Alleviation: An International Journal of Nutrition, Gender & Social Development, ISSN 2348-9340, Volume 9, Number 9 (2022):1-8
© Arya PG College (College with Potential for Excellence Status by UGC) & Business Press India Publication, Delhi
http://apcjournals.com, www.aryapgcollege.ac.in
Sustainable Practices in Clothing and Fashion: A Review
Nidhi1 ⃰ and Nisha Rani2
Assistant Professors1&2
Department of Home Science
CISKMV, Pundri
(Haryana), India
⃰ Email: nidhivats26@gmail.com
Abstract
Sustainable clothing also known as eco clothing and eco fashion. Sustainable clothing increases the eco-friendly approaches and strategies as well as green clothing for individual consumers also. Clothing is directly related to fashion; it may be fast and slow. The concept of fast fashion is alluring to many consumers who like to change their wardrobe and styles frequently, thus compromising with sustainable products. On the other hand, slow fashion is a process using sustainable production methods for clothing and garment technology which satisfies social responsibility and ethics. Sustainable approaches and strategies to making, buying and using clothes are necessary to protect the environment and planet. Sustainable clothing is not just a trend but a holistic approach to fashion and lifestyle. Clothing can truly be ethical when it maximizes benefits to people and communities involved in making it while minimizing its own impact on the planet and environment. In this review paper, some sustainable approaches for sustainable fashion and clothing are discussed.
Keywords: Eco-Fashion, Environment Friendly, Ethical, Future, Sustainable Clothing, Upcycle.
Introduction
The word “Sustainable’’ means something can be maintained at its current rate or level. Sustainable development is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Imperatives 1987).
Sustainable clothing is also known as eco clothing and eco-fashion. It is a process of fostering change to clothing and textiles products and the production system towards ecological integrity and social justice. Sustainable clothing concerns the whole system of how clothing is produced, who produced it and how long the lifespan of a product is before it reaches landfill. Sustainable clothing also deals with considering demands from the perspective of many stakeholders as users and producers. It is the responsibility of citizens, the public sector, and the private sector.
Fashion followers of the sustainable fashion movement believe that the fashion industry has a clear opportunity to act differently, pursuing profit and growth while also creating new value and deeper wealth for society and therefore for the national economy. The goal of sustainable clothing is to create flourishing ecosystems and communities through its activities.
This may include: increasing the value of local production and products, prolonging the life cycle of materials, increasing the value of timeless garments, reducing the amount of waste and reducing the harm to the environment created as a result of production and consumption. Another method can be to educate people to practice environmentally friendly consumption by promoting the green consumerism.
About 85 per cent of textile waste goes to landfills, where it occupies about 5 per cent of the space. About 95 per cent of post -consumer textiles are in fact recyclable, there should be enough reason to take action in this direction. The present study was undertaken to understand the need and importance of sustainable clothing , to introduce sustainable approaches and to review the practices of reducing textile waste and to promote the consumer towards recycling products.
Review of Literature
Clothing is the only option for a future with a healthy planet, adequate resources and eco- friendly approaches. The awareness of sustainable clothing is the beginning of a new lifestyle. Sustainable clothing is the need of the present because we are required to find solutions to environmental degradation.
Kim (2010) explained the causes of increasing apparel/ textile wastes and elaborated the various practices for reducing the textile waste in the global and textile industry. So sustainable practices are the need of the future. By the help of these sustainable practices, maximum of textile and apparel waste can be used in an effective manner.
Mowery (2021) stated that now the trends are shifting and consumers are demanding more ethical goods. Demand for sustainable fashion is increased and low-cost trendy clothing and accessories created to maximize profit and meet consumer demands. She further investigated the numerous ways for consumers to incorporate sustainable fashion into their own lifestyle.
Fibre2Fashion.com the news and media website on Instagram provides a wide range of information related to textile apparels and fashion. The sub theme of the website is excelling in the world of textile- apparel- fashion with innovative solutions and services. They present various platforms for a sustainable future like; "sustainability conclave 2022". presented by the official site of Fibre2Fashion .com. they promote green scene. The sustainability conclave 2022 provides an opportunity to the brand, manufacturer, and producer to showcase their initiative related to sustainable fashion along with providing various information related to textile, innovation, facts and new research in the field of fashion.
Some companies like Patagonia, Eileen Fisher, and Insecta are using recycled textile waste or used recycled material. We should purchase natural fibre fabric (e.g. Cotton, Wool, Hemp) rather than synthetic. Consumer awareness and buying practices can also influence sustainable practices.
Interrelation Between Clothing and Fashion
Fashion is a popular expression in a certain time and context. This also affects the perception of what is and should be made more sustainable. When it comes down to the garments, their durability depends on their use. Certain garments are made to withstand long use e.g. winter jackets whereas other garments have a quicker turn-around for example a party top. This means some garments are more durable, whereas others are compostable or recyclable for quicker disintegration.
Fast Fashion
This is one of the most apparent reasons for the current unsustainable condition of the fashion system. The continuous stream of new goods onto the market, that is popularly called fast fashion. The term has signified cheap, accessible, and on-trend clothes sourced through global production chains and sold through chains such as Zara, Forever etc.
Fast fashion has negative effects on the environment and is unethical in terms of production. In order to make clothing fast enough to keep up with the changing fashion trends, the clothes are produced in harmful ways. Fast clothing is made with synthetic fibers as opposed to natural fibers. The synthetic fibers are made using the earth's fossil fuels. Almost sixty percent of our clothes are made this way. Since people spend so much money on these types of clothes and purchase them so frequently, landfills are filling up quickly. Over sixty percent of clothes made every year end up in landfills because people just don't like them and almost twenty percent of the world's waste is made of fashion products.
Slow Fashion
Slow fashion can be seen as an alternative approach against fast fashion, Slow fashion is a fashion concept that reflects a perspective, which respects human living conditions, biological, cultural diversity and scarce global resources and creates unique, personalized products.
Slow fashion often consists of durable products, traditional production techniques, or design concepts that strive to be season-less and materially for longer periods of time. The impact of slowness aims to affect many points of the production chain. For workers in the textile industry in developing countries, slow fashion means higher wages. For end-users, slow fashion means that the goods are designed and manufactured with greater care and high-quality products. From an environmental point of view, it means that there is less clothing and industrial waste.
According to the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, By the year 2030, the fashion industry is predicted to increase its water consumption by 50 percent, and its carbon footprint will increase to 2,790 million tons while fashion waste is predicted to hit 148 million tons. The situation can get worse if consumers don’t change their fashion habits in the coming years.
Approaches for Sustainable Clothing/ Fashion
1) On Demand and Custom-Made Clothes
Garments should be made on demand and tailored clothes or custom made. By doing so unnecessary shopping would be avoided and proper fit will be achieved accordingly. Brands and designers are continuously working to improve the customers’ experience with customized shopping.
2) Green and Clean
For all phases of product life, garment should be prepared by an environmentally friendly method, by biodegradable or recyclable or of natural origin material. With consideration to various ethical aspects. Sustainability sets the focus on the future. Green fashion is contributing to keep the planet clean and a better place to live. Consumers love green clothing with minimal effect on the environment. The products made from renewable resources are counted as green. Whereas, clean implies – natural or synthetic, which are not harmful to our health. Non-toxic products are free from ingredients. And hence, they can improve the health of the earth and earthians. Now the green or eco labels on all textile products are there. These must be checked while buying.
3) High Quality and Timeless Design
Evergreen designing can be chosen with good quality trimmings and sewing techniques. New luxury produced in small scales based on unique artisan expertise is really important to revive and promote our textile heritage.
4) Repaired and Upcycled
When the garment is completely worn out, it should be returned to a collection point for recycling of the textile material, which can hence be reused in the manufacturing of new clothes or other textile products. Clothes that cannot be repaired can get recycled or redesigned. Upcycling to keep the products quality high and it mean increasing the value and importance of material. Upcycling, and repairing is a very useful practice for utilization of textile waste. Even brands and retailers are following the 5 R’s of fashion – Reduce, Repair, Recycle, Repurpose, and Reinvent.
5) Rent, Lease and Swap
Ideally, instead of buying newly produced clothes, one should consider renting, borrowing or swapping clothes.
6) Second-Hand and Vintage
These are pre-loved, compassionately shared and affordable. In a world full of fashion trends, second-hand shopping has some unique and vintage styles to standout trends. Smart shoppers are making their choice sustainable by picking second-hand clothes and reusing clothing if it's possible.
7) Ethical and Fair
Clothing that was manufactured according to ethical trade standards and acknowledged and certified by independent authentic organizations for it. The ethical practice is ensured that proper working conditions such as how laborers treated and paid, sustainable production; how the cotton was grown and the resources are required, safety at work, fair trade, and environment conservation. Fair trade and sustainable fashion are interrelated.
8) Buying Less Clothing
Our wardrobe has a terrible impact on our planet, human health and the ecosystem. We tend to think that buying more new clothes will make us happy but it's not healthy practice for our environment. It is the root of many problems which arise from the excessive clothing in our wardrobe. We have to buy less clothing according to the need. Even we have to use the greenest garment which is eco-friendly.
9) Eco Design
It refers to the design of products that have less environmental damage. It is a healthy approach to designing products with special consideration for the environmental impacts of the products during its whole life cycle. We can say that the resources and materials which are used in developing a product are taken into consideration while minimising the negative impacts on the environment. Eco-designing also increases the decorative and functional properties of a product. It starts from suitable raw material to the repair and disposal of the products. Materials that are ecological, reusable, recyclable, and non-toxic for the environment and recoverable. Eco design provides sustainable choices to the designers.
10) Buying Clothes from Sustainable Brands
More and more brands are coming up with sustainable clothing. We have to stop buying poor quality clothes. It will push the brands to improve the quality of their clothing and promote sustainable practices.
11) Using Biodegradable Non-Toxic Detergent that will Minimize Pollution
Conventional soap and detergent can contain ingredients and chemicals that are harmful to us and the ecosystem, so by the use of green, nontoxic soap and detergent, we can save the environment. We have to keep an eye on our washing process also because washing clothing has a significant environmental degradation.
We can reduce the wastage of resources by the help of following tips:
• By using an effective washing machine, we can save water and energy.
• Some clothes like socks, panties do not need to be washed after each use. We can wear it.
• Avoid dry cleaning if it's possible, use green dry cleaners.
• Use cold and minimum water during washing process because excessive energy is required for heating the water. By the use of cold water, we can save energy.
Suggestions
1) Change your attitudes to shopping. Be more informed, check the label. Buy ethical clothing.
2) Purchase clothing items from sustainable brands.
3) Invest in trans-seasonal clothes.
4) Donate your unwanted clothes.
5) Look after your clothes so they last longer.
6) Learn how to repair clothing yourself (or find a good tailor)
7) Go for quality over quantity.
8) Buy second hand because vintage is in.
9) Shop less, shop local.
10) Wash less.
11) Promote textile heritage.
12) Adopt slow fashion.
13) Think radically while buying.
14) Mending is good so learn to mend clothes.
15) Reuse and upcycle the old clothes.
Conclusion
Sustainable clothing and textile production involve eco-friendly and non-depicting material selection and the selection of environmentally friendly manufacturing processes. Sustainable clothing is also known as ethical clothing, is environmentally and socially responsible. Sustainable clothing considers not only users and producers but all present and future generations. If we want to contribute to the well - being of our planet, it is necessary to make clothing and textile products from environmentally friendly fabrics (like- as sustainably grown fiber crop or recycled materials) along with the proper utilization of textile waste.
References
1) Kim E (2010) The Influence of Sustainable and Social Responsibility on Fashion Trends, International Journal of Costume and Fashion 10 (2): 61-71.
2) McNeill L and Moore R (2015) Sustainable Fashion Consumption and the Fast Fashion Conundrum Fashionable Consumer and Attitude to Sustainability in Clothing Choice International Journal of Consumer Studies 39 (3): 212.
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4) Nayak R, Singh A, Panwar T and Pundhye R (2019) A Review of Recent Trends in Sustainable Fashion and Textile Production. Current Trends Fashion Technology and Textile 4(5): 555648.
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