Pentatonic, a sustainable design and technology consultancy firm was founded by CEO Johann Bödecker. Throughout his career he has seen sustainability bloopers in all shapes and sizes. A ski jacket made it to Tanzania through donations is one of the stories he likes most.
‘Snow attire’ of size 3XL in Tanzania! Really?” He says, “That sums up today’s problem.”
Such examples are what have prodded him into demanding for more structured understanding of ‘sustainability’ in apparel industry. Although giving away used clothes can be a noble gesture, they might not always reach their intended recipients or find a new home elsewhere. Furthermore, the major trouble is that we produce more clothing articles today than we have ever produced before (about 150 billion new things each year!). Recycling and repurposing approaches just cannot cope with the pace of production growth.
Bödecker along with Eileen Fisher urges other brands not only to read their newly released report “HEY FASHION!” but also join hands together towards finding solutions and embracing circularity.
“This is really bigger news than just being a report. It’s research actually; that we did to create a platform linking all players within supply chain. Fashion can be helped by anyone including waste collectors and consumers” says Bodeker.
“It would be great if fashion giants read this report as I love the idea of taking a white paper and making it interactive,” Fisher adds. “That would be step one. But what we really want is some change.” “We’re just Eileen Fisher, we’re just one middle-size company among others, you know? We cannot do it alone!” she said urgently. “Therefore, it’s so important to open up the space for possibilities there in this industry! There are currently no connections between people or time available for them to research and make such connections Mrflm2gz# This information therefore comes in a snackable format and is hoped to stimulate the industry into making adjustments.
This problem in fashion goes beyond just clothes that we throw away, donate or recycle attempts.” She notes. “What about textile waste?”
According to Fisher, 25% of garments are never sold but end up either as landfill or donated goods to third world countries. Also, another 12 percent good materials called virgin fabrics are discarded during production. Additionally, Fisher hopes that there could be ways for the industry to minimize some of this wastage right from the source. Furthermore, she adds that despite people’s growing interest in recycled fabrics only 14% of polyester is recycled.
“It is important that both consumption reduction and more efficient recycling happen together,” says Bodeker. “The question when preparing the report was also whether these goals can be united with financial targets of the sector? We believe they can be especially with new regulation coming in which encourages brands move towards that direction.”
There have been three significant legal developments over these months: New York, European Union and most recently California – all aimed at reducing waste produced by textiles industry, increasing transparency and backing ethical sourcing.
Fisher and Bödecker are not willing to let this trend go. They know that sometimes directives like these may cause a change. So, they aim to put problem solvers in the fashion industry at the center of their newly created platform.
“If 96% of emissions stem from supply chain in fashion, then how do we reduce that? This report and the platform with it are about possible solutions and the people behind it,” Bödecker says.
So at some point, brands have to decide which forms or levels of certifications or standards they want to enforce. But it’s harder now. For instance, lately there has been a debate as to whether Higg Index can truly be considered as a fair benchmark for evaluating sustainability quotient of a fashion brand.
“In an ideal situation with third party certification we need two other third parties for objectivity then legislation to guide it. The difficulty is with sustainability because consumers are unaware therefore you have to make big statements about your products before customers will hear you,” Bödecker says.
“Underneath, some business firms do substantially more than other entities though. Some are almost 80% done. Others only reach 20% even though they make similar claims during their advertisements yet one day soon this will be proven wrong through research like this has happened already in food nutrition so even porking out on fashion.” We haven’t answered all the questions for our readers but tried to give them tools and pointers on what they should look into while purchasing clothes.
This led to one major divide within fashion industry: natural fibers versus recycled synthetic materials; “Get rid of all virgin poly — that’s first,” Fisher clarifies. “I believe we can all agree on that.”
Afterward, Bödecker notes that there’s no black-and-white solution since there are times when a recycled polyester may be more sustainable than natural fibers and vice versa depending on different situations: Microplastics, which have been at the core of polyester debate, can be managed: “Pre-washing garments before they make it to the consumers can help avoid about 80% microplastics, while using filters on home washing machines will account for the rest. But cotton production is much more local in impact- it affects poor communities when they are exposed to toxins.”
So which is better or worse? It really varies case by case. “But one thing we all agree on is that it’s a bad idea to blend natural and synthetic fibers because that makes recycling harder,” he says. “Besides, this becomes tricky when you look at athleisure because many people who prefer to wear athleisure are also environmentally conscious yet their clothing of choice may not support this stance.”
The industry needs more investment in recycling, materials science, and innovation to help solve some of these challenging problems Fisher notes — something she says is not happening rapidly enough. “It’s happening in other industries but it’s not happening as much in fashion. We need to move capital towards these issues.”
The two of them have the same expectation that this report will serve as a springboard for dialogue among industry players in order to bridge these gaps, dissect its implications on specific choices and explore other methods of production which are more eco-friendly. Additionally, there will be social media content being rolled out over the next two months to target a larger group of consumers with the full report available online right now.