“It’s hard to be 100% sustainable, especially when you have a very specific vision you’re bring to life. I’m always trying to find something that’s sustainable or upcycled. Sometimes you do have to buy something new, and that’s OK. The most important thing with this show is that you’re making an effort to be sustainable, and we’re doing that more and more.” ~ Laura Stover, GITNB show stylist, projectionist, and costume designer
The Pandemic took its toll on a broad range of industries. It spurred shutdowns, supply chain disruptions, and social protests, and none the least, the fashion industry was impacted. Like many events, the Carbondale Arts’ Green Is The New Black (GITNB) fashion show was canceled in 2020, but after a three-year hiatus, the sustainable fashion show finally occurred in early March. The annual event showcased 49 models, 29 Colorado designers, 19 dancers, and 11 additional performers. The 2023 theme “Mirror, Mirror” explored the hero’s journey through fairy tales with choreographed dance sequences while exhibiting fashion designs consisting of natural, upcycled, or recycled materials.
Air and water pollution, intensive use of resources, pervasive microplastics, and worker rights abuses plague the fashion industry. Emerging trends in the fashion industry overall include digital garments, social and experiential shopping, and channel diversification.
But more specifically, what have been the trends for sustainable fashion in the last couple of years? Brands are bumping up their supply chain traceability to offer information on materials, how and where a garment was made, and factory conditions to partners and customers. Clothing lines are also embracing more diversity and inclusivity designs as well as gender fluidity.
Sustainable fashion designers are still pursuing next-gen materials to create a circular fashion brand. These circular textile fibers are renewable, biodegradeable, animal-free, and environmentally friendly. New examples include Alginknit, a compostable yarn made from kelp seaweed. Mycelium is increasingly popular as a source to make alternative leathers due to mushroom’s fast-growing nature and low energy and chemical inputs. Similarly, Microsilk and Spintex are two new biodegradable fabrics that mimic spider silk.
Clothing brands are making more textiles and leather from agricultural or food waste for their product lines. These plant-based fibers include Pinatex and Orange Fiber. A new leather alternative, Tômtex, is made from seafood shells and spent coffee grounds. Innovations in recycling fibers have emerged to help create a circular system for textiles. Textile company Evrnu has developed a recyclable material made entirely from cotton textile waste, NuCyclr-lyocell. Other brands are repurposing their own leftover materials left on their factory floor (offcuts) into new clothing pieces.
Besides creating circular textiles, many clothing brands are also focusing on decarbonizing the fashion supply chain. “In 2021, the fashion industry accounted for between 8-10% of global carbon dioxide output, and 20 per cent of the world’s plastic production — largely due to the industry’s reliance on petroleum-based polyester.”
In response, clothing manufacturers have been building safer factories running on renewable energy. “Meanwhile, brands such as Stella McCartney have pioneered closed-loop solutions using innovative materials such as bio-based fur, which requires up to 30% less energy to produce and causes 63% less greenhouse gas than conventional synthetics.” MIRUM® is another new, plant-based leather which has no petrochemical or synthetic inputs. To further reduce their carbon emissions, NFW employs regenerative farming to produce the plants used for the production of MIRUM®. Woolrich is redesigning its classic Arctic Parka by ditching petroleum-derived fabrics for the next-gen textile Spiber which is made from sugars. Even shoe brands are aiming for carbon neutral production, such as Allbirds with M0.0NSHOT.
Second-hand fashion in the form of resale, rental, repair, and remake models is another trend which the industry is pursuing to become more sustainable by extending the life cycle of clothing. “The global fashion resale market is set to grow 127% by 2026 and is expanding three times faster than the wider fashion retail sector, according to ThredUp.” Some fashion brands such as Oscar de la Renta and Gucci are developing resale platforms to sell their own vintage wear. Resale however does not resolve the issue of overproduction.
“Global clothing production has doubled in the last 15 years, but the number of times a garment is worn has decreased by 36 percent. Even more shockingly, 73 percent of textiles end up discarded in a landfill.” Less than 1% of used clothing gets recycled into new garments due to the lack of take-back systems and the technical difficulty of renewing old fabrics in high-quality materials. Secondhand clothing, usually of low-quality fast fashion, is often disposed at locations like Ghana and Chile’s Atacama Desert, and much of it gets trashed. Clothing rentals are not necessarily sustainable either due to the total carbon dioxide emissions from production, delivery, utilization, and disposal stages of renting a garment for a few uses and then, returning it.
Because manufacturing new clothing produces over half of the total carbon dioxide emissions associated with a garment, Orsola De Castro of the not-for-profit movement Fashion Revolution calls for “radical keeping” to counteract throwaway fashion. Buy quality pieces that last for frequently worn garments, and only rent clothes worn for special occasions. Repairing itself has become a growing part of the sustainability movement, including the Japanese mending art of sashiko. It’s our small part of what we as individuals can do in extending the life of a well-loved piece of clothing and reducing our environmental footprint. Collectively, we can make a difference.
Fast fashion – The shady world of cheap clothing | DW Documentary
Fast fashion has radically transformed the textile industry. These days, 56 million tons of clothing are sold every year. But cheap garments come at a high price: A precarious existence for workers and a catastrophic environmental impact. The clothing industry is currently deluging the planet with garments. With 100 billion items produced every year, that’s more than ever before. International companies are locked in an ongoing race to create new styles and win higher profits. And this gigantic expansion is set to continue: The sector is forecast to grow by 60 per cent by 2030.
On the one hand, fast fashion means affordable clothes for all. Zara is known as the original fast fashion brand. The Spanish clothing giant creates 65,000 new styles every year. Shopping for clothes has become a veritable leisure activity stoked by social media: half of all Instagram posts are related to fashion and beauty. This is how market leaders in fast fashion influence their customers’ buying behavior, backed by relevant neuromarketing specialists.
Fast fashion profits from e-commerce. No more trying on clothes in the store, the customer orders online and has the garment delivered – and if they don’t like it, they just send it back. Throwaway clothes and throwaway work: carried out by an army of couriers within the precarious gig economy. The textile industry is the sector with the world’s second-highest environmental price tag.
Fast fashion manufacturers’ favorite material – viscose made from wood fibers – is marketed as a climate-friendly alternative. But producing this fabric uses a whole range of chemicals. This leads to serious health issues, not only for those working in the factories, but also for people living close by, for example in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Every year in Europe, four million tons of clothing ends up in the trash. Less than one per cent of this is recycled. The fashion industry likes to parade its sustainability credentials, but the reality is quite the opposite.
