Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generation. The ideology of sustainability relies on three pillars — economic, environmental and social policies. Fashion industrialists continue to exploit these resources for their benefits, especially with the increased global pressure to meet consumer demand whilst innovating and creating new trends. This causes a major question to arise: How to create sustainability in the second most polluting industry in the world – fashion?
As awareness of sustainable practices increases, most fast-fashion brands have had to adapt, including H&M introducing recycling bins or Zara’s eco-friendly fashion line. Recent data from Greenpeace states, “ Fast-fashion’s worst culprit is the increasing use of synthetic fibres, particularly polyester, which creates nearly three times more CO2 in its lifecycle than cotton and is currently found in 60% of our clothing.” Polyester requires years to degrade, which creates a major impact on marine environments due to plastic microfibres. Therefore, an alternative is to seek alternative textiles including hemp or natural materials which reduce global environmental pressure.
Sustainability can also be tackled when fashion retailers change their inherent practices by altering their distribution, production and marketing methodologies. This alteration includes creating durable clothing, using natural materials, preventing child labour in factories, creation of sustainable marketing and promoting textile recycling. For instance, Swedish brands have initiated rental systems to lease clothing and accessories monthly. This approach is viable as it reduces pressure on consumers to purchase clothing while also providing them with effective and ‘trendy’ options.
Education and awareness is also a major factor in initiating major fashion corporations to use feasible options. Through this format, an individual will be able to understand the environmental pressure the fashion industry exerts. Awareness includes the manufacturing of the product, the materials used to create the garment, how far it has travelled and what are the working conditions in these factories. These questions help create individual awareness of social practices and urge industries to refine their work. This requires consumers to have a certain degree of compassion for the planet, to understand that their personal choice of buying or not buying a garment is a choice that comes with an even bigger effect.
Lastly, the most efficient way to reduce unsuitability and redefine the fashion industry is if people understand the impact of their purchases. Every fashion corporation has a turnover-season, causing them to release a new set every month. This forces brands to create lower quality products with child labourers and lack of safety. This option is lucrative as it allows a brand to create a frequent customer base especially for someone who is continually interested in trends. For instance, someone buys jeans that are made in Japan due to their high quality and longevity, however, these jeans are more expensive but. That means that for the next 10 years, this company will not have that individual as a customer, and will instead have to rely on new customers to make a turnover each year. This wastage and reliance to pursue trends will only change if consumers change consumption patterns by simply purchasing lesser clothes.
Fashion has and will continue to create a drastic impact, but the only effective alternative is to increase awareness, buy lesser clothing thereby causing sustainability to become a company mission for every fashion corporation and not a simple marketing ploy to increase their customer base. Sustainability is the way forward and we must take a stance when we can.
