Report Explores Fashion Sustainability

Eco-Textile News

Levi Strauss & Co. and Forum for the Future have jointly launched a new report that calls for the trillion dollar, global fashion industry to work together to create a more sustainable future.

The report, Fashion Futures, is aimed at everyone working in the global fashion industry, from suppliers of raw materials, designers and manufacturers right through to big brands and niche retail outlets. It presents four vivid scenarios of the world of 2025 and the role of the fashion industry, helping companies around the globe navigate the ever-changing challenge of developing sustainable business.

Forum for the Future produced the four scenarios in collaboration with fashion experts from around the world in manufacturing, design and retail, as well as universities, trade unions and NGOs. They explore every aspect of the industry, from production of raw materials, through manufacturing and sale, to use and end of life.

The report also addresses questions such as: will climate change refugees spread new fashion influences around the world? Will a shortage of raw materials see us renting our clothes from libraries? Will technological advances make it common to grow what we wear?

"For the fashion industry to be sustainable economically, it must be sustainable socially and environmentally too," said John Anderson, president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. "The scenarios help businesses think about how the needs of their customers may develop, the changing role of the fashion industry and what business strategies we should all be thinking about now and down the road. The central message is that for the fashion industry to be sustainable economically, it needs to be sustainable socially and environmentally too."

Endorsing the report Mike Barry, head of Sustainable Business, Marks & Spencer said that the document made an important contribution to the longer-term sustainability of clothing production. "By providing four provocative scenarios of future worlds in 2025, Fashion Futures can help companies develop responses to key social and environmental challenges," he said.

Envisioning the Fashion World in 2025

Fast Company / Ariel Schwartz

Many of the designs at New York City's recent Fashion Week certainly looked futuristic--think metallics and extreme eyeliner--but the fashion industry will have to do better than that if it wants to adapt to coming changes brought about by climate change, resource shortages, and population increase. As these factors emerge in the decades ahead, what will happen to the multi-trillion dollar fashion industry? The Forum for the Future explored the question in the Fashion Futures report (PDF), which envisions four sustainable scenarios for the fashion industry in 2025.

    *In Techno-Chic the latest craze is 'Chameleon' clothing, a military spin-off, offering a blank canvas which can change colour and style, programmed to mimic the celeb of the moment. People 'try on' clothes in virtual mirrors using 3-D body scanners.

    *In the Patchwork Planet scenario, clothes are grown from bacterial cellulose and waterless washing machines are common in areas experiencing water shortages.

    *In Slow is Beautiful 'slow fashion' is in vogue, and high street brands compete on sustainability credentials. People also wear 'smart' clothes that monitor their health and wellbeing.

    *In Community Couture the fashion industry is highly entrepreneurial and focused around keeping costs down and reusing clothing.

Fashion research project BioCouture is already working on using lab-grown bacterial cellulose to produce clothing--part of the Patchwork Planet scenario. Eventually the organization hopes to "literally grow a dress in a vat of liquid.

One company to keep an eye on as a model for future "Slow is Beautiful" fashion is Nau, an outdoor clothing company that uses synthetic fabrics with highly-recycled content and certified organic cotton. The company tracks the energy and resources used to make all of its fabrics, and requires manufacturers to follow a code of conduct that addresses human rights, the environment, and full documentation of practices.

All of these scenarios are based on so-called "weak signals from the future", or hints about the future based on current trends and research. For any of these scenarios to come to fruition, clothing companies have to start innovating now. Realistically, no single one of these scenarios will prevail--the future will probably involve some sort of combination of all of them. That means if companies want to succeed, they have to start taking a serious look at supply chains, low-impact production and distribution models, and opportunities to use renewable energy.

Fashion Industry - Preserving Natural Heritage, Encouraging Sustainable Consumption

Global Arab Network / English News

At the initiative of UNCTAD, more than 500 prominent figures from government, international organizations, and the fashion and cosmetics industries will meet in Geneva on 20-21 January to call for action against the rapid loss of the world’s biodiversity.

This event, organized in connection with the United Nations 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, will begin with a high-profile business seminar and conclude with an "EcoChic" fashion show and exhibition launch celebrating sustainable fashion and accessories.  Over 50 looks have been donated by designers from around the world, including the renowned figures Diane Von Furstenberg, Manish Arora, Bora Aksu, and Thakoon.  In addition, established "sustainable" fashion labels such as Edun, Noir, Ciel, and Kumvana Gomani will contribute garments and accessories from their latest collections.  All activities will take place at the Palais des Nations, building E, 3rd floor. For reasons of security, participants must register in advance.

During the seminar (see Provisional Agenda in Annex I), discussions will focus on ecological practices available to the fashion and cosmetics industries.  Debate and review of case studies will take into account such questions as: “Redefining Sustainability: Why Biodiversity and Why Now?”; “The Rise of the Ethical Consumer and Eco-Fashion”; “Luxury Brands as Sustainable Role Models”; “Environmental Traceability, Accountability and Certification”; and “The Role of the Creative Industries in Developing Economies.”

Organized by UNCTAD's BioTrade Initiative, its Creative Economy and Industries Programme, and the charity Green2greener, this event is meant to spotlight biodiversity issues and to underline the role that governments, businesses, and consumers can play in promoting and supporting biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources.

Sustainability is the message of the UNCTAD BioTrade programme, which helps local communities preserve local flora and fauna through the marketing of products which give them not only a moral but an economic interest in nurturing and preserving biodiversity.  For example, local communities in Bolivia have successfully implemented sustainable management plans resulting in exports of skins and products derived from the Caiman yacare, a species of crocodile, to Italy, generating over US$1.4 million in sales (a 282% increase over 2003).  Exports of these products to the United States now total US$500,000 (up 364% over 2003). Management plans adopted by the communities ensure that harvesting of the species does not exceed its rate of reproduction, and ensure that the communities maintain a clean environment that enables the species to thrive.

"EcoChic" fashions avoid environmentally damaging production processes and the overharvesting of wild species for their skins or natural fibres. Various processes in textile and other fashion-related manufacturing -- including scouring (washing) wool, retting flax (separating the fibres from the stalks), tanning leather, bleaching, dying, printing, and finishing -- consume large amounts of water and energy.  Such processes also use toxic chemicals and produce effluents which can pollute air, water sources and/or soil. Leather tanning is particularly polluting, having one of the highest toxic intensities per unit of output.   By contrast, ecological fashion firms adopt approaches which take into account the preservation of the environment.  For example, organically grown cotton does not involve the use of pesticides and other chemicals that can cause species damage. Worldwide, cotton now accounts for 11% of pesticides and 25% of all insecticides used each year.

And eco-fashion does not involve the unsustainable harvesting of species such as the Tibetan antelope, which has declined in number from over 1 million in 1900 to 75,000 today because poachers sell the skins for the production of luxury shawls.

Biodiversity loss has accelerated in recent years and the current rate of human-caused (anthropogenic) species extinction was estimated by the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to be 1,000 times more rapid that the "natural" rate of extinction typical of the Earth's long-term history.  Loss of habitat is the principal cause.  Some 11% of the natural areas remaining in 2000 may soon disappear, chiefly as a result of conversion for agriculture, the expansion of infrastructure, and climate change.  Some 60% of coral reefs could be gone by 2030.  Longer-term damage is still more extensive: in the last 300 years, the global forest area has shrunk by approximately 40% -- forests have completely disappeared in 25 countries -- and since 1900 the world has lost about 50% of its wetlands.

The 20-21 January event will emphasize the contribution of businesses and consumers to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the 2010 Biodiversity Target, an overall conservation target aiming to stem biodiversity loss by the end of the year 2010.

The EcoChic Geneva Exhibition, which will be open for two weeks, will explore the multi-faceted nature of sustainable fashion with a particular focus on uses of biodiversity that provide benefits and income for communities in developing economies. Through a range of creative displays of fashion garments, accessories and cosmetics, the exhibition will examine the journey from raw material to finished product and address the many issues that consumers, marketers, designers, and product developers engage with as they look to embrace more sustainable lifestyles.