Planet Blog

The Sustainability Dilemma.

How to create a quality desirable product in a responsible manner not only restricted to luxury labels and bespoke tailoring but across all levels to include mass market and value brands for the price conscious consumer is the dilemma faced by the fashion industry today. That is how to balance the three pillars : Profit, Planet and People.

Journey to Sustainability

Our journey to sustainability has not been overnight. It was in the 1960’s and 70 s, when the environmentalists first voiced their concerns.. 1980’s and 90’s saw the birth of the environmentally concerned consumer and ideas like vintage styles and eco design. Finally the 2000’s saw repositioning towards the broader concept of sustainability acknowledging the consideration of social causes . By 2018 awareness of millions of tons of textile waste gave rise to terms like Circular economy (CE).

Circular Economy

“Circular Economy (CE) is a growing topic, especially in the European Union, that promotes the responsible and cyclical use of resources possibly contributing to sustainable development. CE is an umbrella concept incorporating different meanings. Despite the unclear concept, CE is turned into defined action plans supported by specific indicators”. (Moraga et al., 2019)

The three main principles of CE are : design out waste and pollution ; keep products and materials in use ; and regenerate natural systems. Simply put a system where all materials are infinitely recyclable or biodegradable. However CE is not a replacement for sustainability but rather complementary to making the industry more sustainable.

Sustainable Fashion

The life cycle of a product can be broadly broken down into five key phases ; design , production , distribution , use and end of life. Each of those phases has a number of inputs and out puts. Sustainability in fashion necessities a clear understanding of all those to identify the environmental and social impact of each one of them and then explore how they can be minimised or avoided. Adding another dimension to it now is CE. The end of life now results in reincarnation of reuse and recycle. Example of sustainable fashion are use of organic and recycled materials, use of natural dyes , fair trade practises , slow fashion , up cycle , ethical practises , repair and maintenance to name a few. (Moran, 2022)

“Business in general went from a pure focus on profit-making to a focus on doing good as well,” Simeon Siegel, senior retail analyst at Nomura Instinet, told WWD. “In fashion, what you stand for is now becoming as important as what you look like.”
(Team, 2020)

UNSDG

The UN endorsed 17 sustainable development goals in its 2030 agenda. Out of the 17, SDG 12, ‘Responsible production and consumption’ is the most relevant to the fashion industry. It encompasses social issues such as improvement in working conditions and renumeration for workers as well as environmental ones including reduction of industry waste stream and decrease in water pollution and green house gas emissions.

Our Responsibility

As consumers our contribution is equally important towards this effort. To put it simply, if you can’t repair it donate it , if you can’t donate it reuse and recycle it . As long as you prevent your clothes from landing up in a waste fill, you have to do your bit to preserve the environment and save the planet.

REFERENCE LIST
Gwilt,A . (2020) A Practical guide to sustainable fashion. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Moorhouse, D. (2022) ‘Circular Economy in fashion and textiles’ International Journal of Sustainable Fashion and Textiles, 1(2),pp.169-173. https://doi.org/10.1386/sft_0009_2.
Moraga, G.L. et al. (2019) ‘Circular economy indicators: What do they measure?,’ Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 146, pp. 452–461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.03.045.
Miller, B. (2023) ‘Redesigning the fabric of sustainable fashion,’ Green Business Journal [Preprint]. https://greenbusinessjournal.co.uk/redesigning-the-fabric-of- sustainable-fashion/.
Team, A. (2020) ‘The most important lessons we’ve learnt from working in fashion,’ Australian Style Institute [Preprint]. https://australianstyleinstitute.com.au/important-lessons-learnt- working-in-fashion/.
Ell, K. (2019) ‘WWD,’ WWD, 23 April. https://wwd.com/business- news/business-features/sustainable-fashion-for-the-wealthy-or- affordable-1203110510/?sub_action=logged_in.