Imagine Sustainability in the Apparel Industry
Imagine Sustainability in the Apparel Industry
- May 29, 2020
Attaining sustainable development is a way to ensure that people have the appropriate resources such as energy, water, food, and health, above all to satisfy their human rights–also by not compromising the ability of future generations to achieve their basic requirements (United Nations [U.N], 1987). Unfortunately, the role of the apparel industry has deviated far beyond just meeting basic human needs and creating a negative impact on our planet. One of the most significant challenges the world is currently facing today is to maintain the status quo of the Triple Bottom Line, where sustainable development remains the only viable course for humanity. The sustainability issues caused by the Apparel industries, such as high water usage, climate change, landfills, and pollution caused by effluent discharge, energy, and human capital, have been disastrous, and the effect is irrevocable for Earth.
Sustainability Issues. The fashion and textile industry is the ideal example of a harmful sector; despite its reassuring environment discourses and its technological marvels, it remains hazardous to the environment. Below are the areas that adversely affect the sustainability of this 2.5 trillion-dollar (global annual revenues according to McKinsey, 2020) industry:
Water. The industry impinges heavily on the Triple Bottom Line as it roughly consumes around 5 Trillion litres of water for fabric dyeing processes worldwide, whereas, on a comparative note, Western Australia’s population uses 283 Billion litres of water per annum. Therefore, fibre processing has the highest impact on freshwater withdrawal and ecosystem quality, partly due to cotton cultivation. Unfortunately, freshwater scarcity is a growing issue, as it depletes the groundwater while drying up rivers and lakes, on which people depend for irrigation to grow food and feed livestock. As a result, billions of people today are still deprived of safe water, whilst the apparel sector still overconsumes and pollutes water despite progress and technological improvement.
The fashion industry has to rethink its strategy for limiting freshwater use by applying the 3R principle (reuse, recover, and recycle). Water management guidance already exists on how to reduce wastewater, reuse, or recycle water. Still, there needs to be more commitment or legislation to enforce, both at the national and international levels. In the long run, inefficient water management affects operational, reputational, regulatory, and overall financial risks. It is alarming that, based on current trends, water demand is projected to exceed sustainable supply by 40% in 2030.
Climate Change. Overall, this sector is expected to contribute nearly 26% to global carbon emissions by 2050, up from 2% in 2015. The incumbent Greenhouse gases (GHG) concentrations of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrogen oxide (NOx), and other related gases have increased by 45% in just 130 years. However, as more fossil fuels are burnt in the boilers of the apparel industry, more GHGs are released into the atmosphere, which in turn absorbs more radiation, thus more global warming. As climate-related and geophysical disasters claimed to have taken an estimated 1.3 million lives, global warming causes an increase in sea level, ice sheets reduction, biodiversity loss, change in precipitation (intense flooding and severe droughts), and ocean acidification. Rising sea levels and recurring issues such as storm surges have jeopardized the livelihoods of some 200 million people who are highly dependent on coastal ecosystems for their livelihoods and food sources. Correspondingly, climate change enhances the risk of severe food vulnerability for approximately 39 million people. Nearly 50% of the world’s plant-based calories are obtained by just three crops: rice, wheat, and maize, which constitute their staple. Unfortunately, fires and floods continue to ravage these crops due to significant climate change. Overall, global risks are intensifying, and the industries must collectively align with sound sustainability principles and practices to reduce those risks.
Landfill. The sector is also responsible for inundating landfills with an estimated 100-144 Billion square yards of fabrics from factory scraps yearly. According to Measuring Fashion (2018), landfills contribute to significant issues, such as CH4 and CO2 emissions exacerbating global warming. Notably, CH4 has a global warming potential thirty times higher than CO2. Furthermore, landfills generate leachates that contaminate underground water sources with poisonous chemicals from the manufacturing processes. New research from the US Geological Survey details that even after the storage and treatment of leachate, it can still contain many chemicals (USGS-Science for a Changing World). This can have grave repercussions on human health.
Therefore, consumers could attenuate this issue by adopting a circular economy approach, i.e., increasing the length and number of times that clothes are worn and extending their usable lifetime. Primarily, this initiative has to be driven by consumer awareness, which can cause retailers to request more durable goods and materials from the factory, although that may entail higher prices.
Pollution. Approximately 280,000 tons of non-biodegradable dyes are discharged yearly to wastewater plants or directly to the environment, of which 20% of global industrial water pollution originates from the dyeing process. These effluents have a disastrous effect on aquatic life and freshwater, ultimately affecting essential drinking water. This segment of the value chain, the dyeing and processing, is known to be the most significant commercial dyes and pigments industry user, currently at US$ 14.5 billion, and is predicted to reach $42 billion in 2021, representing an alarming 190% plus increase.
Energy. This industry is mainly driven by an energy-intensive process based on fossil fuel energies such as oil and coal. Adversely, it dramatically impacts resource depletion, as fossil fuel is non-renewable and takes millions of years to form. Hence, fashion has exacerbated the situation by depleting it much faster than new fossil fuels are being regenerated. But more devastating is its effect on global warming and climate change with high levels of GHG emission as acidification of the atmosphere.
Human Capital. While it is true that consumerism feeds most third-world places like Bangladesh and China, they could never have lifted themselves away from poverty without the apparel industry. But this should
be through something other than an unsustainable apparel industry. The industry’s costs are easily slashed by ignoring environmental standards and labour laws. The bottom line is–retailers are programmed to augment turnover, not to care for people or the environment. Furthermore, the fashion and textile industry worldwide is built on exploitation. The business model relies on cheapest sourcing, maximum selling price, and profits. Everything else is secondary. So, in their perpetual quest to meet rising shareholders’ demands, Retailers continuously put excruciating pressure on their suppliers to reduce prices. When this is no longer possible, retailers move on to the following cheapest sourcing destination/country, leaving behind a trail of desolate suppliers and, in some cases, destroying local economies – just like parasites switching to another host. In the end, the workers in the apparel factories – wherever they are – mostly in third-world countries, bear the brunt of the triple bottom line. Companies and workers in third-world countries end up subsidizing the price of apparel retailing worldwide, particularly in first-world countries. For suppliers, more than not, this means keeping low wages for workers and working on the brink of break-even or loss to satisfy their customers.
Where is the formulated speech of the Retailers of “putting people first” when refusing to pay suppliers, requesting colossal 90% discounts or extending payment terms over 270 days on garments made? Pandemic or not, retailers and their esteemed agents always look for petty issues with suppliers to negotiate a discount. Cancelling orders already in process is irresponsible, but not paying for orders shipped is reprehensible during these times. #PayUp, Outrage isn’t enough. Beyond signing petitions and donating money, the retailers that have abandoned the welfare of their supply chain partners should no longer be supported with our purchasing dollars. The pandemic has highlighted for consumers issues of social inequality that may before been passively ignored. The world is watching and will remember businesses that showed social consciousness and did the right things versus businesses that were self-serving while others suffered. Embedded into every lesson in merchandising classes is ethics in buying, with the hope that our future leaders will have these values instilled in their professional practices.
Bring it together. It has been pointed out that this sector creates severe societal issues, such as water and food crises and has exacerbated environmental problems, including climate change. Not to mention that there are also insufficient standards and, where they exist, neither are the governments enforcing the regulations nor do the retailers exert pressure on the manufacturers. Similarly, the effects of businesses on natural capital can be toxic through the discharge of effluent and other emissions or can be rendered positive by applying better water quality through water management strategies. On the other hand, nothing can be more effective in reducing landfill waste than a shift in our clothing habits, as we ought to reduce our apparel consumption by extending their use and encouraging reuse. Furthermore, industries should invest in renewable energies and technologies to create a better future by prohibiting the release of GHG into the atmosphere and other effluents on the surface or underground. Overall, this 2.5 trillion dollar industry has turned its back on the women and men who have toiled to keep these retailers profitable for decades.
As John Lennon said in 1969, “Everybody’s talking about revolution, evolution, integrations, and congratulations.” all we are saying is give sustainability a chance”—a chance for a better future for our kids.
Acknowledgements.
I want to thank Professor Winnie Leung for her support (Professor at George Brown College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada), the true dedication of Dr Katrina O’Mara in Sustainability Education (Senior Lecturer Environmental Management & Sustainability at Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Perth, Australia), the guidance of Beas Cheekhooree on Sustainable Apparel (Founder of Graphene Technologies Ltd, Curepipe, Mauritius), and Kelvin Thirapathi (Visualization Specialist at Unispace, Melbourne, Australia) for his artistic visualization of John and Yoko.