., Urmy, Z. and Ahmed, S., 2020) which is a large factor of the problem as we are consciously contributing to the pollution of our planet. An area of this industry which is detrimental to the climate crisis is the way that materials are being treated during the process of making garments, regarding water consumption and the use of oil-based textiles.
The topic of reducing our carbon footprint is one of the most frequently discussed topics in today’s society, using the idea of a circular economy. Throughout the whole of Europe, more than 30% of clothing that has been purchased has only been worn once (Palacios-Mateo, C., Van der Meer, Y. and Seide, G., 2021) showing us the extent to which this problem persists and sheds light onto the fact that we need to be thinking about what to do when a garment has reached the end of its life. During the end-of-life period, we should be thinking about how to utilise material recovery processes to maximise the potential of materials that we already own (Gwilt, 2020). As seen in Figure 1, we can see that although our input to fast fashion brands is not declining, our use of second-hand clothing stores/websites is rapidly increasing which will encourage people to shop with a more environmentally friendly mindset.
The fashion industry is able to provide for so many people all around the world, equipping more than 850,000 people with jobs in the UK alone (Orsola de Castro, 2021). This industry will never be eliminated, but most importantly, fast fashion is what needs to be eliminated due to the exploitation of workers and the negative impact that this has on the environment. What needs to change in our society is the way people respond to fast fashion and whether people make the choice to support these brands when they know that their environmental impact is not improving. Fashion is “one of the most socially exploitative and resource-polluting industries in the world” (Orsola de Castro, 2021) as it takes advantage of laws in less-developed countries where the pay for workers is extortionately low, not providing any of these workers with a salary able to live off of.
Reference List:
Allen, R. (2022). Why fast fashion is under threat from sustainable shopping habits. [online] www.clickthrough-marketing.com. Available at: https://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/industry-reports/sector-insights/why-fast-fashion-is-under-threat-from-sustainable-shopping-habits.
Gwilt, A. (2020). Practical Guide To Sustainable Fashion. S.L.: Ava Academia.
Lovelace, T. (2019). The Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion. [online] Hawthorn. Available at: https://www.hawthornintl.com/impact-of-fast-fashion#:~:text=Gas%20Emissions.
Muhammad Ayaz Shaikh (2009). Water conservation in textile industry. Pakistan Textile Journal, 58(11).
Orsola de Castro (2021). Loved Clothes Last. Penguin UK.
Palacios-Mateo, C., Van der Meer, Y. and Seide, G., 2021. Analysis of the polyester clothing value chain to identify key intervention points for sustainability. Environmental Sciences Europe, 33(1), p.2
Parvin, F., Islam, S., Akm, S.I., Urmy, Z. and Ahmed, S., 2020. A study on the solutions of environment pollutions and worker’s health problems caused by textile manufacturing operations. Biomed. J. Sci. Tech. Res, 28, pp.21831-21844.