PLANET

Jemma-Jane Wood ⋅ 8th October 2023

The climate crisis we are facing globally is one of the most serious issues we must rectify if existence on planet earth should continue. A major contributor to world pollution, (emitting 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 annually) is the $2.5trillion fashion industry. Our planet is unable to provide an abundance of raw materials, yet with a production of 120billion tonnes of garments per year and 85% of textiles being sent to landfill- fashion is abusing the system.

Industries fail to address the problem when participating in a ‘make, use, dispose’ production chain known as linear economy. In an effort to combat climate change product design must be more intentional and fashion designers’ cognitive processes should be geared towards finding ways to reduce waste and pollution. Circular economy, (underpinned by three main principles: eliminating waste and pollution, circulating high value materials and regenerating nature) decouples economic activity from the consumption of natural resources. Evidently, pioneers such as Patrick McDowell are striving to make a change and engaging in these principles. The fashion designer has previously used fabrics made from Ortego- repurposing scraps from old jumpers while also reinventing vintage heels to be shown in his collection ‘Marie Antoinette goes to Liverpool’.

In the ‘Collaborating for Change: Sustainability Report 2022’ by Moran.G he refers to ‘an approach by smaller companies that works to exactly match desire for clothes with immediate production’- this made to order scheme has also been adopted by McDowell who decided to not do any wholesale for his AW23 collection. According to Anna Wintour, ‘sustainability is at the core of everything Patrick does’- his repeated exposure to society accredited by celebrity role models has sparked social change in consumer buying habits and led to partnerships with high status brands such as Burberry and Swarovski. The climate crisis is ‘unequivocally caused by human activities’ (UN’s IPCC report) therefore society must be involved and positively reinforced into repairing, reusing and adapting resources.

As of 2012, the UN’s creation of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) to tackle global challenges we face as humanity has been seen as a beacon of hope in solving the environmental damage we have caused. Goal 12 ‘responsible consumption and production’ is directly linked with the fashion industries supply and demand chain. It is estimated by the Drapers 2022 consultancy that 40% of all items produced by the fashion sector are sold at markdown; in order to stop overconsumption a relationship between circular economy and fashion brands must be established. M&S producing quality timeless clothing instead of fast fashion items as a proposal to reuse clothes for styles in years to come has proven this is possible. Buying second hand encourages people to stop buying clothes which haven’t left the production line and instead ‘make do’ with what is already available to them. Brands are now turning to resale platforms in order to captivate younger, environmentally and cost-conscious shoppers which in turn eliminates overproduction and encourages individuals to buy responsibly. It is down to humanity to rethink the relationship of sustainability and fashion and alter behaviour when spending if we want a future on this planet we call home.

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