Planet

In regards to the 4 pillars of sustainability, as defined by the Fashion Business School, planet puts an emphasis on the environmental impacts that businesses have and the way they acknowledge such impacts; sustainable practices balancing both contemporary and future needs (Hethorn, 2015) . In previous societies, the ecological impacts of fashion were minimal; slow fashion being that of a common practice with processes such as remodelling, saving fabrics and the sale of unwanted items (Hethorn et al, 2015); even prior to these processes, production was laborious with fabrics being created through time consuming methods. However, in the 1960s a greater awareness was raised for the shift that had occurred with the growth of consumerism (Gwilt, 2020) being highlighted due to the development of industrial technology, of which allowed for rapid and mass production; thus further leading to the development of what is now defined as ‘fast fashion’ with brands such as Zara, Shein and Primark being at the forefront of this modern day development.

In response to the ever increasing issue of sustainability, such as a growing poverty gap and a rapidly increasing climate, the United Nations (UN) introduced 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s); these goals highlighting areas of focus and giving an overview of the ways the identified ecological issues can be overcome. For instance, ’12’ places importance on ‘responsible consumption and production’; this being something the fashion industry often fails to prioritise, further resulting in its label as one of the least sustainable industries with it being responsible for over 40,000,000 tonnes of textile waste each year (Conde Nast, 2021) and 8% of CO2 emissions. In order to align with such a goal the fashion industry must place greater emphasis on implementing sustainable practices not only in the production process, but also in the usage and aftercare of products; polyester garments releasing significant amounts of harmful chemicals in the washing process (Italian National Research Council, 2020).

In order to reduce such impacts and further align with the SDG’s, a circular economic model is suggested. A circular economy addresses ecological issues, such as climate change, through detaching consumption and production from the usage of finite resources; finite resources being those that cannot be renewed, such as oil and natural gases (Allaby, 2006). Furthermore, this circular economy is reliant on the development of more sustainable future systems; it being argued that the three most important features of these new design methods are the elimination of waste in the production of garments, the circulation of products, and the regeneration of natural resources (EMF Foundation, 2013). A key example of such implementation is that of LVMH and their partnership with weturn in creating a recycling chain that repurposes offcuts from ‘major fashion houses’ into new fabrics.