Sustainability in fashion

It marries runway designs with affordability and easy access, from department stores such as H&M, to the developing online marketplace spearheaded by brands such as Shein.

Fast fashion, however, is a system of fashion characterised by unfettered product creation, distribution and disposal of products.

The nature of fast fashion – which is endlessly changing and trend-chasing – is cheap, low quality and generally unsustainable in the long run, in terms of environmental impacts, labour practices and ethical concerns for consumption.

Environmental impact

On the environmental front, the impacts of fast fashion – and the broader textile industry – are mainly related to its high resource cost as well as its high level of waste.

More specifically, these impacts include:

– Carbon emissions: The textile industry produces between two and eight per cent of all global CO2 emissions annually.

The high carbon footprint of the fast fashion industry is related to its high energy use, as well as the source of the energy used.

– Water use: The textile industry is the second largest consumer of water in terms of industry, consuming roughly 1.5 trillion litres of water per year.

The estimated rate of conversion is about 200 tonnes of water consumed for every tonne of textile produced.

Most of this water consumption is associated with cotton cultivation, dyeing, printing and finishing.

Textile manufacturing uses roughly 44 trillion litres of water annually for the purpose of irrigation.

– Synthetic materials: The demand for materials brought on by fast fashion has led to the manufacturing of synthetic materials, such as polyester, which is produced from petrochemicals.

According to one research study, "The production of these synthetic fibres accounts for 1.35 per cent of global oil consumption, a figure which exceeds the oil consumption of Spain."

– Waste: The fashion industry produces 92 million tonnes of waste per year, with the majority ending up in landfills or being burnt.

Human Cost

Fast fashion has high turnover rates, facilitated by unsavoury conditions in the supply chain.

The exploitation related to fast fashion is documented, with well-known distributors all employing low-cost labour, primarily located in developing countries such as Bangladesh, Istanbul and China.

How can fashion be more sustainable?

Sustainable fashion is a system that prioritises the triple-bottom-line in the production and consumption of fashion.

On a producer level, fashion brands must adjust their supply chains to reduce the use of unsustainable materials such as polyester and utilise renewable materials that may also be biodegradable.

At the other end of the chain, consumers can drive sustainability through their purchasing habits:

– Shopping second-hand first

– Buying fewer clothes at higher quality levels

– Shopping locally

– Choosing sustainable brands

– Upcycling clothing

Another way to integrate sustainability into fashion is through circularity.

Locally, we can see efforts made to implement concepts of circularity in the example of recycling carnival costumes.

Carnicycle is a Trinidad-based group whose goal is to collect, clean and recycle the materials used in carnival costumes so they can be reused for future events or repurposed for craft projects.

The driving goal behind this initiative is to extend the lifecycle of the costume materials and to reduce the need for virgin costume production, thereby reducing waste.

Tailoring a better industry

There are many opportunities to improve the textile industry’s value chain and increase the fashion industry’s ability to produce good quality items at reasonable prices without destroying the environment in the process. While there is much work to be done, changing standards, evolving policies and regulations, and growing consumer awareness are positive signals for the future sustainability of the industry.

The TT Chamber thanks The National Gas Co of TT Ltd (a signature sponsor 2024) for contributing this article.