Sustainability in Fashion Industry

With 4% of global carbon emissions, and 20% of water pollution coming from the fashion supply chain,
the industry is one of the top contributors to global pollution. The fashion industry significantly impacts
the environment, as well as society. For example, 35% of material input at fashion supply chains ends up
as waste, while only 1% of materials used to produce clothing is recycled. Moreover, the fashion industry
is one of the most labour-intensive industries with most of the manufacturing located in low-income
countries and composed of young people, mostly female; 80% of 75 million working in fashion supply
networks are female between the ages of 18 and 24.

Fashion brands must take action towards environmental and ethical considerations. The fashion industry is
slowly recognizing its social, environmental, and economic responsibilities as well as its opportunities to
support sustainability policies in sourcing, manufacturing, and marketing. By implementing sustainable
marketing policies, fashion companies can support good causes and improve their customer–brand
relationships by reducing the consumption of natural resources and pursuing sustainable development. To
this aim, they must reshape their supply chains, from raw material producers to retailers, find new ways to
meet the needs of environmentally conscious customers, and provide sustainable products to increase
customers’ attention towards sustainability-related issues.

One of the tools that businesses can use to improve sustainability, and to underline the circular economy, is
the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) cycle. The SCP cycle has nine “key principle”, and it
encourages a circular way of thinking by supporting environmentally friendly consumptions, with a focus
on resource management, design for sustainability, cleaner production and research efficiency, eco-
labelling and certification, sustainable marketing and lifestyle, and waste management (see Figure).
Businesses can use the cycle as a guideline to create a strategy for sustainability in order to improve
environmental performance in business models, as it is grounded in life cycle thinking. It highlights how
the manufacturers must think of their production process as cradle-to-cradle (i.e., from raw material to the
end use of their product).

When it comes to competitive advantage, there is importance of changing the mindset within the
organization and the business model. Organizations can learn from each other and from those who have
implemented sustainability practices into their business models. Sustainability innovation process for
business models or green businesses comprises of seven steps:
1. Move early, especially where sustainability is still in the development process
2. Balance the short- and long-term benefits
3. Training, or how human resources are managed
4. Sustainability should be driven from top-down bottom-up within the organizations
5. The operation of sustainability should be aggressively de-silo throughout the company
6. Measure everything
7. Sustainability strategies need to be realistic, authentic and transparent

A significant obstacle in preventing the industry from becoming more sustainable is the lack of
transparency and visibility across different stages in the supply chain. Data in silo systems tend to operate
in isolation and parties have had little to no incentive to share data with the rest of the ecosystem due to the
significant manual effort. This is where organisations are stepping in to break down these silos. For
example, IBM is designing, prototyping and piloting a new technology platform based on its own
technologies to drive sustainability, profitability and transparency in the UK fashion and textile supply
chain. Avery Dennison has launched its digital care label providing a digital experience that details how
each garment is produced and how it should be looked after, providing greater traceability and
transparency across the supply chain. Now, many companies, large and small, show the potential for
sustainable fashion that looks good and does good.
Figure 1 Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) cycle