Planet
In fashion marketing students are focused on the four main pillars of sustainability. These pillars are about preserving what people have of a specific resource. ‘Planet’ which fits under the environmental pillar, is what students are concentrated on right now. With the fashion industry setting to reach 2 trillion dollars by 2026 (Smith, 2022), this will cause negative effects on the environment and planet.
“The circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.” (EllenMacArthurFoundation,2022) Circular economy helps to tackle issues with sustainability in and out of the fashion industry. Circular economy helps to lower carbon emissions and to reduce non-renewable sources as well as helping the environment. In the environment people take things, use them, and then throw them away. A circular economy makes it so that when one is done using things, they do not throw them away but instead they reduce, re-use, or recycle them so that they do not produce waste or pollution that harms the planet. In a circular economy there two categories of material. Finite material and renewable material as seen in figure 1. Finite material is able to be recycled and re-used. Renewable material can be turned used for farming, biochemical feedstock, biogas, etc.(EllenMacArthurFoundation,2022)
Figure 1
Renewable and Finite material
Oxford dictionary defines ‘sustainability’ as “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” (Oxford Dictionary, 2022). In the fashion industry this can mean a variety of things. Quality over quantity is a great example of sustainability in the fashion industry. Buying things for a higher price that will last one longer rather than buying something for cheaper but that will only last a few months is a good way to minimize waste. Investing into more sustainable fashion brands and shopping in secondhand stores/vintage stores are some ways to reduce waste and detrimental effects to the planet. “..the fashion industry contributes to the use of natural resources, such as fossil fuels, to create energy for production processes which release toxic emissions into the atmosphere.” (Gwilt, 2020) The fashion industry produces 100 billion garments every year. Out of 100 billion we send 40 million tons of fabrics to landfills (EarthDay, 2022). Cotton is used greatly in making garments which is a problem because to make one cotton t-shirtit takes almost 3000 liters of water. Knowing the materials that are used to make your clothes is important to making sustainable choices when shopping.
SDG number 15 of, ‘Life on Land’ ties into preserving the planet and the topic of sustainability in the fashion world. Life on land is to “protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, halt and reverse land degradation, combat desertification and halt biodiversity loss” (Iberdrola, 2022). This SDG plays a big part in the fur and leather industry. More than 100 million animals are killed each year for the production of fur garments and 95% of those animals are put in fur farms (FurFreeAlliance, 2022).
References:
Smith, P. Apparel market worldwide. Statista. October 8, 2022, https://www.statista.com/topics/5091/apparel-market-worldwide/
Oxford languages . Oxford Languages. (n.d.). October 8, 2022, https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/
Ellen MacArthur Foundation.Circular economy introduction. (n.d.). October 8, 2022, https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview
EarthDay. Fashion for the Earth. (2022, April 21). Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.earthday.org/campaign/sustainable-fashion/
Iberdrola. Iberdrola is committed to achieving zero net loss of biodiversity by 2030. October 8, 2022, https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/committed-sustainable-development-goals/sdg-15-life-on-land
Fur Free Alliance. Fur farming – animal welfare problems. October 8, 2022, from https://www.furfreealliance.com/fur-farming/
Gwilt, A. (2020). A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion. London: Fairchild Books.https://www-bloomsburyfashioncentral-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781350067059&tocid=b-9781350067059-chapter1&pdfid=9781350067059.ch-001.pdf