Sustainable Fashion: Not Just A Fad, But Our Future

Fashion production exhibits pernicious influences on the environment and society. The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global water pollution and 10% of the world’s carbon emissions, which is more than the combined emissions of international flights and maritime shipping.

In a world where fast fashion shapes and accelerates our consumption habits, the situation grows dire. Worldwide consumption of clothing amounts to 80 billion pieces of clothing annually, which is up 400% from two decades ago. This excessive demand for quick and cheap fashion fuels the continuity of destructive clothing production. Materials are inexpensive and ephemeral, with the average shopper now purchasing 60% more clothing every year that only lasts half as long as it did 15 years ago. If the fashion industry — both producers and consumers — continues on the same trajectory, it will generate 26% of the world’s carbon footprint by 2050.

New and existing brands have made sustainability and ethics a key priority, owing to the criticism of the fashion industry as well as growing awareness of sustainability and ways in which brands can remodel their business practices to accommodate for environmental safeguards. Mintel revealed that 30% of consumers would choose a retailer based on whether or not they sold sustainable clothing. Other research shows that 88% of consumers want brands to help them be more environmentally friendly.

Sustainability has turned into yet another “trend” amongst Gen Zers, as green fashion takes social media by storm and small sustainable businesses are promoted by celebrities and influencers. 68% of 16 to 24 year-olds say they are trying to make more ethical purchases than the previous year, compared with an average of 57% across all ages, so sustainability is definitely making a mark on the impressionable. Nevertheless, less than a third of consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products because they are deemed unaffordable.

This article will explore what being ethical and sustainable entails, why sustainable fashion is still out of reach for many, and the steps consumers can take to incorporate sustainability into their everyday lives and habits.

What is ethical and sustainable fashion?

Companies that produce ethical and sustainable clothing typically operate in a closed loop system. Contrary to the “make, use, dispose” model of fast fashion companies, sustainable companies strive towards producing, manufacturing, and distributing clothes in a way that uses minimal resources and generates minimal waste. Resultant waste is reused and fed back into the system.

Whether a company is being ethical and sustainable or not can be analyzed through its four processes: production, manufacturing, distribution, and sales.

PRODUCTION

What are garments made from?

Clothes made out of microfibers, a synthetic material containing plastics, can have a devastating impact on both the environment and human health. When washed, these materials produce toxic runoff consisting of microplastics that seep into waterways, pipes, and eventually the ocean. There, they are consumed by fish and other marine life, which in turn gets eaten by people and leads to health implications. It is also unhealthy to wear these materials close to your skin. In addition, clothes with microfibers take hundreds of years to decompose.

Furthermore, the durability of clothing materials also determines its environmental impact, with strong and long lasting materials being more environmentally friendly as they have longer lives and can go without replacement for extended periods of time. Using recycled materials is also more sustainable, as clothes composed of a blend of materials (like a mixture of cotton and polyester) are harder to recycle. For instance, MUD Jeans uses recycled cotton, which means that no additional energy or water goes into growing it.

How are clothing fibers farmed?

Ensuring that the environment is not damaged in the process of farming clothing fibers is crucial. This usually means that no pesticides, harmful chemicals, or toxic substances have been used. According to the WWF, approximately half of all textiles are made from cotton, which is considered the dirtiest crop for its immoderate usage of chemicals. Cotton production requires 25% of the world’s insecticides and 10% of the world’s pesticides. Farmers exposed to pesticides and plasticizers experience adverse health issues, as evident in a survey revealing that 61% of Pakistani cotton pickers experienced skin irritation, coughs, and headaches.

Certifications like GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) require materials to be at least 70% organic, while companies certified by The Vegan Society and PETA denote that animals have not been involved in production and manufacturing. Moreover, the amount of energy, water, electricity, and other resources used to grow plants and dye materials must be optimized to create little waste.

MANUFACTURING

The treatment of factory workers has borne witness to plenty of backlash, as major catastrophic events have unveiled the true conditions and circumstances under which laborers are employed. The collapse of Rana Plaza, a complex of garment factories in Bangladesh in 2013 left thousands injured and dead. Brands like Gucci and Prada were scrutinized for their poor management and attitudes towards factory workers, who were not even permitted union representation.

Luxury brands and fast fashion companies take advantage of Bangladesh’s stance as one of the cheapest places to source fashion. The legal minimum wage for garment workers amounts to about $94 a month, an amount far below the estimated living wage of $189 that would be adequate to provide families with food, shelter, and education. Companies vowing to be ethical therefore direct much of their attention and resources towards instilling fair labor practices. They must pay workers a fair, living wage, ensure they work reasonable hours, guarantee safety, never use child or forced labor, and not restrict the freedom of workers by banning them from forming unions.

Additionally, factories producing cheap clothes in Bangladesh, India, and China predominantly use fossil fuels to run their factories. These release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, resulting in global warming. Factories that run on renewable energy, on the other hand, are more energy efficient and less polluting.

DISTRIBUTION

We are no stranger to the abundance of packaging that companies use when delivering their products. Items come bundled in tremendous piles of plastic, paper, and bubble wrap, and this can prove detrimental to the environment because of the waste it generates. Plastics can also be hidden in labels and boxes. Ethical brands therefore use plastic-free packaging and make efforts to minimize the use of plastics in products and packaging. They also strive to utilize eco-friendly inks to print on clothes, as well as on labels and boxes. Traditional inks often contain PVCs (a synthetic plastic polymer), toxic substances, animal products, and other variations of plastic. They are known to emit volatile organic compounds, which take a toll on one’s health.

The location of factories also shapes its environmental impact. Clothes made locally do not require extensive transportation, which would otherwise result in higher emissions because of more steps taken to deliver products from start to finish. The pandemic has increased the amount of support to local businesses in order to sustain the economy, but this has also had positive effects on the environment.

SALES

The core values of fashion companies establish the actions they take in order to serve the community. Companies supporting charities — either by product collaborations or regularly donating a percentage of profits to a specific cause — can do a world of good for the community as well as themselves through such demonstrations of CSR. Companies can particularly partner with charities in the sustainability space, further building their credibility and reputation as a label with a cause. For example, Elvis and Kresse rescues and reclaims old materials and turns them into trendy accessories. One of their most popular lines involves London’s decommissioned fire hoses, which are saved from landfills and transformed into bags, wallets, and purses. 50% of the profits are donated to The Fire Fighters Charity.

Providing aftercare services is also a huge step that companies can take. Companies can offer repair services, which displays their intention to make clothing last instead of prolonging the vicious cycle of overconsumption. MUD Jeans offers a repair service to help members of their community make jeans last longer. Customers can give them old denim and are offered money off their next purchase or a free pair of jeans on rent for an entire month. Aftercare services like these can help ensure durability and discourage consumers from making unnecessary purchases.

Main Challenges

While everything about sustainable fashion sounds nearly perfect, there has been one major challenge that the average consumer encounters — price. A quick skim through ethical fashion catalogs displays the average price of T-shirts, for example, to be $40, whereas fast fashion brands price similar garments for about $10 to $15. It can be appalling to see how expensive sustainable fashion is! While more than 50% of respondents in a survey stated that they want more brands to act sustainably, only one-third said they were prepared to pay more to do so. In fact, 62% said they’d like a discount for buying ethical products!

This is simply unfeasible. Existing sustainable brands are unable to scale up because of limited demand. Their products are custom-made and not mass produced, so they can’t benefit from lower production costs. As consumers demand more, companies will benefit from economies of scale and as a result, prices will fall. Even then, there may be a price floor as factors like labor employment terms (ensuring a minimum wage and high quality working conditions) and eco-friendly controls must be maintained. Overall, strong consumer demand is essential to make sustainable clothing economical. Once sustainable brands are able to achieve this, thus becoming competitive, fast fashion companies will have no choice but to follow suit — moving towards eco-friendly products, sustainable materials, and clean technologies.

Moreover, fast fashion has reconditioned our minds to possess unrealistic and unsustainable expectations about things like price, quality, and durability. We are now acclimated to dangerously cheap clothing that is rapidly produced to mimic celebrity looks and popular trends. McKinsey has observed as many as 52 such “micro-seasons” in a single year, indicating the wasteful practices that regretfully appear more desirable to us than high-priced sustainable fashion.

How You Can Help

Until prices decrease, a large portion of consumers will be unable to afford sustainable fashion. How can you contribute to being environmentally friendly in the meantime?

• Fix existing clothes! Don’t dispose or donate your clothes if there’s a minor defect or repair to be made.
• Buy or borrow secondhand clothes — they’re even becoming trendy! Visit your local thrift store, swap clothes with friends, rent, or check out sites like Depop and Ebay for good deals on used clothing.
• Shop from stores that you know are conscious of the materials they use — even if only to a certain extent — if they fall within your budget. Buy new clothes occasionally, opting for the best quality you can afford.
• Buy less. Rethink your decisions before making an impulse purchase.
• Learn and unlearn. Social media has groomed us to believe that we must be on the forefront of new trends and styles. Disregard the farcical notion that you must “not wear the same thing twice” just so your pictures appear varied.
• Machine wash clothes less frequently as this saves water and energy. Instead, opt to hand wash your clothes! The same applies to drying. Machines can expedite wear and tear. While opting for a manual process might be more time consuming, it makes your clothes last longer.
• Wash on cold! This saves energy and preserves color.

Thus, the sustainable fashion movement is becoming more widespread, sparked by its growing popularity on social media and increasing awareness of the perils of fast fashion. Companies can truly profess themselves as ethical and sustainable if they optimize their production, manufacturing, distribution, and sales processes to make them more environmentally friendly and minimize waste at all levels. While sustainability comes with a hefty price tag, increasing demand will bring down prices over time. In the meantime, consumers not privileged enough to indulge in sustainable fashion can find creative ways to preserve the environment by making adjustments to their lifestyles and habits.