Planet
When looking into sustainability, the fundamentals of fashion business revolve around four pillars: Planet, people, profit and purpose. Planet often refers to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which in short aim to eradicate poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all (Week 2 Intro-to Ronit Zilkha-Seminar). Currently, the fashion industry is “responsible for 8-10% of humanity’s carbon emissions – more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined” (UN Environment. (2018). UN Environment 2018 Annual Report. [Online]. Unep.org. Last Updated: 2018. Available at: https://www.unep.org/resources/un-environment-2018-annual-report [Accessed 7 October 2023].
In accordance to the Sustainability Bulletin: September 2023 on WGSN, there is a growing community of consumers who rely on conscious adaptations that brands are taking. With global warming, there is a great opportunity that can be utilised and strategies can be adopted however, brands are moving at a slow pace to honour this. (Millie Diamond & Quinlan Yeung. (2023). Sustainability Bulletin: September 2023. [Online]. WGSN).
The traditional linear economy followed a straight forward structure of make, use and dispose (Lench 2020, Week 2 Intro-to Ronit Zilkha-Seminar). A circular economy is composed of two cycles: technical and biological, designed to stop waste and pollution, circulate products and regenerate nature (Week 2 Intro-to Ronit Zilkha-Seminar ). A Technical cycle is anything that cannot biodegrade for instance, certain plastics and the aim is to recover these materials as they are valuable and to put them back into the economy, whereas the biological cycle is anything that is biodegradable for instance food, cotton and wood and these can return into the soil.
Sustainability in relation to fashion is having a clear and transparent path from the manufacturing process to the product end of life. Efforts in minimising any negative environmental impacts, conservation of energy and resources should be taken achieved all whilst making sure the communities/ employees are happy and safe (Sustainability Guide 2017). An example of a brand that has put sustainability at its forefront is Fred Perry. The brand is part of the biggest cotton sustainability programme in the world Better Cotton since 2019. As a result, the communities are saved and the natural resources have been restored (Fred Perry, 2021, Our Products).
Post Pandemic has seen an increase in consumers being more censorious of their spending and buying habits “ According to our survey, 46% of consumers somewhat agree and 38% strongly agree their consumption habits impact climate change” Allyson Rees. (2022). Post-Pandemic Sustainable Behaviours.23]. Leading on from this, The 12th SDG Responsible Consumption and Production has relevance and an impact on the fashion industry as overconsumption is apparent with the rise of fast fashion. Consumers turn to cheaper alternatives that are usually comprised of a mixture of materials for instance 90% cotton and 10% polyester that cannot biodegrade completely or be recycled resulting in huge textile waste.