Sustainable Fashion Industry

Alicia Amoroso

How Sustainable is the Fashion Industry Really?

After nearly two years of disruption due to the global pandemic, the fashion Industry is once again returning to its feet and resuming massive levels of growth as changing category landscapes, ever-evolving technological innovations, and advances in sustainability continue to present new opportunities. Still, as the need to address climate impact becomes more and more urgent, the fashion industry, which makes a sizable contribution to climate change, remains on a path of trajectory that will exceed the 1.5-degree pathway to mitigate climate change set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Thus, some of the biggest trends in fashion today are the ones no one wants to be seen in: ever-increasing clothing production and declining use, massive levels of waste, and alarming levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this, the industry at large continues to tout their sustainability credentials as marketing ploys, misleading the public into thinking that the industry is becoming more sustainable. What can be done about this?

Fashion Industry Fast Facts

“Fashion is one of the world’s most important industries, driving a significant part of the global economy. It is one of the key value-creating industries for the world economy. If it were ranked alongside individual countries’ GDP the global fashion industry would represent the seventh-largest economy in the world,’’ stated McKinsey in its State of Fashion 2017 report.
Estimating the amount of people in the global labor force of the fashion industry results In varying results, but in 2019 The Ellen MacArthur Foundation stated that globally, the fashion industry employs more than 300 million people along the value chain, including those who work in design, distribution, and retail sectors of the industry.
According to Fashion United, the United States and China are the largest economies and the largest apparel retail markets in the world.
As of 2020, in Fashion United's report, China is the largest exporter of textiles and clothing worldwide, while the E.U. is the largest Importer of these goods.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the global revenue of the fashion industry was estimated between $1.7 and $2.5 trillion, as reported in McKinsey's most recent 2022 State of Fashion report.
According to Fashion United and Euromonitor, the global apparel and footwear market size shrunk In 2020 by -18.1% (to $1.45 trillion) due to impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, after rebounding more quickly than originally projected, the global apparel retail market is set to continue the past two years of growth as we enter the 2023-2024 year.
As of March 2022, according to Fashion United, The LVMH Group was "by far" the clothing company with the highest market capitalization at ~$367 billion dollars, which Is $150 billion more than the brand in second place, Nike, at $216 billion dollars. Dior was third at $124 billion dollars, followed by Inditex and TJX Companies with market caps of $81 and $79 billion dollars respectively.
E-commerce accounted for ~20% of sales in 2021 and grew slightly to 21% in 2022. By 2025, it is projected that e-commerce will account for 25% of all global retail sales.

Sources:Amed, Imran et al., The State of Fashion 2017, McKinsey & Co. and The Business of Fashion, https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Industries/Retail/Our%20Insights/The%20state%20of%20fashion/The-state-of-fashion-2017-McK-BoF-report.pdf
Fashion and The Circular Economy, Ellen MacArthur Foundation archive, https://archive.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/explore/fashion-and-the-circular-economy
Global Fashion Industry Statistics, Fashion United, https://fashionunited.com/global-fashion-industry-statistics
Amed, Imran et al., The State of Fashion 2022, McKinsey & Co. and The Business of Fashion, https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/state%20of%20fashion/2022/the-state-of-fashion-2022.pdf

Source: Measuring Fashion: Environmental Impact of the Global Apparel and Footwear Industries Study, 2018, Quantis

Source: State of Fashion 2022, McKinsey & Co. and The Business of Fashion

Source: "What EXACTLY Is Sustainable Fashion & Why It's SO Important (2022)," Ana Alves, The Vou

Source: "Sustainable Fashion? There's No Such Thing," Lauren Indvik, Financial Times

"Sustainable" Fashion?

From 2016-2020, the number of clothes and accessories described as “sustainable” has quadrupled among online retailers in the US and UK, according to Edited, a London-based retail analytics company, and the Financial Times.
However, unlike labels used in the food Industry like "organic" and "free range," which are helpful cues to customers, "sustainable" is an unregulated term, allowing brands to attach it freely to any product.
This allows the fashion industry to tout their shaky sustainability credentials outwardly, with everything from swimsuits to wedding dresses being marked as 'carbon positive, organic, or vegan'.
Now, conscious shoppers need to sift through greenwashed marketing to discover which pieces, from leather jackets to new stilettos, have the smallest carbon footprint. (See: "Consumer Action" below)
When a brand deserves to be labeled 'sustainable' Is when they create less waste, ensure fair wages & working conditions for factory workers, reduce their carbon footprint as much as possible, save water, save animal lives, and focus on long-term environmental goals.
Overall, in the 'sustainable' fashion space, the experimentation and 'innovation' over the past two decades in the industry has largely failed to lessen its planetary Impact.

Sources: Indvik, Lauren. "Sustainable Fashion? There's No Such Thing." Financial Times, Financial Times, 13 Nov. 2020, https://www.ft.com/content/d174e7d7-97c4-43fc-8765-95075e5fcce7

What a Waste!

According to Fashion United, over the past 20 years, the industry has more than doubled production (producing over 150 billion items per year), while the time clothing is worn before being discarded has fallen by 40%.
As reported in the McKinsey and the Global Fashion Agenda, the rapid growth of the industry will Increase the volume of apparel and footwear being produced by 81% to 102 million tons by 2030.
When clothing is discarded, 73% will be burned or buried in a landfill. Currently, according to Earth.org, over 92 million tons of clothing related waste are produced each year.
Of the 12% of discarded clothing that gets collected for recycling, less than 1% will go towards making new clothing. The rest will be shredded to make other materials like mattress stuffing and insulation.
More than just putting a strain on the environment, the trend of overproduction Is hurting the fashion Industry in the long-term, as the industry misses out on $560B In revenue from clothes being worn less and not recycled, according to the World Economic Forum.
The current 'take-make-waste' model of the industry needs to shift to include more principles from a circular economy model (e.g. increasing the time we use our clothing, producing them from safe and renewable materials, and recycling old clothes to make new ones at a much larger scale.)

Sources:Global Fashion Industry Statistics, Fashion United, https://fashionunited.com/global-fashion-industry-statistics
Berg, Achim et al., Fashion on Climate, 2020, McKinsey & Co. and Global Fashion Agenda, https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/fashion%20on%20climate/fashion-on-climate-full-report.pdf
Mulhern, Owen. "The 10 Essential Fast Fashion Statistics," Earth.org, Earth.org, 24 Jul. 2022, https://earth.org/fast-fashion-statistics/
Souchet, Francois. "Fashion Has a Huge Waste Problem. Here's How It Can Change." World Economic Forum, World Economic Forum, 28 Feb. 2019, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/how-the-circular-economy-is-redesigning-fashions-future/

Source: "The 10 Essential Fast Fashion Statistics," Owen Mulhern, Earth.org

Source: "The Hidden Cost of Cheap Fashion Could Catch Up to Investors," Carol Ryan, The Wall Street Journal

The Hidden Costs of Fast Fashion

Why has the fashion industry been so slow to act on sustainability? Pressures to grow relentlessly, consumer demand for cheap, fast fashion, trends, and the ever-increasing turn-over rate of trends have all kept the industry at large from focusing on its planetary footprint.
Fast fashion is produced mainly from non-biodegradable, petroleum-based synthetics that are estimated to introduce over half a million tons of microplastics into our oceans per year, according to Earth.org.
Fast fashion and the overproduction of clothing have driven down the real prices of footwear and apparel by half since 1990.
Consumers of fast fashion have perpetuated overconsumption, the mentality that clothes can be thrown out when they are no longer 'trendy,' and inhumane manufacturing processes like unlivable wages and hostile work environments.
The unsustainable, unethical labor practices involved in producing fast fashion, which can be explored further in the documentary The True Cost, directly affect the amount of time that the cheaper garments are worn.
In order to divert consumers of fast fashion away from cheap price tags, sustainable retailers should focus on marketing the true 'cost per wear' of higher value pieces, which can be calculated by dividing the cost of an item by the number of times you expect to wear it. Pieces that are produced ethically and are well-made will naturally last longer and get more wear. Showing consumers this true cost can open their eyes to the wasteful ways of fast fashion.
You can calculate the cost-per-wear of any item using Glamour's calculator here.

Sources:Mulhern, Owen. "The 10 Essential Fast Fashion Statistics," Earth.org, Earth.org, 24 Jul. 2022, https://earth.org/fast-fashion-statistics/

Reducing Global Emissions

McKinsey research from 2020 shows that the fashion sector was responsible for 2.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in 2018, about 4% of the global total and equal to the quantity of GHGs emitted per year of the entire economies of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom combined.
To reach the pathway set by the IPCC, the fashion industry would need to cut its GHG emissions to 1.1 billion metric tons of CO₂ equivalent by 2030. By McKinsey growth calculations, adjusted for the impacts of COVID-19, the industry is set to overshoot this by almost twofold, with emissions of 2.1 billion metric tons of CO₂ equivalent in 2030, unless it adopts serious abatement actions and scales up existing decarbonization efforts to reduce annual emissions to roughly half of today's figure.
Global Life Cycle data shows that fashion's biggest emissions are produced during the material phases of the supply chain.
According to The World Resources Institute's recent report, based on data from the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and Textile Exchange, the largest emission reductions will come from six critical changes in upstream operations.
These will involve changes to the efficiency, sustainability, and Innovation of materials by scaling up the use of sustainable materials, accelerating the development of innovative materials, and increasing the amount of raw material in textiles and to tackling energy efficiency by abandoning coal and using 100% renewable energy in the supply chain. Using 100% renewable energy In the supply chain could boast emissions reductions of 424 million tons alone.
Further emissions could be reduced through operational improvements of fashion brands and changes to consumer behavior.
The industry faces challenges to reducing Its GHG emissions, such as shifting population and consumption patterns that will drive continuing growth.
If no abatement actions are taken seriously, according to McKinsey, a "predicted rise in volumes could push carbon emissions to around 2.7 billion metric tons a year by 2030."
McKinsey's most recent State of Fashion report for 2023 Is available in full to read here.

Sources:Berg, Achim et al., Fashion on Climate, 2020, McKinsey & Co. and Global Fashion Agenda, https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/fashion%20on%20climate/fashion-on-climate-full-report.pdf
World Apparel & Footwear Life Cycle Assessment Database, Quantis, https://quantis.com/who-we-guide/our-impact/sustainability-initiatives/waldb/
Sadowski, Michael et al., Roadmap to Net Zero: Delivering Science-Based Targets In The Apparel Sector, The World Resources Institute and The Apparel Impact Institute, https://www.wri.org/research/roadmap-net-zero-delivering-science-based-targets-apparel-sector

Source: Fashion on Climate 2020, McKinsey & Co. and Global Fashion Agenda

Source: Fashion on Climate 2020, McKinsey & Co. and Global Fashion Agenda

Source: Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report 2021, Textile Exchange

Priorities For Change: Manufacturing and Textile Innovation

According to the aforementioned World Resources Institute Report, "ramping up investment in next-generation materials, including textile recycling, bio-based materials, and plant-based leather" will be key in achieving emissions reductions in the supply chain. As they report, switching to recycled polyester could save 30 million tons of emissions, while maximizing material efficiency could yield 24 million tons savings.
The materials science area is well aware of the immense impact they can have on the fashion industry's sustainability and has expanded in recent years. For example, according to Forbes, Brands Kintra and Pangaia have gained traction as startups producing biodegradable polyester to mitigate the effects of microplastics in our oceans.
Brands have and should continue to invest in new textile technologies like this to continue to scale them to the Industry's massive demand. Last year, popular sneaker brand Allbirds Invested $2 million In Natural Fiber Welding and the H&M Group announced a partnership with Spinnova, a Finnish material Innovation firm.
In their Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report for 2021, The Textile Exchange reported polyester as the leader of the global fiber market at 52%, while cotton followed at 24%. Creating, perfecting, and supporting sustainable production processes and next-generation alternatives of both textiles will be crucial for the industry.

Sources:Sadowski, Michael et al., Roadmap to Net Zero: Delivering Science-Based Targets In The Apparel Sector, The World Resources Institute and The Apparel Impact Institute, https://www.wri.org/research/roadmap-net-zero-delivering-science-based-targets-apparel-sector
Roberts-Islam, Brooke. "Kintra and PANGAIA Announce Biodegradable Polyester To Eliminate Microplastic Pollution," Forbes, Forbes, 14 Dec. 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/brookerobertsislam/2020/12/14/kintra-and-pangaia-announce-biodegradable-polyester-to-eliminate-microplastic-pollution/?sh=7336cd2d10cb
Hahn, Jennifer. "Allbrids To Make Shoes Using Plant-Based Leather To Help "Eradicate Petroleum From The Fashion Industry," Dezeen, Dezeen, https://www.dezeen.com/2021/03/03/plant-leather-allbirds-natural-fiber-welding/
"Arket Becomes The First H&M Group Brand To Release a Spinnova ® Product Commercially," Spinnova, Spinnova, https://spinnova.com/collaboration/arket/
Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report 20201, Textile Exchange, https://textileexchange.org/app/uploads/2021/08/Textile-Exchange_Preferred-Fiber-and-Materials-Market-Report_2021.pdf

Consumer Action

Although consumers play a smaller role in contributing to the detrimental effects that the fashion industry can have on our environment, there are still many useful initiatives that consumers can and should take.
In recent years, more consumers have moved a portion of their shopping towards rental and resale sites and stores, which propose a great way to recycle clothes without having to transform them.
As noted by Pam Danziger for Forbes In 2018, "American consumers, most especially the Millennials, enjoy the hunter-gatherer experience of second-hand shopping and have no qualms about owning used goods. As a result, used-merchandise stores notched a 7.6% increase the first half of this year on top of 11.6% gains last.”
As illustrated by Insider Intelligence data, major resellers boasted higher revenues In 2021, such as ThredUp generating $251.8 million, a 35% YoY increase, while The RealReal and Poshmark boasted revenue increases of 50% and 16% respectively.
Although traditional brands have been slower to act on sustainability and frequently greenwash their marketing, making it difficult for conscious consumers to shop responsibly, as according to fashion sustainability experts interviewed for Glamour, a few key benchmarks are useful to look out for when vetting a brand: look out for which materials brands are using, try to determine if the brand's sustainability goals are set up for the long-term, check if the brand focuses on economic sustainability by vetting their contractors to ensure livable wages for factory workers, and check if the brand is certified by any of the various third-party sustainability certifiers like GOTS, Oeko-Tex, Better Cotton Initiative, Bluesign, Certified B-Corp, and Fair Trade.
Some well-vetted brands you can shop now include: Levi's, DL1961, Reformation, Cuyana, Naadam, Naked Cashmere, Girlfriend Collective, Lacausa, Veja, Araks, Mara Hoffman, Patagonia, Pangaia, Sleeper, Behno, Sensi Studio, Still Here, and Sézane.
Consumers can also access an ethical clothing search engine here.
However, beyond just shopping from vintage stores or sustainable brands, It is helpful for consumers to consider their shopping habits more carefully and question If they are falling Into the hole of overconsumption. There are many tips online for how to be a more conscious shopper, but this article from The New York Times offers some of the best tips!
Further, it is crucial as a consumer to support current legislation that will force the industry to change and abide by supply-chain commitments. For Instance, a law is being developed in New York State that would "mandate supply-chain mapping, carbon emissions reductions in line with a 1.5-degree Celsius scenario and reporting of wages as compared to payment of a living wage."

Sources:Danziger, Pam. "Retail Is Coming On Strong: What's Trending Now," Forbes, Forbes, 19 Aug. 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2018/08/19/whats-trending-now-in-retail-and-what-it-reveals-about-american-shoppers/?sh=5efc23c07f84
Wolff, Rachel. "Fashion Resale Is Popular Among Consumers, But Platforms Struggle To Make Money," Insider Intelligence, Insider Intelligence, 9 Mar. 2022, https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/fashion-resale-popular-among-consumers-platforms-struggle-make-money
Abbas, Talia and Shanna Shipin. "31 Sustainable Fashion Brands You Can Shop Confidently," Glamour, Glamour, 22 Apr. 2022, https://www.glamour.com/story/sustainable-fashion-brands
Pathways To Carbon-Neutral NYC: Modernize, Reimagine, Reach," NYC Mayor's Office of Sustainability, Con Edison, and National Grid, https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/sustainability/downloads/pdf/publications/Carbon-Neutral-NYC.pdf

Source: "Fashion resale is popular among consumers, but platforms struggle to make money," Rachel Wolff, Insider Intelligence

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