While there have been notable improvements in the environmental impact of certain industries such as the motor industry, with the advent of electric cars, and the energy sector, which has developed technologies using wind and wave power, the fashion industry appears to be relatively under-developed in sustainable solutions.

However, as an industry that thrives on consumption and which aims to drive such consumption with economic growth and the use of precious resources, ways need to be found to ensure that the industry is more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Fashion can be fickle and such a culture does not lend itself to the creation of a sustainable industry. A fashion piece itself should not be as powerful as the concept of where it is designed made, worn, discarded and hopefully re-cycled and this is the basis of a sustainable industry, looking at the whole concept.

DEFRA’s Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (update February 2010) uses a diagram to illustrates the environmental and social impacts across the life cycle of clothing [3]. Follow the link to view the diagram on p.58 of the document, http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=EV02028_7073_FRP.pdf

It is key to note that at every stage of the life cycle of a piece of clothing, there are environmental impacts which range from green house gas emissions to soil degradation and contamination.  The social impacts are highlighted too with workers rights and health and safety issues featuring as prominent impacts [3].

The fashion industry is creative by nature and such creativity should be celebrated in the drive towards sustainability. In Austin Williams Book, ‘The Enemies of Progress’ (2008) [1] he warns that the architectural industry will suffer due to sustainability because of the constraints that will be put on materials and resources. However, as both the architectural and fashion industry are creative and innovative by nature, such ‘constraints’ should help to foster greater innovative thinking and exploration. As the website for the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion argues, fashion is “radical and thought provoking” [2] and therefore brings great vision for the opportunity to change. They argue that one way of doing this is to transform the whole concept of the shopping experience. It should not just be about the quick purchase of an item without any meaning behind it. It should involve an understanding of where the product originated and an ongoing relationship with the customer [2].

The fashion industry has multiple areas where operations can be made more sustainable. In the UK, 3.1 million tonnes of CO₂ are produced from the clothing and textiles sector, along with 2 million tonnes of waste [2]. Landfill takes up to 1.5 million tonnes of clothing as waste. Therefore, if we just recycled more a huge improvement would be made in the amount of waste generated. This amount of waste is a strong indicator of the throw away, consumer culture that we have embraced and which arguably the fashion industry has encouraged with the concept of cheap fashion buys for a trend that may only last a few months. This is not conducive for a sustainable industry. The behaviour and consumption of individuals is one of the areas that is targeted by the Sustainable Action Plan.

The Sustainable Clothing Action Plan and Roadmap is an initiative that DEFRA initiated in 2007. It examines five key areas of the industry:

• Improving environmental performance across the supply chain.
• Consumption trends and behaviour.
• Awareness, media, education and networks
• Creating market drivers for sustainable clothing.
• Instruments for improving traceability along the supply chain (ethics and environment).

[3].

For an industry that is worth around £500 billion globally [3] and incorporates a large environmental and social footprint, it is important to discover a more sustainable means of production and the Sustainable Action Plan provides an important platform for this.

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References

[1] Williams, A. (2008) The Enemies of Progress; the Dangers of Sustainability. Exeter, Societas.

[2] Centre for Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion (20100 [Online]. Available from: www.sustainable-fashion.com

[3] Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (update February 2010) [Online]. Available from: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/products/roadmaps/clothing/index.htm