GREEN
LIVING COLUMN, PENCINTA ALAM OCTOBER 2019
THE FASHION
INDUSTRY: A QUICK FACTSHEET
Compiled
and edited by Wong Ee Lynn <gl.mnselangor@yahoo.com>
We rarely think of clothing as an environmental problem. After all, fabrics
are not seen to end up in the oceans or harm wildlife the way plastics do, and
they are not seen to emit pollution during use. Consumers and shoppers believe
that they can always donate the clothes they no longer wear to those less
fortunate than they are, and this would keep clothing in use and out of
landfills.
However, the reality is that the fashion industry has a massive carbon
footprint. Here are some facts that highlight just how damaging the fashion
industry can be, and what is being done to make the industry more sustainable:
1. The apparel
and footwear industries together account for more than 8% of global climate
impact – the equivalent of 3,990 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide in
2016 - greater than all international airline flights and maritime shipping
trips combined. Total greenhouse gas emissions related to textiles production
are equal to 1.2 billion tonnes annually, according to the Ellen MacArthur
Foundation.
2. To make
just one pair of denim jeans, 10,000 litres of water is required to grow the
one kilo of cotton needed for the pair of jeans. In comparison, one person
would take 10 years to drink 10,000 litres of water.
3. Cumulatively,
the fashion industry produces about 20% of global waste water. Textile dyeing
is the second largest polluter of water globally. Washing clothes also releases
half a million tonnes of microfibres into the oceans every year.
4. An
estimated two-thirds of the emissions in the fashion industry come at the raw
materials stage, so improving the way we produce polyester and cotton could
have a huge impact. Synthetics, mainly polyester, make up 65% of all fabrics
produced today. Cotton makes up around 21%.
5. Polyester,
as a plastic, is made from oil, and extracting and processing the raw material
to make it is highly energy-intensive. 46.1 million tonnes of polyester were
produced in 2014, releasing 655 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere – around
40% of total fashion industry emissions.
6. As an
agricultural crop, cotton’s carbon footprint is lower than that of polyester,
but fertiliser use releases nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas with 300 times more
warming power than CO2.
7. Currently,
less than 1% of garments are recycled into new clothes, with only 20% of
fabrics being recycled at all. 85% of textiles go into landfills or get
incinerated. This is made worse by the fast fashion trend of recent years. We
are buying more clothes than ever before, wearing them fewer times, repairing them
less, and throwing them away sooner.
8. In December
2018, a group of leading fashion brands and NGOs launched the Fashion Industry
Charter for Climate Action, under the auspices of the United Nations. The
Charter sets out a series of commitments, including a reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions of 30% by 2030 and public reporting of emissions.
9. One of the
ways fashion brands can reduce the adverse impact of fashion is by switching
raw materials. Switching from virgin polyester to recycled material from
plastic drink bottles or ocean plastics can reduce the carbon footprint of
polyester by 40%. Likewise, switching from conventional to organic cotton can cut
harmful emissions by 46%, as the nitrogen waste from fertilisers is eliminated.
Currently, only approximately 1% of all cotton produced is organic.
10. The fashion
industry is working with NGOs and United Nations agencies to come up with more
sustainable and ethical manufacturing practices. Adidas are Ecoalf are
manufacturing shoes out of ocean plastics. Patagonia has been producing fleece
jackets using polyester from recycled bottles since 1993, encourages shoppers
to buy only what they need, and mends and recycles older items. H&M and
Guess have launched garment collection and recycling programmes. Clothing swap
and rental programmes such as Rent the Runway, Girl Meets Dress and YCloset
encourage shoppers to rent or swap rather than buy clothes that they will wear
only once or twice.
11. The fashion
industry can also reduce their carbon footprint by making energy savings along
the value chain. When Hugo Boss analysed the carbon footprint of their
transport operations, they realised that switching from air to rail freight could
cut emissions by 95%.
12. Ultimately,
for the fashion industry to make a positive impact on the climate, the culture
of fast fashion needs to change. We need to buy fewer things, shop only when
absolutely necessary, wear our clothes longer and keep things in use longer. We
need to stop thinking of clothes as disposable, and adopt circular fashion
principles that treat the life cycle of garment as a closed loop.
Sources:
1.
Fashion industry’s carbon impact bigger than airline
industry’s: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earth-day-2019-fashion-industrys-carbon-impact-is-bigger-than-airline-industrys/
2.
Can Fashion Stop Climate Change? https://www.commonobjective.co/article/can-fashion-stop-climate-change
3.
UN Helps Fashion Industry Shift To Low Carbon: https://unfccc.int/news/un-helps-fashion-industry-shift-to-low-carbon
4. Putting the
brakes on fast fashion. https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/putting-brakes-fast-fashion
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