At times it is very difficult to be positive about the fashion industry, with its £1 swimsuits and £0 shoes. Fashion is the world’s second-largest professional polluter, accounting for 10 % of carbon emissions. While mounds of unnecessary clothing dumped in countries like Ghana are so large they can be seen from space, microscopic fibers from synthetic garments are now found in waterways and meal chains. Despite all this, the pattern of innovation and purchasing continues.
When an e-mail arrived in my inbox from Fashion Revolution, the non-profit social organization founded in the midst of the 2013 Rana Plaza stock crisis, I was intrigued. The team has become the world’s largest style advocacy movement. With its Who Made My Clothes campaign, it has sparked an global movement in the century since it began campaigning. The Fashion Transparency Index was created in order to assess how transparent and transparent main style companies are regarding their environmental and human rights policies. But, for all of its work, greenwashing in the wider economy remains riddled– especially in April, around Earth Day. But, how much has really changed?
What can be positive about the subject? I enquired authorities.
Aditi Mayer, environment advocate
“As significant as aware consumerism is, true changes in fashion will be underpinned by the combination of supporting staff ’ activities, consumer attention and corporate responsibilities. Support for the Fabric Act, which would promote office privileges and manufacturing incentives, helped cement the US as a world leader in concerned clothing generation, as an example. We’ve also seen a rise in support for the Fashion Act, which has been recently endorsed by celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie and would require companies to know and disclose their supply chains and level the playing field for those already trying to do the right thing. ”
Hannah Rochell, founder of the sustainable style website slowette. com
“It’s really encouraging that there are now so many brilliant, responsible options for British-made clothing. I adore small-batch producers like Batch London and Paynter, as well as Patrick Grant’s Community Clothing, whose goal is to restore local skills and prosperity in towns across the UK with the aid of its high quality basics. ”
Tiffanie Darke, founder of the newsletter It’s Not Sustainable
“I’m excited for new legislation. France is continuing to lead with money-back programs for people who repair clothes and bold proposals to tax fast-fashion brands. There has been a swell of understanding in recent years that fashion should not be an all-you-can-eat buffet, that consumption has consequences, and that there is such a thing as too much. The Rule of Five campaign [which Darke pioneered], along with no-buy and 30-wear challenges are attracting increasingly large audiences. ”
Tamsin Blanchard, journalist
“Although there is still so much work to be done around workers ’ pay and conditions, as well as the biggest issue of how to tackle overproduction, I’m excited about the work on regenerative textile production. Brands like Ōshadi, in India, are leading the way with new supply chains that work in harmony with nature. In order to promote biodiversity and draw carbon into the soil, they have recently created their latest Seed-to-Sew collection using cotton grown in series with other crops. I’m encouraged by the fact that there are brands that successfully rework the way our clothing is grown and produced. ”
Venetia La Manna, fair fashion campaigner
“Fashion justice solutions come from the communities most impacted by Big Fashion’s greed, which is why I am so excited about the Or Foundation’s Speak Volumes campaign. It’s led by the second-hand community at the Kantamanto market, in Accra, Ghana, who work tirelessly to cope with overproduction. Speak Volumes is calling on all fashion brands to make their production volumes public and demand industry-wide transparency regarding annual production figures. In November, brands including Lucy & Yak, Finisterre and Stripe & Stare all disclosed their annual production volumes. As we look to develop data-driven policies that cap the amount of clothing that Big Fashion produces, this is a win for accountability. ”
Emma Slade Edmondson, sustainability consultant
“I’m excited about how enthusiastic and inspired young people are about conscious fashion and doing things differently to my own generation. When I started in this industry I would be constantly asked (in a quizzical way) why I focused on ‘sustainable fashion’. Now, younger people are asking me why there are fashion brands and organisations who aren’t doing things in a more conscious way.”
after newsletter promotion
Clare Press, author of Wear Next: Fashioning the Future
“Fashion media has woken up to sustainability. We’ve got a whole new generation of writers, editors, stylists and image-makers determined to hold the industry accountable, and bring their values to work. It’s a huge shift. There’s no going back – yes, we’re dealing with ultra-fast fashion and waste colonialism, and we have n’t solved our supply chain issues, but the level of mainstream awareness today is unrecognisable from a decade ago. The conversation has gotten older. It makes me hopeful. ”
Patrick McDowell, fashion designer
“It’s amazing to see the rise of made-to-order fashion. Making what we know clients will buy is the main way we can make a more sustainable industry. When a company shifts its focus to this method of operation, it places a premium on quality and craftsmanship rather than quantity of units sold. Both the planet and those who wear the pieces benefit. ”
Tansy E Hoskins, author and journalist
The recent adoption of the Dindigul Agreement to end gender-based violence and harassment in India is an important step forward for the fashion industry. The Dalit women ‘s-led Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union organized this agreement in response to Jeyasre Kathiravel’s death. The agreement is a first for Asia and one of the few legally binding pieces of legislation that is not voluntary or corporate-operated and has an intersectional focus on ending gender- and caste-based violence. It is a successful, working model for stamping out the endemic gender-based violence that happens right across fashion’s supply chains. ”