Planet

Nicholas Figueroa ⋅ 9th October 2022

The idea of ‘Planet’ refers to the four pillars which are studied in the London College Of Fashion, it shows the importance of sustainability regarding our environment and resources in order for all habitants to experience a better life in the future. As we know “Fashion certainly ranks among the world’s dirtiest sectors” (Kent, 2019) for that reason the four pillars concept was developed to help organisations and consumers recognise the extent of the harm we are causing.

Figure 1: Contaminated river in China – “unrelenting discharge of untreated wastewater from the dyes, heavy metals and other toxicants of surrounding clothes factories.” (MacDermott, 2019)

The concept of a circular economy, which businesses might embrace to produce less waste, is centred on making products more environmentally friendly while also prolonging the product life cycle. Following the five R’s—refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and then recycle—is a great approach for businesses and consumers to uphold a circular economy. Landfill trash will be reduced by incorporating this technique into company waste reduction and recycling initiatives (Bell, 2020). Unfortunately, prior to the idea of a circular economy, currently we ‘take, make, dispose’. Natural resources from the earth are used as raw materials to make products that are sold, and after those products are used, we discard them, which results in a large number of landfills. The idea of a circular economy allows us to understand what we are doing wrong and follow a simple step by step process (Taylor, 2020)

Figure 2: Circular Economy within Fashion, (Lablaco circular fashion report, Vogue Business, 2020)

Sustainability in regards to fashion is a broad term used to describe processes taken to make products and participants aim for a carbon-neutral fashion sector without compromising animal welfare and social justice (Alves, 2022). Levis is an example of a fashion business using sustainable practices as they took the initiative to look for different solutions to counter conventional cotton issues, for example they are using organic cotton instead to greatly reduce the harmful pesticides and fertilisers which have been proven to cause harm to humans in many different ways, from wearing to the washing process.(Levis Sustainability report – sustainable fibres, 2021)

Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are outlined by the United Nations, with the fourteenth goal, “Life Below Water,” being one of them. The world’s waterways are heavily impacted by the fashion industry’s pollution. This is detrimental to both sea life and the people who rely on rivers for their everyday needs. Additionally, research shows that washing synthetic fibres contributes to about 35% of the microplastics dumped into the ocean. (Bannigan & Donnelly, 2021). As a result of the United Nations boosting awareness of Life Below Water, the fashion industry has fortunately taken the matter into consideration and is currently looking at ways to reduce the damage being done to the ocean by synthetic materials, processes like laser cutting, material coatings, and fabric pre-washing can be employed to decrease the release of microfibers over the course of the garment’s lifetime.