PLANET
Planet is one of four pillars of the Fashion Business School at the London College of Fashion, and it refers to environmental, economic and social sustainability. Sustainability has been defined as ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland, 1987). This suggests that both consumers and corporations have an obligation to protect the planet and its finite natural resources. In order to achieve this, the United Nations created seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the environmentally orientated ‘Life on Land’ and ‘Climate Action’ goals for example.
With Covid-19 impacting global efforts to attain a more equal future, the fashion industry still remains a serious culprit in threatening the planet and its diverse ecosystems. Arguably, it is the worlds second most polluting industry, reflected by the fact that ‘84% of fashion’s carbon footprint comes from the creation of new products’ (Moran, 2022). Due to this, sustainability highlights the need for slow fashion and ensuring garments are taken care of to extend their life cycle. Figure 1 illustrates how changes to supply chains, garment production and design, and consumer attitudes, can all ensure greater reusability and longevity of clothing items. This concept is known as circularity, which opposes the linear model of fashion production and consumption in which garments are simply made, used and disposed of quickly. Overhauling fashion as a more circular economy is vital if the UN aims to achieve all seventeen SDG’s by 2030.
Sustainable fashion can be viewed as an antithesis to the profit-driven industry, valuing low production costs and allocative inefficiency, over workers’ rights and standards of living (Condé Nast, 2020). The fashion industry is now adopting greater corporate social responsibility, with Burberry, once notorious for incinerating $37.8 million worth of unsold stock (Burberry, FY 2017-18) aiming to reduce its ‘emissions by 46% by 2030’ (Moran, 2022). Such a pledge shows how fashion brands with significant market share and influence are now positioning economic sustainability at the centre of their business strategy. This is crucial to protecting the planet and establishing fashion as a more sustainable industry. Implementing this ‘triple bottom line’, proposed by John Elkington in 1994, means that fashion corporations are not only focused on profitability, but also transparency and socioeconomic development too. This can produce exponential success for the UN, and the planet as a whole, if brands emphasise the environment and giving back to local communities as much as they consider their own economic wellbeing.
One SDG which is relevant to and impactful upon fashion is #12, Responsible Consumption and Production, as shown in Figure 2. Being a responsible consumer is not limited to when and what purchases are made; it also means educating oneself on their own behaviours, and how they may inadvertently contribute to the fact that between 2000 and 2014, clothing production doubled (Remy, S., Speelman, E., Swartz, S., 2016) due to evolving consumer demands and preferences. Therefore, it is generally agreed that fashion consumption and production patterns must change, with it being imperative for brands and consumers to exhibit genuine accountability and awareness of their own environmental, economic, and social impacts upon the planet.
REFERENCES:
Burberry (2017) Annual Report 2017/18. Available at: https://www.burberryplc.com/content/dam/burberry/corporate/Investors/Results_Reports/2018/Burberry_AnnualReport_FY17-18.pdf
[Accessed 7 October 2022]
Condé Nast in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London (2020) The Sustainable Fashion Glossary. Available at: https://www.condenast.com/glossary
[Accessed 5 October 2022]
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017) A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future. Available at: https://archive.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/A-New-Textiles-Economy.pdf
[Accessed 6 October 2022]
Moran, G. (2022) Drapers, Collaborating for Change: Sustainability Report 2022. Available at: https://www.drapersonline.com/guides/collaborating-for-change-sustainability-report-2022
[Accessed 7 October 2022]
Remy, S., Speelman, E., Swartz, S. (2016) Style that’s sustainable: A new fast-fashion formula. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/style-thats-sustainable-a-new-fast-fashion-formula
[Accessed 7 October 2022]
United Nations Brundtland Commission, Oxford University Press (1987) Brundtland Report. Available at: https://www.are.admin.ch/are/en/home/media/publications/sustainable-development/brundtland-report.html
[Accessed 6 October 2022]
Vogue Business Team (2020) Fashion’s circular economy could be worth $5 trillion. Available at: https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/fashions-circular-economy-could-be-worth-5-trillion?status=verified
[Accessed 6 October 2022]