BANGLADESH, DHAKA – JUNE 17 : The capital city of Dhaka. Textile factory in Savar, in the suburbs of Dhaka where work about six thousands employees. Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh in June 17, 2015 in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Photo by Frédéric Soltan /Corbis via Getty Images)
Can Fashion Be Sustainable?
The $2.5 trillion fashion and apparel industry is an economic heavyweight. One of the largest consumer industries, it employs over 60 million people along its global value chain. For many emerging markets it is a stepping stone out of poverty with women making up over 70% of the supply chain.
Consumers in the developed world have become used to fast fashion and cheap clothes as a throw-away commodity that mostly ends up in landfills. And the trend towards ever shorter life cycles of apparel does not yet seem to have plateaued. The average consumer today purchases 60% more clothing than 20 years ago. Each garment is kept half as long, and about 40% of clothes in the wardrobes of developed countries are never worn, as estimated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
The often-dismal workplace conditions that supply our growing consumption came to light five years ago when the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed, causing the death of over 1,000 textile workers, mostly young women. Leading brands have since then committed to safer factories, and a number of action groups and ethical clothing initiatives are now tracking performance and are shining a light on the value chain. But studies by Oxfam Australia show that little has changed regarding social conditions, in particular minimum wages, to enable decent living conditions.
As concerns about water scarcity and climate change are on the rise, the industry’s enormous environmental footprint has been moving center stage as well. By some estimates, the fashion industry is responsible for up to 10% of global CO2 emissions, 20% of the world’s industrial wastewater, 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides use.
Executives know very well that their current business model is not future-fit. In the absence of global rules or major changes on the consumer side, the fashion industry is now carefully exploring options on how to improve its social and environmental impact while successfully operating in a highly price-competitive environment.
Reinventing an industry built on growing consumption, cheap labor, free public goods such as access to water and environmental pollution is not an easy undertaking. Good old as well as new ideas are floating: regenerative agriculture, organic cotton, living wages in the supply chain, and reusing fibers to create circular material flow.
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