As part of the National Sustainable Living Festival this year, I gave a talk about how fashion impacts climate change with suggestions for how we can make changes to achieve net zero emissions. The event, Fashion Apocalypse, was organised, by the Coalition of Everyone. It was designed as a mock Citizens’ Assembly to engage participants from all walks to contribute and build empowering solutions to a would-be fashion climate emergency. I’ve combined the findings from my research and talk into this article. I’ll first explain why fashion is detrimental to the environment before I go into how it impacts the climate, and then delve into policy recommendations for consumers, industry and government to work together towards a common goal of net zero emissions.

One of the working groups at Coalition of Everyone’s Mock Assembly event. Photo: Grace O’Hara.

THE PROBLEM

Scientists are saying we only have about 10 years to take significant measures to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. And on that note, avoid the irreversible environmental destruction that can threaten all of humanity. This is the goal of the Paris Agreement. For this to happen, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will need to be on track to decrease by about 45 percent by 2030. The greenhouse gases from the fashion and apparel industry contributes to about 10% of climate change. Therefore, it has an urgent role to play in climate action.

The 2019 Fashion Revolution Report indicated that only a little over 100 of fashion’s top brands publish their annual carbon footprint on their websites. More than half of the industry’s emissions occur in the supply chain and only 19.5% disclose their emissions in this area.

The fashion and apparel industry is worth approximately $1.8 trillion dollars. Fast fashion’s trend and throwaway culture is based on a lucrative business model where retail stores produce clothing very cheaply and intended for short-term use. Primarily made of synthetic textiles, the manufacture, consumption and disposal operations are laden with processes that damage the environment in major ways. The concept of following fashion trends is the fuel that drives the fast fashion dilemma. The business model enables fast fashion companies to skyrocket profits by selling clothes based on daily / weekly rapidly turning fashion trends. Shortly after manufacture, fast fashion apparel is quickly disposed of in favour of the next set of trends, then the new trends are soon after disposed of as well. And so, the linear cycle continues, earning the industry the title of being one of the most polluting industries in the world.

We’re buying more clothes than ever before, wearing them fewer times, repairing them less, and throwing them away sooner. Approximately, 150 billion brand new garments are being manufactured every year which is 400% more than we were consuming more than two decades ago. 85% of textiles and apparel purchased end up in landfill within a year. And less than 1 % of used clothing is recycled into new garments. The average consumer bought 60% more clothes in 2014 than in the year 2000 but kept each garment for half as long. If demographic and lifestyle patterns continue as they are now, global consumption of apparel will rise from 62 million metric tonnes (as per 2019) to 102 million tonnes by 2030.

HOW FASHION IMPACTS CLIMATE CHANGE

These are several leading ways that fashion impacts climate change:

Greenhouse gases
Water usage
Chemicals & pesticides
Textile waste
Synthetic textiles
Landfill and emissions
Energy
Deforestation

Greenhouse Gases

The fashion and textiles industry is creating 92 million tonnes of textile waste and 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions which is more than that of all international flights and marine shipping combined. At the current rate, the fashion industry's greenhouse gas emissions will spike more than 50% by 2030. And by 2050, use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget needed to keep the planet below 2 degrees of warming. The fashion industry’s emissions are estimated to be close to that of Russia’s.

Water Usage

Every year the fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water — enough to meet the consumption needs of five million people. According to figures from the United Nations Environment Programme, it takes 3,781 litres of water to make a pair of jeans. And 2,700 litres of water to make just one cotton t-shirt. That’s equivalent to 3 years’ worth of drinking water for one person. If you were to multiply the number of t-shirts in your wardrobe by 2,700 litres, that’s just a fraction of the amount of water in one wardrobe!

Cotton is in 40% of our garments. It’s the single largest water consumption factor in fashion and textiles. 93 billion cubic metres of water is used in cotton production per year, with 10,000 – 20,000 litres of water needed to make just 1kg of clothing. This puts an incredible amount of stress on water supply in Central Asia, India and China. Regions in these countries are already contending with water scarcity linked to climate change. The Aral Sea in Uzbekistan is a prime example. Once the fourth largest fresh lake in the world and home to over 40,000 fishermen, it has become an arid desert, due to over-irrigation from cotton farming.

Abandoned ships at landscape that was formerly the Aral Sea. Photo: Lochner.

Chemicals & Pesticides

Chemicals:

Water pollution - A quarter of the chemicals produced in the world are used in textiles. With the textile industry being one of the most chemically intensive industries on earth, it has turned out to be the second biggest polluter of freshwater resources on the planet. A United Nations study stated that the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of all waste water which mainly comes from fabric dyeing and treatment. Chemicals are used during other manufacturing processes, such as fibre production, bleaching, printing, washing and finishing. In countries where garment manufacture occurs, untreated toxic waste and fabric dyes from local factories are dumped into the rivers and water bodies. This impacts the communities where this happens by destroying their access to clean, potable water. The chemicals cause high levels of cancer and other illnesses for the people who live in these areas. The contamination is also hazardous to aquatic wildlife. It streams into the seas and then infiltrates waterways around the world.

Considering only 2.5% of the Earth’s water is freshwater and only 0.3% of that is accessible to humans, the urgency for the industry to take drastic action is high.

Pesticides

Cotton makes up almost half of the total fibre used to make clothing. It’s the world’s single largest pesticide-consuming crop. Cotton fields globally account for 2.4% of cultivated land, but consume 18% of all pesticide use and 25% of total insecticide use.

Textile Waste

85% of apparel purchased end up in landfill. The average consumer bought 60% more clothes in 2014 than in the year 2000 but kept each garment for half as long.

Due to fashion oversupply, one garbage truck of clothes is sent to landfill or burned every second, according to the World Resources Institute. Burberry for instance, incinerated $150 million worth of stock within a 5-year period. Burning textiles exacerbates global warming by emitting greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Synthetic Textiles

Microfibres - Synthetic textiles make up 72% of clothing and are one of the main sources of microplastic pollution and account for 35% of all microplastics. The most common materials used in clothing manufacture are polyester (55%), followed by nylon (5%) and acrylic (2%). Nylon produces nitrous oxide which is a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Not only are synthetics non-biodegradable, they all rely on the petrochemical industries for their raw material, meaning because it’s a staple, the fashion industry is dependent on fossil fuel extraction. Synthetics made from this source are a form of plastic. Approximately 70 million barrels of oil are used to make polyester fabric each year, which has become the most commonly used fabric in our clothing.

Every year, half a million tons of plastic microfibers (equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles) end up in the ocean when we wash our synthetic garments. Microfibers cannot be extracted from the water. This threatens marine wildlife. It also ends up in our food supply when the water or seafood is consumed. This can impact our physical health.

Landfill and Emissions

Synthetic textiles, which is what a big portion of clothing is made of, can take more than 200 years to decompose in landfill. In this condition, they release the toxic gas, methane, which being 21 times more potent that carbon dioxide, is incredibly hazardous to the environment and contributes towards climate change.

Materials like leather are also responsible for huge methane outputs. Extinction Rebellion states that one billion animals are killed for leather every year.

Energy

The emissions footprint of a garment happens throughout its life cycle. Past the initial raw materials process, energy is consumed in crop and fibre production, manufacturing, transporting, packaging, warehousing and selling the garment.

Manufacturing takes up an estimated 80% of energy used in textile manufacture. Factories consume much energy and, in that regard, emit a high level of greenhouse gases. A significant proportion of clothing is manufactured in countries like India and China, where there is major reliance on coal-fuelled power plants. This increases the footprint of each garment.

The supply chain requires 10 times more energy to produce a ton of textiles than it does to produce a ton of glass. Electricity is a huge element in the textile supply chain and one of the most used forms of energy. 75% – 80% of energy consumption happens after a garment is purchased because of laundry activities.

Deforestation

Fashion’s impact on deforestation comes from textile manufacture. The process of converting wood to fabric is chemically-intensive and wastes 70% of the tree. The common textiles in this method are rayon, lyocell, viscose and modal. According to Canopy, 150 million trees are cut each year and processed down to a pulp which is later spun into fabrics.

With cotton being the biggest agricultural plant used for clothing manufacture, land clearing for cotton farming is a major issue where deforestation is concerned. Forests are crucial for maintaining harmony of the earth’s complex ecosystems. They balance the gases in the atmosphere, clean the air and produce the oxygen that we breathe. Around a third of the CO2 emitted (approximately 2.6 billion tonnes) from burning fossil fuels is absorbed by forests every year. In the period of climate change, we sincerely need forests.

Coalition of Everyone event. Photo: Grace O’Hara.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

If we’re aiming to reach net-zero emissions, drastic changes need to happen immediately. However, we can all play a part in helping these shifts take place, as individuals (consumers), industry or government. Here are some recommendations:

1. INDIVIDUALS

Change the fashion throwaway culture

Overproduction, overconsumption and waste are responsible for fashion’s emission levels. The trend culture needs to end. The fast fashion industry thrives on convincing people to purchase weekly trends of new fast fashion apparel. This super-fast turnover is at the very core of fashion’s environmental degradation. We need to rethink and change the disposable fast fashion culture by ‘getting off the fashion trendmill’. This requires a 180-degree shift in mindset and approach to clothing consumption.

Brand new apparel

Individuals can disrupt the industry by demanding and monitoring fashion brands consistently until it becomes standard practice that all clothing is manufactured with environmental best practice
All new garments purchased should be from ethical brands who take all necessary measures to ensure minimal emission levels
Apparel purchased should be made of natural textiles such as organic linen, mohair and wool
Only buy what you need and have a plan for sustainable disposal e.g. upcycling, donation.

Nurture the circular economy

Essentially, this is recycling in different contexts. It keeps clothes out of landfill by reusing the surplus garments already in existence. If the number of times a garment is worn is doubled on average, the GHG emissions would be 44 % lower. The ultimate goal here is to phase out fast fashion.

Hire / rent clothing from clothing libraries and wardrobe subscription platforms
Repair, attend, use and host clothes swaps and repair cafes
Buy second-hand apparel and textiles
Individuals are encouraged to remake and redesign existing garments so we can minimise or end the use of raw materials
Wash your clothing less often and air dry instead of machine dry. Use the machine wash on cold setting.

2. INDUSTRY

With the backing of UN Climate Change, fashion stakeholders in 2018 created the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action as a holistic commitment to climate action. In keeping with the target of the Paris Agreement, the charter contains a directive to analyse and set a decarbonization pathway for the fashion industry. The charter also includes a target of 30% GHG emission reductions by 2030.

Manufacture

All brand-new garments should be made using natural textiles such as organic cotton, organic bamboo, organic hemp, organic linen, mohair, wool, cashmere, etc
Production of textiles should be entirely without chemical pesticides, fertilisers and toxic dyes with preference given to crops that require less water in their creation
Garments can be produced on a need basis to prevent oversupply. This will end landfill waste. Put a stop to the incineration of clothing stock oversupply to protect brand image.

Circular economy (making fashion circular)

Brands can offer free repair services for their products where possible. This will encourage brands to produce better quality, more durable, lasting products
Standardise and systemise circular economy channels like wardrobe exchange and clothing subscription services
Education - Designers can be trained in zero-waste and eco designing. Purchasing managers can learn about environmental auditing standards and production managers can be educated on chemicals that cause environmental damage
Industry can standardise the harvesting of existing fabrics (like vintage, deadstock and preloved) to remake and redesign ‘new’ fabrics and garments. This will minimise or end the use of precious raw materials and preserve life sources like water.
* Sustainable synthetics (Patagonia) - switching from conventional to organic cotton can cut harmful emissions by 46%, as the nitrogen waste from fertilisers is eliminated. A switch from virgin polyester to recycled material – made by mechanically or chemically breaking down plastic drinks bottles – can reduce the carbon footprint of polyester by 40%.

Internal measures

Reduce and save energy along the value chain of brands beyond the materials stage e.g. energy use in their warehouses, stores, offices, logistical operations like transportation
The reporting of emissions can be made public.

ASOS cut its electricity use in one warehouse by 76% by switching to energy-efficient light bulbs. Sensors that turn lights off in empty rooms can help too.

Finding efficiencies at the transport and logistics stages can help businesses’ environmental practices. When Hugo Boss analysed the carbon footprint of their transport operations, they realised switching from air to rail freight could cut emissions by 95%.

3. GOVERNMENT

“What is needed are commitments – bold target setting – [from the] fashion industry; at the moment [we’re] not going fast enough… Government regulations can help increase the pace; if there were a tax on carbon or on water, [that could] move big sections of the industry.”
- Eva Kruse, President and CEO of the Global Fashion Agenda

Legislation

Quotas on manufacture and import levels to curb oversupply and waste. Only what is absolutely needed is manufactured
Increased amount of reforestation programs
Incineration of clothing by brands should be made illegal
Fashion brands to have emissions and water usage taxes levied.

Renewable energy (from Fashion Industry’s Charter for Climate Action)

Governments can assist industry in the following ways:

Supportive, transparent and predictable planning contexts for renewable energy investment such as ensuring clear communication of government energy roadmaps.
Agility in responding to rapid scale-up of grid-connected renewable energy sources. And the assurance of a just and sustainable transition in the rapid phase-out of the highest-emitting fossil-fuel-based sources of energy
Through the provision of feed-in tariffs to manufacturers and suppliers, for instance, government can make provisions for incentives for quick transition to renewable energy that generates electricity from renewable sources. Ideally it will feed their excess electricity into the public electricity grid
Ensuring the availability of credible and legal renewable electricity tariffs and power purchase agreements for fashion brands and manufacturers to purchase as part of their efforts in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions
Through research and incentives for alternative biomass sources, government can develop a conducive atmosphere to enable swift phase out of non-renewable energy sources for all high-heat or non-grid processes.

Transition and availability of resources

Working with the Fashion Industry to understand and address potential barriers to sector transformation, uptake of energy efficiency and renewable energy technology with a focus on understanding the key role of tariffs, subsidies or legal barriers at the state and national levels.
Provision of easily accessible resources for fashion climate initiatives to prosper and thrive in the following areas:

§ Funding

§ Research & support

§ Circular economy systems

§ New innovative and sustainable textiles e.g. Pinatex, Activated Silk and Mycellium

§ New innovative tech e.g. Microplastic-proof washing machines and Cora Ball

§ Knowledge share

§ Education

§ Collaborations

Working Groups

Active and consistent Working Groups will be required to identify and amplify best practices, strengthen existing efforts, identify and address gaps, facilitate and strengthen collaboration among relevant stakeholders. They can facilitate the joining of resources and sharing of tools to enable the sector to achieve and maintain its climate targets.

Working groups can be made of professionals, experts, consumers, influencers and initiatives in the fashion and broader textile sector. They can include political leaders of countries that have major fashion production and consumer markets. Working collaboratively to deliver on the recommendations above and the principles enshrined in the charter, will likely sustain the commitment to achieve and retain net zero emissions by 2030.

♥ Nina Gbor

Instagram: @eco.styles

References:

Eco Styles

Style. Sustainability. Positive Change.

Fashion's impact on climate change; government, industry and consumer suggestions for net zero /March 9, 2020 by Nina Gbor

THE PROBLEM

HOW FASHION IMPACTS CLIMATE CHANGE

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

♥ Nina Gbor

Instagram: @eco.styles