As students, it’s extremely difficult to shop sustainably given the affordability of fast fashion and the limited number of genuinely sustainable fashion outlets. If we want to tackle climate change and environmental devastation, we need to reform the fashion industry in its current state. The huge carbon footprint inherent throughout supply chains and the industry’s reliance on natural resources, means that fast fashion cannot exist or function in the way it currently does in a sustainable world.
According to Mark K. Brewer from Sheffield Business School, fashion’s reliance on huge amounts of raw materials pollutes the atmosphere, generates tons of waste and makes the industry responsible for 10 per cent of the world’s emissions. Combined with the fact that the market is spurred by social media trends and consumers that want clothes quickly and cheaply, the fashion industry is responsible for a lot of the environmental damage we’ve inflicted on the world.
It’s not like society is holding onto clothes, recycling them or buying them second hand either. We discard, hoard and splurge on garments, fuelled by the need to invest in the latest trends and rid ourselves of items that aren’t ‘in fashion’ anymore. Although fast fashion brands are stepping up to try to make their brands more sustainable, “just-in-time” production cycles are profitable for them, so they wouldn’t benefit from the slower, more expensive process of doing things sustainably. This makes things really hard for students like us, who care about sustainability but also love our clothes, and want them to be affordable and in our wardrobes as fast as possible.
Brewer also points out that the industry is promoting a culture of waste, and is therefore incompatible with a world that needs to act fast, if not now, to prevent a climate disaster. If we want to forge a sustainable future, we need to pressure these brands to completely overhaul and change the way they do business, or face being responsible for environmental destruction.
Not only is fashion the world’s second most polluting industry, it’s projected that emissions from the industry will rise by more than 60 per cent by 2030, and by 2050 will require a quarter of the world’s carbon budget. It’s vital that consumers act now to pressure companies into changing their behaviour, regarding sustainability, but also regarding labour conditions in garment factories. If we are going to create a sustainable future, we must incorporate and prioritise social justice, which isn’t compatible with the illegal, inhumane and often life-risking conditions which workers, who are mainly women, face in the factories of brands such as Pretty Little Thing and ASOS.
Some clothing brands have put objectives in place that may mean they step up and change their production models. The North Face, for instance, has launched a collection of refurbished products. Inditex, which owns Zara, Pull & Bear and Bershka, has committed to making 100% of its cotton, linen and polyester sustainable by 2025. Mango has committed to making 50% of its cotton sustainably sourced by 2022 and has signed up to the Better Cotton Initiative. However, this ignores the environmental damage done by the transportation of items and the resources that are needed for production, combined with how quickly we throw away clothes and buy new ones.
In terms of changing how we consume, a capsule wardrobe might be the answer. It involves investing in a limited selection of quality clothing items that complement each other. Because a capsule wardrobe means you only have a few clothes, you wear every piece so nothing is wasted, and if you invest in quality pieces, you avoid fast fashion.
Sustain Your Style has great tips on how to shop sustainably, including buying less, because by constantly consuming cheap clothes from fast fashion brands, we continue encouraging these brands to function under their current model, where poor quality clothes are produced quickly and cheaply. Also, it could force brands to improve the quality of the clothes they make, making our wardrobe last longer. Instead of throwing out your clothes you can repair them, donate them or put them in a textile bin, which is better for the environment than putting them in the bin. And buying second hand, swapping your clothing by organising a clothes swap, or renting them, where you hire clothes for a monthly fee, can also help keep your wardrobe sustainable. Doing your laundry also has an environmental impact, so washing full loads, wearing clothes more than once, using cold water and avoiding tumble dryers and the dry cleaners are tips to wash your clothes sustainably.
All in all, it is companies that need to change how they’re doing things, but by changing how we shop and wear clothes, we can pressure big brands to drastically reduce their environmental impact.
Image credits: Alexcaban at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons