SD-scene: Issue 18; April / May 2009

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Changing the face of fashion

A new action plan to make clothing more sustainable and less environmentally damaging was launched in February, at the start of London Fashion Week. Some of the biggest names in fashion and retail have signed up to take actions to make a significant difference to the environmental footprint and social inequalities of the clothes they produce.

Lord Hunt, minister for Sustainable Development and Energy Innovation, explains the aims of the action plan and looks back at the progress that’s been made since the unveiling of the Sustainable Clothing Roadmap two years ago.

clothes Clothing has a significant social and environmental footprint, which is made worse by the huge amounts we consume. The impacts on the environment alone include the depletion of precious resources like water and fossil fuels, to high energy use, waste and the production of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2006 alone the UK clothing and textiles sector produced over three million tonnes of CO2 and 70 million tonnes of wastewater.

clothes Waste in particular is a significant issue. As a nation we produce around 100 million tonnes of waste every year and around 2% of this is clothing. It’s estimated that over half of this ends up in landfill via household waste, and landfill contributes to climate change. At present only 16% (300,000 tonnes) of clothing waste is recovered, and the remaining 21% is unaccounted for in what’s assumed to be the ‘national wardrobe’.

As almost everything we wear (90%) is made outside the UK, our clothes are also having a significant impact overseas, and not just on the environment. We can’t ignore that poor working conditions, child labour and imbalances in trade and animal welfare are also likely by-products of the supply chain.

Lord Stern emphasised the need for immediate action on climate change, as any delay would only cost us more dearly in the long run - more dearly than any action we might take now.

In government we saw the need to address the environmental and social impacts of clothing, but not to the detriment of the industry.

In fact without industry help and expertise it would never be possible to achieve change and this itself could also present potential incentives for business: environmental protection and economic prosperity can actually go hand in hand. Several organisations had already started to explore ‘greener’ and more ethical practices and some retailers were stocking their own ranges, but there was still a need to pull together what had been learnt, and build on it.

Nearly two years ago we launched the Sustainable Clothing Roadmap, an initiative aimed at improving the sustainability of clothing across the entire supply chain. It is now one of the most advanced of the 10 product roadmaps that are currently being trialled. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has co-ordinated this process, and so far, more than 300 organisations have taken part.

Working together, our goal is to move sustainable clothing further into the mainstream, so that it becomes readily available on the high street. So far much has been achieved.

It’s thanks to the hard work of many of these organisations that consumers have a wider range of clothing choices than they ever have before, but there’s still a long way to go.

On 20th February this year, we launched the next key stage in this process - the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan. This outlines the range of practical actions that more than 30 organisations have committed to, in order to improve the environmental and social performance of clothing. One of the key actions is to maximise the reuse and recycling of end of life clothing in the UK.

As part of this, Defra has commissioned a project that aims to devise sustainable strategies to increase reuse and recycling. This will explore the current barriers and incentives, as well as the technical feasibility and infrastructure requirements of various options. The project will also take account of what can be learnt from the knowledge and experience of other countries.

Recommendations will be proposed that outline how clothing and textile markets could be developed and technologies improved. Several UK reuse and recycling organisations have committed to actions under the plan to complement this project. For example the Association of Charity Shops, Oxfam, Salvation Army Trading, the Textile Recycling Association, Recyclatex and clothing recyclers to name just a few, are all taking a range of actions to increase clothing reuse and recycling beyond the existing 16% recovery rate.

In the current economic climate many may think that exploring and introducing more sustainable practices and processes in this sector will be costly. The clothing industry is already a global economic success story: worth over £500 billion it contributes to 7% of total world exports, employs around 26 million people and supports economies and individual incomes around the world. In the UK alone we spend £23 billion a year on clothes, with the ‘fast fashion’/discount sector (low cost, short lifespan garments) accounting for 20% of the market.

In fact, industry has potentially much to gain. Currently UK businesses lose 2% of profits each year through the inefficient use of energy, water and waste. By adopting low cost efficiency measures, savings of over £6 billion could be made.

But don’t just take my word for it. Leading companies can see the potential opportunities for manufacture, retail and reuse/recycling in this expanding market. That’s why they have committed to a range of sustainable practices that incorporate sustainable design, fibres/fabrics, reuse/ recycling, awareness/capability building to ethics and trade under the Action Plan.

For example, Nike has developed its considered design product range, which combines innovative design with sustainable materials and processes. Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Tesco are taking a range of actions including increasing the Fair Trade and organic ranges they stock and in-store take back and recovery. Continental Clothing, Adili and T Shirt & Sons are sharing the business and environmental benefits of organic textiles, printing processes and carbon foot-printing to increase awareness.

What these and many more organisations understand is that the production and origin of our clothing has become a mainstream issue. People want to know the credentials of what they wear. Two thirds of consumers want retailers to remove environmentally damaging products from their shelves and more than three quarters want to have information about the impacts of the products they buy. Being more resource efficient, i.e. doing more with less, can offer huge opportunities to expand this market and gain the competitive edge. In fact in the current climate, businesses that ignore all this could even risk losing out in the long term. It’s worth exploring the potential benefits of more sustainable process and products, especially if your business is not already part of the roadmap process. Work is progressing on the other nine product roadmaps, so there are plenty of opportunities for businesses to be involved.

Government and the public sector are no exception, which is why we’re also doing our bit to expand the market for sustainable clothing. Over the next few years all public sector bodies will be subject to the green public procurement of textiles. In the meantime, the action plan incorporates a project by the government funded Centre for Reuse and Remanufacture that focuses on increasing the environmental and economic benefits associated with the corporate clothing sector.

In addition, the Ethical Trading Initiative is developing a tool for sustainable public procurement of clothing that also incorporates ethical issues which PASA NHS are currently consulting on.

If sustainable clothing is to become a high street regular, we must build on the success of what has been achieved so far. The next step is to put this action plan into practice. The challenge for industry leaders is to take this process forward and secure the place of sustainable fashion in the high street.

In government we will continue to support this through the roadmap process.

Further Information

Updated: 27 April 2009