Trendy fashion is not always great for the planet, but circular fashion choices can help

Fashion waste reduction, rental options, and consumer awareness to reduce the textile industry’s impact on the environment

2023 showed a return to ‘normalcy’, including ‘physical’ offices, socializing, travel, shopping, and wedding gatherings, as the world gradually rolled back the lifestyle changes that COVID-19 had forced. In fact, many people say that this quick turnaround in behavior exhibits ‘bingeing’, to make up for lost time!

Shopping for clothes is the best example of this in the digital era, with access to retailers being just a smartphone tap away. Even high-street fashion is becoming increasingly user and budget-friendly.

However, many of us are not really aware of how our smart dressing is inflicting environmental damage on our planet.

Fashion industry threats to the environment

Worldwide, cloth manufacturing releases 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year, posing severe environmental challenges. The textile industry currently produces 3 per cent of global CO2 emissions, and it is predicted to increase to over 10 per cent by 2050.

The volume of textile production by fast fashion brands has doubled since 2000, leading to enormous textile production waste. Some surveys indicate that over 55 per cent of clothing waste ends up in landfills, causing serious hazards to environmental and public well-being through greenhouse gas emissions.

Chemicals used during textile manufacturing are not only hazardous to the environment but also to humans. The application of color and chemicals to fabrics represents one of the most polluting industrial processes. The use of polyester and other synthetic materials to manage costs leads to non-biodegradable wastes pouring into oceans, impacting the marine ecosystem.

In the agriculture value chain, pesticides and herbicides used for fiber production seep into the soil, vitiating the fertility and biodiversity balance, thereby impacting crop productivity.

Better practices to mitigate these impacts

All is not lost, as many responsible and proactive fashion business-people have begun to adopt sustainable measures and practices that minimize environmental degradation.

It starts with sustainable material sourcing — procurement of materials, products, and services needed by fashion businesses from suppliers in ways that are not detrimental to the environment or society.

Indian garment company Fabindia is one such example. The well-established brand has created employment opportunities for a multitude of artisans and vendors across India. Recently, the company launched a new sustainable collection to turn trash into fashion by incorporating the indigenous “Gudri” technique to integrate scraps of fabrics from tailors and textile units and recycling them for cloth manufacturing.

The Indian government-sponsored Khadi Gramodyog plays a significant role in promoting sustainable clothing, using ‘khadi’, a hand-spun and hand-woven fabric associated with Mahatma Gandhi. The cloth is typically made from natural fibers such as cotton, silk, or wool. As it is biodegradable, the fabric has a lower environmental impact compared to synthetic polyester or nylon.

Two Mexican entrepreneurs have created the first organic leather, ‘Desserto’, out of only prickly-pear cacti without using any toxic chemicals. Desserto is partially biodegradable, ‘breathable’, and lasts for 10 years. Organic leather avoids tanning animal-based leather using 250 chemicals, including hazardous ones that enter waterways, pollute oceans, and affect marine life.

Further, raising livestock for food or their skins generates enormous emissions (14.5 per cent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions). Plant-based leather could lower water consumption by 20 per cent and help reduce plastic waste by over 32 per cent.

Circular economy-inspired ‘circular fashion’ initiatives that aim to create a more sustainable and regenerative way of production, consumption, and disposal are gradually gaining ground. It starts with public awareness campaigns, where governments and nonprofits hold campaigns to educate people on the environmental and social impact of fashion, promoting sustainable fashion choices.

Circular fashion trend has also promoted innovations that reduce the chemical footprint of dyeing and printing clothes without compromising on quality.

Fashion waste reduction focuses on how a customer can build a versatile wardrobe by mixing and matching. However, the most revolutionary practice is to promote fashion as a service, where companies promote customers to access a wardrobe rotation by paying a monthly fee, thus avoiding a purchase). Some examples of this are H&M Take Care, Swishlist, Spoyl, Wardrobes On Rent, etc.

The fashion industry could reinforce the circular model of sustainability by adopting the fourth R — rental — in addition to the existing 3Rs of reduce-reuse-recycle.

Importance of consumer awareness education

If the environment is to be protected from the severe impact of the fashion industry across the soil-air-water-landfills chain, then a paradigm shift in consumer attitudes is imperative. The citizen needs to be made aware of ‘conscious shopping’ — the impact upon the environment of not-thought-through impulse buying of cheap fast fashion items and of discarding them recklessly after limited use.

Opting for timeless and/or high-quality clothing items over trendy ones can have a far greater impact than many might realize.

The ultimate success of a behavior change in the customer mindset will be if the majority of customers could be persuaded to move away from unmindful consumerism to a conservative and minimalist approach, exhibited by:

• Buying clothes as per his/her needs, and not as per trends
• Choosing sustainable brands, with explicitly transparent supply chains
• Investing in superior quality clothing
• Selecting natural single fiber or natural fiber clothing
• Taking good care of his/her clothes and use them as long as possible
• Looking for fashion rentals, in case of designer or luxury wear.

While the fashion industry’s revival post-COVID represents an economic resurgence, it also highlights the environmental hazards that pose a grave threat to life in general. Landfill overflows, well-being negatively impacted by hazardous chemicals, and water overuse all contribute to a global crisis, as is so dramatically evident in Chile and Ghana.

Sustainable solutions do showcase optimistic alternative models. However, the inculcation of conscious shopping, minimalist approaches, and fashion rentals will be pivotal in reducing the environmental impact of fast fashion.

As in life, balancing style with responsibility is the key to ensuring that fashion does not compromise but enhances the enchantment and order of nature on this, our only Earth!

Prabhat Pani is Executive Director, Centre for Innovation in Sustainable Development and Sunita Chandak, Administrator, Centre for Innovation in Sustainable

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

SDGs Addressed

1. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
2. SDG 13: Climate Action
3. SDG 14: Life Below Water
4. SDG 15: Life on Land

Targets Identified

• Target 12.5: By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse.
• Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising, and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning.
• Target 14.1: By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, particularly from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution.
• Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services.

Indicators

• Indicator 12.5.1: National recycling rate, tons of material recycled.
• Indicator 13.3.1: Number of countries that have integrated mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning into primary, secondary, and tertiary curricula.
• Indicator 14.1.1: Index of coastal eutrophication and floating plastic debris density.
• Indicator 15.1.1: Forest area as a proportion of total land area.

Analysis

SDGs Addressed

The issues highlighted in the article are connected to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

1. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production – The article discusses the environmental impact of the textile industry and the need for sustainable practices.
2. SDG 13: Climate Action – The article mentions the carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse gas emissions caused by the textile industry.
3. SDG 14: Life Below Water – The article highlights the pollution of oceans and marine ecosystems due to non-biodegradable textile waste.
4. SDG 15: Life on Land – The article discusses the impact of textile production waste on landfills, soil fertility, and biodiversity.

Targets Identified

The specific targets under the identified SDGs are:

• Target 12.5: By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse – The article emphasizes the need to reduce textile waste and promote recycling and reuse.
• Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising, and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning – The article mentions the importance of consumer awareness education and campaigns to educate people on the environmental impact of fashion.
• Target 14.1: By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, particularly from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution – The article highlights the pollution of oceans and marine life due to non-biodegradable textile waste.
• Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services – The article discusses the impact of textile production waste on landfills and the decline in drinking water and groundwater due to water consumption by the textile industry.

Indicators

The indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets are:

• Indicator 12.5.1: National recycling rate, tons of material recycled – This indicator can measure the progress in waste reduction and recycling efforts in the textile industry.
• Indicator 13.3.1: Number of countries that have integrated mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning into primary, secondary, and tertiary curricula – This indicator can measure the progress in educating people about climate change and its impact on the environment.
• Indicator 14.1.1: Index of coastal eutrophication and floating plastic debris density – This indicator can measure the pollution levels in coastal areas and the presence of plastic debris, including textile waste.
• Indicator 15.1.1: Forest area as a proportion of total land area – This indicator can measure the conservation and restoration of land affected by textile production waste.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Behold! This splendid article springs forth from the wellspring of knowledge, shaped by a wondrous proprietary AI technology that delved into a vast ocean of data, illuminating the path towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Remember that all rights are reserved by SDG Investors LLC, empowering us to champion progress together.

Source: downtoearth.org.in

Join us, as fellow seekers of change, on a transformative journey at https://sdgtalks.ai/welcome, where you can become a member and actively contribute to shaping a brighter future.