Week 2 – Planet

The “Planet” pillar refers to how the “re” practices like “reduce, repair, reuse, recycle, repurpose, restore and regenerate” can assist in preserving the planet’s environment and make it a better place for all living organisms.

The fashion product lifecycle mimics a circular economy and encompasses the stages of design, production, use and lastly reuse (Lench, 2020). Circular economy is defined as “an economy that is restorative and regenerative by design” and it is made up of four main components. These four components contribute into the flow of resources which is depicted by the three principles that ties to sustainability , like ”eliminating waste and pollution”, ”circulate products and materials” and “regenerate nature” (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2023).

The fashion industry is identified as the second most environmentally damaging industry, following oil and it is responsible for 8-10% of humanity’s carbon emissions (United Nations Environment Program, 2018). The detrimental cost of the environment under the current fashion industry highlights the connection of sustainability to fashion according to United Nations Brundtland Commission (2023) sustainability, is described as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”. Being sustainable involves assessing the current needs, reconsidering how effective we are using the limited resources and and will vary depending on the strategy taken by each component in the fashion product lifecycle to reduce negative externalities (Moorhouse and Moorhouse, 2017).  So, it is crucial to grasp the connection between the fashion industry and sustainability in order to know what we as fashion students can accomplish.

Out of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDG), responsible consumption and production (SDG12) is highly relevant to the fashion industry and has significant impact this is because fashion brands are producer and they supply to customer which are consumers. According to Alison Gwilt (2020), there are different stages that touches upon sustainability until a product if produced and is sold. For example on the producer side, they can make changes like innovation of new machines to improve the infrastructure, limit the type of fabric use, reduce water waste, design products to be used more and promotes slow fashion. Once the product is produced, the job is with the consumer because clothes that are more sustainable are often more expensive and if consumers are more attracted to fast fashion then it is hard for brand to shift their focus as most brand are consumer-driven as they want to keep their consumer.

Although luxurious brands like Stella McCartney can act as a leader and lead the industry to be more sustainable hence it is important to understanding despite effort of individual companies, increased coordination between business and government is essential for accomplishing our goal. Finally, significant financial commitment, widespread innovation, transparency, and traceability will be required to build a more sustainable industry.

Bibliography

Bielawski, Katrin. “8 Reasons Why Sustainable Fashion Matters.” Narah Soleigh, 18 Sept. 2019, www.narahsoleigh.com/en-gb/blogs/blog/8-reasons-why-sustainable-fashion-matters.

Ellen Macarthur Foundation. “The Circular Economy in Detail.” Ellenmacarthurfoundation.org, ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/the-circular-economy-in-detail-deep-dive#:~:text=A%20circular%20economy%20favours%20activities.

Gwilt, Alison. A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2020.

“La Vision Brillante et Durable Du Défilé Stella McCartney Printemps-Été 2024.” LVMH, 5 Oct. 2023, www.lvmh.com/news-documents/news/inspired-and-sustainable-vision-informs-spring-summer-2024-stella-mccartney-collection/. Accessed 8 Oct. 2023.

Lench, Angie. Intro to Fashion Sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Moorhouse, Debbie, and Danielle Moorhouse. “Sustainable Design: Circular Economy in Fashion and Textiles.” The Design Journal, vol. 20, no. sup1, 28 July 2017, pp. S1948–S1959, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352713, https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352713.

Moran, Graeme. “Collaborating for Change: Sustainability Report 2022.” Drapers, 2022, www.drapersonline.com/guides/collaborating-for-change-sustainability-report-2022.

Remy, Nathalie, et al. “Style That’s Sustainable: A New Fast-Fashion Formula.” McKinsey, 20 Oct. 2016, www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/style-thats-sustainable-a-new-fast-fashion-formula.

United Nations. “Sustainability.” United Nations, 2023, www.un.org/en/academic-impact/sustainability.

United Nation. “Sustainable Development Goals Launch in 2016.” United Nations Sustainable Development, 30 Dec. 2015, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/12/sustainable-development-goals-kick-off-with-start-of-new-year/.

United Nations Environment Programme. “Putting the Brakes on Fast Fashion.” UN Environment, 12 Nov. 2018, www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/putting-brakes-fast-fashion.