PLANET
Fashion business comprises four pillars; Planet, Purpose, People and Profit. The ‘Planet’ pillar refers to sustainability which looks at taking care of our planet, resources, and ecosystems and the benefits we reap from prioritising the health of our planet.
The Brundtland Report (1987) stated that sustainability is ‘meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.’ Currently, the fashion industry is far from sustainable. Fast fashion comes at a tremendous environmental and social cost, with recent statistics highlighting the need for change. For example, the clothing supply chain accounts for about 8% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, and vast amounts of waste are generated, with approximately 300,000 tonnes of clothing thrown away each year. While the impacts of the fashion industry are increasing, it can be argued that a shift towards sustainable fashion is evident in the form of a new model: the circular economy model. This model aims to produce goods and services while limiting the consumption and waste of raw materials, water and energy sources and acts as an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose of) in which resources are kept in use for as long as possible. Big brands such as Adidas and Nike have invested in creating shoes made from recycled materials by stopping waste products from going to landfills and transforming them into new products.
SDGs are a set of 17 goals backed up by 169 targets for the world’s future up until 2030. An example of 1 SDG proposed by the UN is Goal 6: Clean water and Sanitation. One target for goal 6 is that ‘by 2030, we should improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising the release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.’ There is a direct link between the Fashion industry and Goal 6. A prominent issue is chemical treatments for dying and garment production directly leaking into rivers and seas together with microfibres. Additionally, one wash load of polyester clothes can release 700,000 microplastic fibres into the environment, resulting in half a million tonnes of these microfibres dumped in the ocean yearly. Therefore, to contribute to the targets around Goal 6, businesses must look at the development of using less water as well as introducing a dye that does not run into the water supply.
References:
https://www.weavabel.com/blog/how-can-fashion-brands-transition-from-a-linear-to-a-circular-economy
https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/sustainable-fashion/