the planet
THE PLANET
The four pillars of sustainability are Planet, People, Purpose and Profit. Currently, Planet takes an extremely important role in the sustainability of the fashion industry.
The industry has undergone a remarkable expansion in the last two decades, especially with the consolidation of the fast fashion approach, which is the business model of replicating high fashion designs, standardized fashion items mass producing them at low cost and selling it quickly in retail stores (Fletcher, 2010). Due to this, the level of greenhouse gasses emissions has increased immensely. The fashion industry therefore hold accountability for 10% of global carbon emissions (Conca, 2015) and 20% of global wastewater emissions (Cho, 2021).
THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
A circular economy supports activities that preserve value in the form of energy, labour, and materials. What it means is that the fashion industry will design for durability, reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling to keep products, components, and materials circulating in the economy. The circular economy has a few principles which will furthermore benefit the environment: the elimination of pollution, waste and a new clearer environment.(Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2023).
FASHION SUSTAINIBILTY
An online survey was administered with a huge sample of 402 Italian consumers. The most important result was an incorrect evaluation of sustainability resulting in a different consumers’ attitude towards circular economy. It showed that most of the respondents were willing to buy bio-based, sustainable clothing as well as other bio-based products. However, in the second-hand market, the participants were reluctant to purchase used clothes, even though they expressed no concern about buying other used items. The Sustainable Development Goals are formed by the UN to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. One of the goals is to responsibly produce and consume which is about ensuring sustainability patterns which is key to sustain livelihoods of current and future generations. Shifting our energy supplies to more sustainable ones are one of the main changes we must make if we are going to reduce our consumption levels.
Fast fashion clothing has recently dropped in prices due to the lower cost materials used. This means the quality of materials used may damage the environment in various ways.
Fast fashion also has a human cost: textile workers, primally women in developing countries, are often paid derisory wages and forced to work long hours in harsh conditions (UNEP,2018; WRI,2019). Use of chemicals in clothes production also raise serious health concerns, both for the workers and consumers. Additional impacts on health also arise from the pollution mentioned previously.
To fix this there are few things can be done; Governments need to implement policies and regulations that include measures such as setting targets for reducing waste generation, promoting circular economy practices, and supporting sustainable procurement policies.
Individuals can adopt more sustainable lifestyles as well. This can involve consuming less, choosing products with lower environmental impacts, and reducing the carbon footprint of day-to-day activities.
Bibliography:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0007681317301015
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652621039500
https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/sustainable-fashion/https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/