Saving a broken Fashion Industry.
The coronavirus crisis has led us to question everything about our lives. What we do, why we do it, what we want to do and why do we not do it. Life as we used to know it, live it, experience it — is passé. There is a new world order we are in now, one that is going to define the next decades & chapters of our lives.
Whether or not the coronavirus vaccine comes in 2020 or mid-2021, some things that this year has brought along with itself, has radically changed the way we as a society think and need to behave. Social injustice, Racial inequality, Rampant unemployment, Gender bias, Climate change — there’s been an uproar from the young generation for the ones sitting at the top — to question and change the centuries old thought-process, to look after the needs of the individual over corporations, to understand the pain of having to go through life being looked down for the colour of their skin & most importantly- to take note of the magnitude of problems Earth’s climate change and global warming is bringing down upon us.
What most people and these corporate giants from all industry sectors fail to understand is the urgency of the matter & taking immediate, measured steps to tackle climate change, industrial waste & overcome the issue of global warming or at the least, contain it, for the future generations to live in harmony with nature.
Second in command after the Big Tech, for polluting the planet, is our beloved Fashion Industry, which the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed to a tipping point as we enter a decade full of radical changes, innovations and a fashion revolution. The world of glamour and luxury has a darker side that imperils the environment.
Fortifying a fashion system that is no longer working.
Even before the coronavirus globally disrupted our sheer entity, the fashion industry as a whole seemed bleaker. Overproduction of apparels led to heaps of landfills and ultimately the destruction of the ecosystem. This is just to cite one example among the many issues that underlie this vast industry.
The hidden cost behind every garment, the cost of the environment, goes unnoticed. As previously mentioned, the global fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world and hence it has a catastrophic impact on the environment. The damage is cascading and the environment is suffering along with the growth of the industry.
- Carbon emissions
The global fashion industry contributes 10% of the overall carbon emission. In addition, 23 kilos of greenhouse gases are released whilst making a kilo of fabric. Synthetic fabrics like polyester or acrylic are made using fossil fuel and henceforth the production and manufacturing process is relatively more energy-intensive. In numerical terms, 70 million oil barrels are utilised to fabricate polyester.
- Water consumption
Fashion industry is the second largest consumer of water as it uses over 1.5 trillion litres of water each year. To cite a few examples, over 200 tons of fresh water is used per ton of dyed fabric and a little over 20,000 litres of water is needed to cultivate just 1kg of cotton.
- Water pollution
The precious resource, water, is becoming scarce and what’s left is being injected with untreated toxic wastewater. Textile dyeing is considered the world’s second largest polluter of water. This is fatal to the lives of the aquatic animals as well as people living on river banks. 750 million people around the globe do not have access to drinking water.
- Waste accumulation
A little over 85% of the garments end up getting dumped in landfills; which are then either burned or let to accumulate one upon the other. Synthetic fibres take up to 200 years to decompose and currently 72% of our clothes are made from those.
- Hazardous chemicals
Several hazardous chemicals are used to produce a single garment. Dyeing and bleaching are a few normal procedures while making a textile hence 1kg of chemicals go into making 1 kg of textile. In numerical terms, 23% of chemicals producers worldwide go into the textile industry.
Additionally, the fashion industry also has other deep-rooted socio-economic issues which have spurred due to the overconsumption & production of clothes.
- Forced child labour in countries such as Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and a few others whose evidence was vividly reported by the 2018 U.S. Department of Labour report.
- Workers in Bangladesh overexert themselves with work and earn a meagre amount of about $96 per month which is distant from the amount required to live a decent life with rudimentary facilities.
- Landfills are filling up with more & more post-consumer waste, heaping up piles & piles of used, discarded thrown away clothing, like a scenery with brush strokes of the hollow fast fashion colours.
Rewiring a broken fashion system.
Change is inevitable; however, it comes slow.
The world of fashion is encountering a crack that has threatened its very essence and demands an instant change. The fashion industry has acknowledged the blame of being the second most polluting industry and is on the path to completely reinvent itself.
To start off, the Circular model of fashion has been emphasised enough by renowned foundations like the Ellen McArthur foundation, the Fashion Revolution Foundation and many more! With the global awareness about the circular model of fashion, several brands are emerging under its influence. Technology and research facilities have grown and are now helping make the textile industry more sustainable and environment friendly.
Several brands used dumped plastic bottles from the ocean, to make for an economy of recycled products. Chemical dye is being replaced with natural dyes extracted from fruit skins or flowers. In addition, there has been a relative shift from synthetic fabric to recycled and natural ones. We are seeing fibres and yarns being made out of pineapple, banana peels, wild mushrooms, recycled polyester, post-consumer waste etc. Brands now have opened up to offering a return policy where customers return their worn-out clothes, which can be further recycled & put back into the ecosystem.
A collective rise in consciousness towards clothes in general, with the idea of fashion being slow, regenerative & restorative along with better brand & consumer habits everyday for the next few decades, is what may just help stitch this planet’s fashion problem for good.
