Planet
The fashion industry is built around a system of consumption, Fashion Business categorises this system into four pillars: people, planet, purpose and profit. The ‘planet’ pillar establishes an imperative responsibility across the industry, to ensure sustainability and highlight the environmental impact of unsustainable practises. The circular economy (CE) has risen as a method to tackle some issues related to the production and consumption of fashion, the model ‘prioritizes clothes and textiles being kept at their highest value during use and re-entering the economy after use, never ending up as waste.’ (Gwilt, A. 2014). The CE is a simplistic view of a recyclable system, in which not only the life cycle but also the end-of-life destination of a garment is considered, as early as the design stage. While the CE model is favoured over the outdated linear system that is currently used across the industry, it is not a replacement for sustainability; the model should develop a symbiotic relationship with all other ongoing efforts to guide the fashion industry to become more sustainable. Sustainability broadly ‘refers to doing business without negatively impacting the environment, community or society as a whole’ (Spiliakos, A. 2018). Sustainability relating to the fashion industry adopts a ’life cycle’ method of thinking, this breaks down the journey of a garment into phases. By identifying and reviewing each phase the social and environmental impact of the garment is established, this level of transparency enables designers to review how the impacts can be reduced or avoided. ‘German ecommerce platform Zalando has begun the rollout of its Circular Design Criteria to its 5,800 brand partners’ (Moran, G. 2022). Zalando is one of many brands allowing sustainability targets to drive their business by adopting the ‘life-cycle’ mindset. The seventeen SDGs highlight targets surrounding the economy, society and environment aiming to be met by 2030. One of them that directly links to the fashion industry is number twelve: Responsible consumption and production. In an effort to become more sustainable it is common for designers to focus on the way their garments are produced and while it is important to do so, much like the twelfth SDG suggests, production is only a part that should be considered, consumption being the other half. By following this SDG designers will broaden their scope of responsibility and look further into a garment’s life cycle right up until end-of-life, forcing them to reimagine and challenge the current climate of the industry, for example setting up a service system for their garments to be repaired if ever needed.
Reference list:
Gwilt, A. (2014), A practical guide to sustainable fashion. London: Bloomsbury.
Spiliakos, A. (2018), Harvard Business School Online, What does “sustainability” mean in business, https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-sustainability-in-business
Moran, G. (2022) Drapers, Collaborating for Change: Sustainability Report 2022, https://www.drapersonline.com/guides/collaborating-for-change-sustainability-report-2022