Planet
With every garment made on this planet, CO2 is released. The textile industry alone produces 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 annually (Katerina Rimarcikova, Monday lecture). The industry’s behaviour aids a 63% growth in emissions, once 85% of all textiles produced are sent to landfill (Katerina Rimarcikova), shaping the fashion industry as the largest global polluter. The resolution to fixing an ‘irreversible damage’ (IPCC Report, 2023), in order to put responsible consumption and production into action should perhaps start from the beginning and filter down to combine SMEs with larger corporations who side-step sustainability in order to benefit from the ease and speed of mass scale garment production.
Fashion sustainability aims to be as carbon-neutral as possible, targeting a 50% cut on carbon emissions by 2030. (Katerina Rimarcikova). To drive forward the industry must adapt to the circular economy and incentivise reusing and returning all forms of waste to be more efficient in responsible consumer consumption and production. High Street boutiques and start-up businesses are subject to choosing cheap and convenient due to developed fashion brands that offshore manufacturing to less economically developed countries. Fast fashion thrives through bringing runway looks to highstreets, done so by producing “selected samples relatively quickly” (A.Gwilt, 2020) when compared to finely tuned brands; “30 or 40% more quickly” (A.Gwilt, 2020). Fashion sustainability must slow down fast fashion and the mindset it’s consumers adopt of the ‘usage’ stage- buying cheaper clothing to wear once, assuming it doesn’t have the durability to be reworn or sold, so discard it quickly.
Responsible consumption and production, put in place by the UN in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, provides “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity” (sdgs.un.org). Consequently, injustice, welfare discrimination and ignorance of the dire state of the planet will only change if it starts with the designer, a concept from A.Gwilt’s ‘Practical guide to sustainable fashion’, 2020. Although minimising the time it takes to turn a sketch into a finished garment (A.Gwilt, 2020) benefits the business, the designer understands fabrics and can improve usage patterns to develop a greater appreciation for sustainable consumption and recycling amongst consumers. Responding strongly to this SDG, is the LVMH-backed platform, Nona Source, that circulates high-end dead stock to the emerging SMEs to reduce landfill waste.(Drapers report, Sabina Weston, 2022) This is an influential step towards the 2030 goal.