PLANET
In recent years, issues related to climate change has become a significant subject within political and scientific discourses and one of the leading contributors to this matter is the fashion industry. According to the United Nations, the fashion industry is the second largest polluter worldwide and is held responsible for up to 10% of carbon emissions and 20% of global wastewater. One of the foremost causes of this is fast fashion, a system that produces clothing at an inexpensive and intense volume. This increases the potential for shopping to become more addictive as clothing items are more easily accessible, allowing consumers to purchase much more than needed (Sanghani, 2018). The average consumer now purchases 60% more clothing in comparison to 15 years ago, and a total of approximately 56 million tonnes of clothing is bought every year. Around 13 million tonnes of all textiles are thrown away in the United States in 2017 and this number is expected to rise to 134 million by 2030 (Beall, 2022). It is evident that current state of the fashion industry is exceedingly wasteful and damaging to the environment and suggests that an urgent shift is needed to slow down fast fashion.
To tackle this issue, the transition from the current linear economy into a circular economy has been introduced as an alternative. The linear economy focuses on the concept of make, use, dispose which suggests that products move linearly – from raw materials to waste. This method of production and consumption does not allow materials to be used to their full potential and thereby generates additional waste. In comparison, the circular economy is a business model based on the establishment of a implementing a closed production system where resources are preserved to be in use for as long as possible (Dissanayake and Weearsinghe, 2022). This includes redesigning garments and up-cycling clothes. This allows waste to be kept to a minimum and leads to a more sustainable future.
Beall, A. (2022) Why clothes are so hard to recycle, BBC Future. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200710-why-clothes-are-so-hard-to-recycle (Accessed: 08 October 2023).
Dissanayake, D.G.K. and Weerasinghe, D. (2021) Towards circular economy in fashion: Review of strategies, barriers and enablers – circular economy and Sustainability, SpringerLink. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43615-021-00090-5 (Accessed: 08 October 2023).
Rao, P. (2019) Battling the damaging effects of ‘fast fashion’ | africa renewal, Battling the damaging effects of ‘fast fashion’. Available at: https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2019-march-2020/battling-damaging-effects-%E2%80%98fast-fashion%E2%80%99 (Accessed: 08 October 2023).
Sanghani, R. (2018) Stacey Dooley Investigates: Are your clothes wrecking the planet? Available at: https://www.abingdonsciencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Geography-Fast-Fashion-Stacey-Dooley-Investigates.pdf (Accessed: 08 October 2023).