It is well known that fast fashion comes at an astonishing environmental and social cost. It leads to harmful impacts on the environment regarding pollution, water use, carbon emissions, human rights, and gender inequality. Thus, the need to go complete environment-friendly is imperative, and it is evident. Organizations across many countries are joining efforts and adopting new methodologies that help them shift the fast fashion economy to a circular economy. In a similar direction, we have designed a jacket design online, a customization solution that can be seamlessly installed on the website and physical stores. It helps apparel companies to let their customers design their clothes and preview them using 3d technology, thus, enabling them to grapple with all environmental concerns.
The fashion industry represents an integral part of our economies, as it values more than 2.5 trillion $USD and employs over 75 million people worldwide. Over the past couple of decades, the sector is spectacular growth as clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014. While people bought 60 per cent more garments in 2014 than in 2000, they only kept the clothes for half as long (McKinsey & Company). However, the boom in the fashion sector also led to the decline of the planet. Fashion production makes up about 10 per cent of humanity's carbon emission, dries up water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams. What seems more concerning is that 85 per cent of all textiles go to the dump each year and wash some types of clothes which sends a significant amount of microplastics into the ocean.
Additionally, it also costs human lives, as textile workers, primarily women in developing countries, are often paid less than what they deserve and forced to work long hours in appalling conditions. In fact, in some cases, conditions are so worse that they create infringements on human rights. Using chemicals in clothes production also raise serious health concerns, both for the workers in the industry and consumers. Besides, impacts on health also arise from the pollution described previously. The environmental and social cost of the fashion sector compelled companies to think about fast fashion and stressed the need for more sustainable business models. Resources hereunder provide additional information on the environmental impacts of fashion and potential pathways for change.
Let us explore strategies that help apparel companies to become more sustainable:
1. Opening New Eco-Conscious Pop-Up Store
Since fashion is all about showing what you have, brands and retailers operating in the segment must reflect this attitude. If we preach sustainability and the need to become more environment-friendly, it must be translated into their actions. For instance, eco-driven brand Pangaia has unveiled its first physical brand experience in Italy through a partnership with Milan-based department store La Rinascente. It offers an immersive, climate-positive space in the Piazza Duomo location and shows its commitment to "high tech naturalism." Similar to the label's previously launched store at the Galeries Lafayette, this location aims to plummet the carbon footprints of the retail experience.
Pangaia's latest initiative is centred around building an "earth positive" business model, which is based on three pillars, viz., carbon neutrality, circularity, and purpose. In keeping with its targets, with every purchase made at the pop-up, the brand has announced that it will donate a portion of proceeds to the supporting grassroots NGO, the Tomorrow Tree Fund. The shopping experience is filled with a moving track set on a continuous loop, displaying a selection of the brand's core 365 collections. Explainer videos on Pangaia's material innovations will also be present, bringing an educational element to the space. Likewise, having a customization solution in the business model can do wonders for apparel brands and retailers who are willing to test waters in the sustainability section. Consider a case where a brand has technology that solves all its problems related to fast fashion, such as over manufacturing, marketing, selling, disposing of unsold products, and other aspects that can be dealt with a single software. It will let your customers design their own jacket online and enable companies to offset their carbon footprints.
