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If you’ve ever wondered why sustainable fashion is so important and why the big uproar, we have answers for you!! There’s been a growing interest and a growing need for sustainable fashion, especially in recent years. Yet, sustainability has become a buzzword which can make it hard to reach a clear definition and understanding of it.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the information and messaging around sustainable fashion, we’ve gathered some of the main reasons why slow fashion is so important.
p.s. for a full guide on how to do sustainable fashion on a budget, click here!
This is your full guide to answering the question: Why is sustainable fashion important?
Sustainable fashion matters in creating a better industry for all involved and addressing climate concerns.
Unfortunately, the fashion industry is riddled with problems, harmful practices, and ethical abuses. We also know climate change has a negative impact on nature and human life. This negative impact is amplified by other societal and environmental factors related to fashion such as unsustainable consumption, land degradation, and poverty (to name a few).
The fashion industry is responsible for its greenhouse gas emissions and for contributing to the above factors by exploiting our planetary resources as well as perpetuating poverty by denying workers living wages and healthy working conditions. The importance of sustainable fashion is its ability to address these problems to create a better fashion industry.
Why is sustainability so important?
Before we dig into why sustainable fashion matters, let’s review why sustainability is important in the first place. While there are many definitions, I like how former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland defines sustainability.
“Sustainable development is that which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
When it comes down to it, sustainability is making thoughtful decisions today that allow for a promising future. In our current society, we are not acting in ways that allow for a healthy, promising future.
The science is pointing at an inevitable climate crisis that requires us to take urgent action. Climate change has already impacted all living systems across the globe. These impacts not only affect natural systems but have prevalent human consequences like food shortage and lack of access to clean water. The good news is that these impacts can be reduced if we can adapt and make changes.
Sustainability is a necessary path forward to create those changes.
What does "sustainable" mean in fashion?
There are 3 pillars to sustainability: economic viability, environmental protection, and social equity.
Or simply– people, profit, planet.
All three of these elements are intricately connected and dependent on each other. You cannot have sustainability without all three.
What’s the point of protecting the planet and building environmentally-friendly businesses if the people whose home is on this planet are still being exploited?
We need to do the important work of protecting the planet and the people, but it’s also not viable if there isn’t an economic future in how we do it. And while you can economically empower people through business, it won’t work if it’s at the cost of the environment and resources needed to have a healthy existence.
People, profit, and planet are all interlocked in this pursuit for sustainability, especially in fashion.
When you are deciding what fashion brands to support, look for those who are doing work in all three. It’s not just about being “eco”— it’s about building a holistic future that both meets our current needs and allows future generations to thrive as well!
In a fast fashion business model, we’ve seen the harm of prioritizing profit at the expense of people and planet. A sustainable fashion brand will pay and treat workers fairly. It will offer transparency about their practices and supply chains. It won’t produce in excess or push overconsumption to drive sales. Sustainable fashion designers will be designing with circularity and regeneration in mind. They ask questions like “How can I create this in a way that has the least likelihood of ending up in landfill? What materials will hold up the best for a high quality product but not burden the environment for centuries to come?” Sustainable fashion considers both the present and future impact.
9 Reasons Why Sustainable Fashion Matters
Now that we’ve discussed what sustainability in the fashion industry looks like, here are 9 reasons why sustainable fashion is so important to our current and future World…
The ugly truth behind fashion involves many human rights abuses. The fast fashion business model requires a high volume of clothing to be produced quickly at a low cost.
This prioritization of profit over people creates hazardous working conditions for garment workers who do not earn a living wage. To achieve the prices and speed of fast fashion products, the businesses cut corners and exploit those in their supply chain.
Sustainable fashion brands seek to offer their garment workers a living wage while also slowing down the production process, so as to not push workers to their limits as fast fashion does.
100 billion garments are produced every year. Fast fashion plays a volume game. By producing a lot of cheap clothing, they encourage customers to shop often, but, 20% of items go unsold.
When brands overproduce, they have to deal with the excess. Often this is dealt with by destroying inventory or shipping off the excess to be dealt with in other countries often ending up in landfill.
Additionally, a majority of fashion’s environmental impact comes from the production stage. When brands produce in excess, they are using up unnecessary resources. Sustainable fashion designers often produce in smaller batches or even made-to-order as a way to prevent excess.
Fashion produces 2% to 8% of global carbon emissions. If nothing changes, it will use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050.
As a part of the Paris Agreement and the other climate commitments made by our governments, we must reduce our emissions in order to keep warming from surpassing the 1.5 degree benchmark.
Sustainable fashion has a smaller carbon footprint and actively works to reduce emissions while the fast fashion business model recklessly emits carbon.
The average shopper buys 68 garments a year. The average garment is worn just 7 times. All those clothes have to go somewhere when people are done with them.
Americans send more than 11 million tons in textile waste to landfill each year. 85% of all clothes are either landfilled or incinerated. Often, the clothing gets shipped to countries in the Global South, which burdens their economy and environment despite the fact that it wasn’t their waste to begin with.
One example of this is the landfills of discarded fast fashion building up in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Because the clothing isn’t biodegradable and contains chemicals, municipal landfills won’t accept them. Therefore, around half of the 59,000 tons of imported clothing ends up filling the desert in Chile each year.
With so much of clothing, especially fast fashion, being made of plastic, the impact of our clothing is heightened.
Synthetic and plastics-based clothing releases microplastics into our waterways. It also can take centuries to decompose, adding to the volume of landfill.
Not only do we need to divest from fossil fuels, we need clothing made of less harmful, natural fibers that don’t leave such a lasting imprint on the planet.
The fashion industry is resource and water intensive. A pair of jeans and t-shirt takes 5,000 gallons of water to produce. Textile dyeing and production is also polluting our waterways. Clothing factories dump toxic wastewater full of chemicals into nearby rivers.
Sustainable fashion can address these issues by choosing better materials, working with factory partners that reduce and recycle the water used in production, and avoiding the synthetics and chemicals that can go into clothing.
The average consumer disposes of 82 pounds of textile waste per year. When fast fashion encourages the constant shopping of cheap garments, it reinforces the idea that clothing is disposable. Yet, we know clothing isn’t disposable due to the complex secondhand and recycling systems that still send a majority of clothing to landfill.
Sustainable fashion means slow fashion. Slow fashion means intentionally cutting back on shopping. In practice, slow fashion is only adding pieces you really love, wearing them often, and loving and caring for them for years to come. This will reduce the amount of clothing that we buy and then, in turn, get rid of. Slow fashion reduces our personal waste while also reducing our consumer demand for new production which can lessen overall fashion waste.
Sustainable fashion isn’t about chasing trends and constant newness. It’s about being intentional about the clothing choices you make.
This requires a heightened sense of self awareness because it creates an opportunity to reflect on what you truly love, rather than what fashion marketing tells you to love. It’s not just about supporting unique, independent sustainable fashion designers. It’s also about getting resourceful and creative with what exists like shopping your own closet, thrifting, or upcycling.
Sustainable fashion opens the door to creating a wardrobe that can celebrate your individuality because you can step away from the trend cycles and consumption patterns pushed by fast fashion. This allows you to find contentment in what you have.
Climate science reports emphasize the need for widespread change and diverse solutions due to the interdependence of climate, ecosystems, and human society. Lifestyle changes are a part of those solutions.
As the IPCC puts it, “a healthy planet is fundamental to securing a livable future for people on Earth, and that’s why the needs of climate, nature, and local communities have to be considered together and prioritized in decision-making and planning– every day and in every region of the world.” Cutting back on the harm that fashion has on the planet is part of creating that livable future.
Sustainable fashion is important to creating a better future and a better fashion industry.
Sustainable fashion brands play a necessary role in shaping how the fashion industry can improve its practices, reduce environmental harm, and support garment workers. Fast fashion has wreaked enough havoc and it’s time for a shift.
As we discussed above, fashion has an extensive impact on both people and the planet. Because climate science points to a need for urgent action, we can’t delay pursuing sustainability in the fashion industry.
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- Sustainable Alternatives to Zara
As a seasoned expert in sustainable fashion with a deep understanding of its multifaceted implications, I can unequivocally affirm the importance of embracing a sustainable approach in the fashion industry. My extensive knowledge in this domain allows me to elucidate the various concepts embedded in the provided article.
1. Sustainable Development: The article rightly begins by framing the discourse within the context of sustainable development, drawing from the definition by former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. Sustainable development, in essence, involves meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This concept serves as the foundational ethos for the entire sustainable fashion movement.
2. Three Pillars of Sustainability: The article introduces the three interconnected pillars of sustainability—economic viability, environmental protection, and social equity. These pillars, often summarized as people, profit, and planet, emphasize the interdependence of these elements. Sustainable fashion must address all three aspects to be truly effective in creating positive change.
3. Fast Fashion Issues: The article delves into the detrimental aspects of fast fashion, highlighting how it relies on the exploitation of people through unethical practices and hazardous working conditions. The overproduction rates in fast fashion contribute to environmental harm, leading to excessive waste and carbon emissions.
4. Environmental Impact: Sustainable fashion actively works to reduce its environmental impact. The article discusses the harmful consequences of overproduction, including the filling up of landfills globally. It emphasizes the need to decrease emissions, particularly in light of fashion's significant contribution to global carbon emissions.
5. Material Composition: The composition of clothing materials is explored, with a focus on the prevalence of fabrics derived from fossil fuels. This aspect contributes to the environmental burden, emphasizing the necessity for sustainable fashion to embrace natural fibers and move away from synthetic, plastic-based materials.
6. Water Conservation: The article underscores the resource and water-intensive nature of the fashion industry, citing examples like the significant water usage in producing a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Sustainable fashion seeks to address these issues by choosing better materials, promoting water recycling, and avoiding pollutants in production processes.
7. Waste Reduction: Sustainable fashion is positioned as a solution to the industry's waste problem. The article discusses the disposability mindset perpetuated by fast fashion and contrasts it with the principles of slow fashion. The latter encourages intentional consumption, reducing personal waste and overall demand for new production.
8. Individuality and Creativity: Sustainable fashion is portrayed as a shift away from chasing trends and constant consumerism. Instead, it encourages individuality, creativity, and contentment. The emphasis on supporting unique, independent designers, thrifting, and upcycling contributes to a more conscious and fulfilling approach to fashion.
9. Cultural Shift: The article concludes by positioning sustainable fashion as one integral part of a broader cultural shift. It aligns with climate science reports advocating for diverse solutions and lifestyle changes to secure a livable future. The fashion industry, through sustainable practices, plays a crucial role in shaping a better future for both the planet and its inhabitants.
In summary, the article provides a comprehensive overview of why sustainable fashion matters, touching on ethical, environmental, and societal dimensions. The concepts covered align with established principles of sustainability, making a compelling case for the urgent need for change in the fashion industry.
