The final master’s project “An environmental view of sustainable fashion” examined, through both qualitative and quantitative research, how the fashion industry exerts enormous pressure on the environment — pressure that harms water, land, the atmosphere and biodiversity.
Certain parts of modern life are, by this point, widely understood to cause environmental damage: flying abroad, using single-use plastic items, even driving to and from work. But where our clothes are concerned, the impacts are less obvious.
Sustainable fashion
General findings of the research
The study produced two broad findings, quantitative and qualitative, on the impact of fashion on the environment and on the world more generally.
First: the quantitative study weighed consumers’ habits by means of a survey covering the moment of any transaction in the fashion industry, and concluded that “the fashion industry can address its environmental impact by adopting a mix of sustainable materials, taking a more circular approach and improving how it communicates”. In other words, most consumers are calling for brands to communicate by giving a clear, informative account of their products where those products help reduce environmental impact. Fast fashion makes buying clothes more affordable, but it carries an environmental cost.
Second: the qualitative strand of the research produced an analysis highlighting the best practice applied across the brands studied: Ecoalf, Gayaskin, MUD Jeans, People Tree and Stella McCartney. This part of the study found that these brands are indeed keenly aware of reducing their ecological footprint through the use of recycled materials, and so help cut both their water and their environmental footprint. Most of them have reduced the number of collections they produce each year. They make a point of using indigo dyes, choose their suppliers carefully, and look after both the brand’s identity and its environmental impact — all of it through educating consumers, so as to raise awareness and minimise the impact that comes after purchase.
The research concludes that how the major brands communicate with and for consumers is the key tool for informing people about the harmful effects of the fashion industry and about how those brands have helped reduce them. Through communication, consumers can become involved with a brand to the point of trusting it — and that is the way forward if the fashion industry is to become more sustainable.
Conclusions on environmental sustainability in the fashion industry
Globalisation plays an important part in the environmental impact of the fashion world. The conclusion is that if companies in the industry do not act immediately to reduce their impact, the planet could suffer irreversible changes before long. They must therefore start now on changing their production lines.
Final recommendations for a sustainable model
The research found that sustainability in the fashion industry’s production chain must by now be part of a brand’s DNA. The major fashion companies need to reverse the linear model and put quality ahead of quantity. But as with everything, consumers will have to understand it, which is why the part played by brands will have to be impeccable and exemplary.
The fashion industry has a disastrous impact on the environment. It is, in fact, the world’s second largest polluter, behind only the oil industry — and the environmental damage grows as the industry grows. There are, however, solutions and alternatives that would mitigate these problems. The first step is to build awareness and the will to change on pollution and heavy water use, on reducing the textile microfibres reaching the ocean, on waste accumulation, on cutting chemicals and greenhouse gas emissions, and on reducing global soil degradation. The second is to develop the technology that would let sustainability in the industry be scaled up.
Author: Laura Thommen — Master’s in Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability (2019–2020)
Supervisor: José Manuel Martín Herrero
