Fast fashion, pollution, CO2 emissions, societal issues: the fashion industry has an enormous impact on our planet on many different levels. According to McKinsey and the Fast Fashion Agenda, the fashion industry was responsible for four percent of global CO2 emissions in 2018. But where do these emissions come from?
71 percent of the emissions come from upstream processes such as material production, wet processing or yarn production. Usage and product offering, including product usage and end-of-use emissions, account for about 23 percent. The last six percent of emissions come from internal activities such as retail and transport.
More and more fashion brands are being held accountable for their impact on the environment. For example, the New York Fashion Act, which is currently being discussed in the New York State Senate, stipulates that fashion brands in New York with sales of more than 100 million US dollars must map at least 50 percent of the supply chain and disclose significant production quantities . Brands must provide detailed plans to reduce the biggest social and environmental impacts.
Sustainability will therefore play a major role in the future of the fashion industry. The climate tech company Planetly shows you three ways in which the fashion industry can help shape a sustainable future:
1. Analyze the carbon footprint
The first step is to measure your company’s carbon footprint. This allows you to determine how big your ecological footprint is and where your emissions come from. According to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, your emissions are divided into three different categories:
● Scope 1: Direct emissions
● Scope 2: Indirect emissions from the purchase of energy
● Scope 3: Indirect emissions that occur along the supply chain
Let’s take a look at a German fair fashion label: The company has teamed up with Planetly to calculate its carbon footprint, which includes all emissions from the core business areas (e.g. buildings, employees), the production of clothes and logistics : 85 percent of emissions are caused by the production of clothing. At the same time, 96 percent of the emissions are generated along the supply chain (Scope 3).
Tools like Planetly’s Climate Impact Manager help companies calculate their company’s carbon footprint in real time. Planetly also supports fashion brands in defining and implementing effective measures to reduce emissions throughout the supply chain.
2. The supply chain, production processes and materials
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Emissions generated along the entire supply chain count as indirect emissions towards your company’s carbon footprint. As mentioned above, the production of materials makes up a large part (38 percent according to McKinsey) of the entire apparel and footwear value chain.
Here are some steps you can take to reduce your company’s impact on the environment:
● Work with your suppliers to help them reduce energy consumption and switch to renewable energy sources.
● Focus on local production of clothing to significantly reduce transport emissions.
● Work with sustainable clothing materials such as organic cotton, linen or Tencel and use them as efficiently as possible in your design.
3. Focus on a circulatory system
A largely circular fashion economy would minimize the impact of the fashion industry on the environment. Let’s take Patagonia as an example: When developing the Tee-Cycle™ T-shirt, Patagonia considered the entire product life cycle. The company produces a zero-waste t-shirt, which in turn is made from old t-shirts themselves, while also keeping track of all types of waste generated during the t-shirt’s life cycle.
In addition, Patagonia places great emphasis on second-hand and clothing repairs: the Worn Wear initiative has repaired more than 130,000 pieces of clothing since it started in 2017 and also offers climbing and camping gear rentals.
The business models in the fashion industry will become more and more sustainable in the long term. Are you a company in the fashion industry yourself and would you like to focus more on sustainability? Feel free to contact us at Planetly.