In the light of the climate crisis, fashion companies are doing what they can to make their supply chains more sustainable, and the ‘circular’ business model has been cited as a possible solution.
The vision for a circular economy is to extend the life cycle of garments through better design, more resilient and recyclable materials, and by using a manufacturing process to facilitate the item’s repair and reuse. Is the circular model the answer to finally making fashion sustainable and will companies really adopt this model?
It comes as no surprise that the fashion industry has ugly truths behind its glitz and glamour. According to the 2017 New Textile Economy report, from the share of clothing that is collected for reuse, less than 1% will be used to make new clothing.
In the last 15 years alone, the world has seen a doubling of production while the average amount of time a piece of clothing is worn has dropped by 40%.
Our thirst for the latest trends has catastrophically impacted the planet. Nevertheless, a shift has occurred. Consumers are beginning to change their shopping habits by rejecting fast fashion and demanding climate justice from their favourite brands.
We are in an age where brands are realising their businesses need to reflect shifting consumer values and ethics. As McKinsey and Company stated in a 2019 report, brands must “self-disrupt their own identity and the sources of their old success to realise changes that win new generations of customers”. The answer to making fashion sustainable appears to be in a ‘circular’ model.
The circular fashion model refers to a system in which all garments can be reused, recycled or returned to the earth by the process of biodegradation or decomposition. The aim is to design clothes that meet the three foundations of the circular economy: designing out waste and pollution; keeping products and materials in use; and regenerating natural systems.
How To Make Fashion Circular
The British Fashion Council’s Institute of Positive Fashion has launched a new report – The Circular Fashion Ecosystem: A Blueprint For The Future. This report demands a more ambitious and holistic approach toward fashion. The first step is to reduce the number of garments produced each year.
According to The True Cost, the world consumes over 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year, 400% more than what was consumed just two decades ago. We can slow overconsumption by:
- Encouraging the attitude of purchasing lasting pieces that will be worn again and again.
- Extending the lifetime of our clothes once they are in circulation through resell, rental and second-hand markets.
- Innovating new materials that can be recycled and redesigned to prevent ending up in landfill, such as Milo leather made from the mycelium of fungi.
Circular fashion is essential for planet preservation; however, it will take time to redesign the fashion industry and change attitudes worldwide to prioritise the planet above profit.
Which Fashion Brands Are Sustainable?
Some fashion conglomerates are already taking big steps forward in sustainability and are on their way to becoming circular. ASOS has launched its first circular fashion collection aiming to provide its customers with sustainable garment options produced from eco-friendly fabrics at affordable prices.
However, the delivery currently lets it down. With keeping more or less the same delivery habits, it becomes difficult for the brand to cohere to its target of making waste-free products. Critics have also spotted that ASOS has failed to provide solutions for how consumers can recycle or repurpose their items once they have finished with them.
adidas, on the other hand, has partnered with London-based start-up, Stuffstr to launch an online take-back scheme where customers are encouraged to return any items to the company – no matter the condition – to receive adidas vouchers. Stuffstr says it will pick up the items and deal with the resale using e-commerce sites like eBay.
While many companies are figuring out the logistics of how to make their businesses more circular, companies such as ThredUP are leading the way in the fast fashion resale and rental markets, encouraging customers to exchange their clothes rather than toss their disused threads in the trash.
ThredUP has been rising in popularity with over 100,000 items resold across 35,000 brands every day. A study conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Eventbrite discovered that 78% of global customers value desirable experiences over material possessions. This has seen a rise in rental and resale models that offer the experience of owning sought-after vintage pieces at affordable prices.
Rental services such as Rent The Runway and The RealReal have redefined luxury fashion by providing their customers with monthly subscriptions to get the latest looks without contributing to global waste from fast fashion. Each now has around 9 million members and together they generate over half a billion dollars in sales. This business model encourages consumers to keep items in circulation and is one solution to the fashion industry’s long, unsolved enigma of making fashion feasibly sustainable.
Global giant Levi Strauss has also become a trailblazer in recycled fashion, providing a range of strategies to prevent its jeans from going into landfill. You can go to in-house tailors to get items repaired, resized and restyled or send your unwanted garments to be reconstructed and recycled into new products to be loved by new customers. On top of this, Levi jeans are also produced from 100% recycled cotton, taking their brand closer to the goal of circular fashion.
Is Sustainable Fashion Possible?
Millennials and Gen Z are the leading consumer force in eco-conscious fashion with an estimation that 73% are willing to pay more for sustainable goods.
Mainstream fashion brands, who were once fast fashion giants, are ambitiously setting greener targets with H&M committing to using 100% recycled and sustainably sourced materials by 2030, C&A considering making 50% of their products C2C-certified within a decade and Target aiming for 100% sustainability-sourced cotton by 2022.
We are seeing a hopeful change in the fashion industry with circularity, ethics and transparency valued by both brands and customers alike to the point that the second-hand market is expected to grow 1.5 times the size of fast fashion by 2028.
Innovation has gone even further by taking the fabric out of fashion. Cyber fashion is taking the industry by storm with more and more customers choosing to purchase outfits made from pixels to wear on their Instagram feeds and in the realm of gaming.
So, what is the answer to making fashion completely sustainable? It lies in redesigning the system.
It takes time to change manufacturing processes, incentives and systems that have been in place for years. Designers and brands need to reconsider their supply chains, materials and what will happen to the product after it has been used to achieve a sustainable circular economy.
The change begins with a shift in mindset. When the environment is prioritised over purchasing the latest trends then real change can be enacted by brands and consumers alike.
We are already witnessing promising developments from small start-ups to conglomerate companies with innovation and creativity being harnessed to make fashion beautiful, inside and out. But it is also down to the customer to change how we view fashion.
Take a moment to visualise your wardrobe, notice the items you have and assess if you really need to buy more garments. We all love a bit of retail therapy but consider how much use you will get out of your new purchases and where your clothes will go once you eventually dispose of them. Is there a more eco-friendly way? Our retail choices could save the environment.
May Garland 