Planet Blogpost
Consumers buying into the fashion industry often only view it on a materialistic level (fashion shows, new collections etc). However, what is often undermined are the multi-faceted issues the industry can have on a social and planetary level. To combat this, people working within the realm of fashion business have created 4 pillars which most businesses within the industry have to adhere by. The first of these pillars is referred to as the ‘planet pillar’. This pillar plays a vital role in the acknowledgement of the planet’s natural resources and how fashion businesses can make profit without unnecessary waste.
One of the main strategies fashion brands are currently trying to implement (to reduce waste) involves the shift towards a circular economy. This can be described as an ideal system of human production and consumption, it involves reusing, recycling and sharing pre-existing products/resources for as much time as possible. The fast implementation of this system is a necessity seeing as the fashion industry produces about 10% of the worlds carbon emissions cumulatively (UN Helps Fashion Industry Shift to Low Carbon 2018). Therefore, without any immediate changes the overall carbon budget of the industry will jump by a whopping 26% by 2050 (Adeogun, n.d).
After seeing these troubling data metrics, it is clear that sustainable fashion is the future of the industry. So, instead of discarding a garment midway (or even at the beginning of it’s life cycle), sustainable fashion can aid in minimising the detrimental effects of the ever increasing fast fashion industry. In order to further address these issues on a global scale, the UN has formulated 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The main SDG that interlinks with the fashion industry specifically is number 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. Although, this goal isn’t quite being actualised or used by a large portion of the fashion industry various strides have been made to reach this goal. For example, an American fashion brand called Eileen Fisher has formulated a brand initiative referred to as ‘Renew’. The initiative implements a circular economy scheme that allows people to trade their old Eileen Fisher clothing for $5 reward cards (GlobeScan 2019). Additionally, the company will also assess the quality of the returned garments. The one’s that can be resold/renewed will be, and the garments that cannot will be made into new fibers. Despite being a more niche company, Eileen Fisher sets a new standard for sustainability and if the program is labelled a success, other fashion brands may follow in suit.