Is GREEN 2024’s fashion IN?

The world of fashion has often been marked by its love of opulence, decadence, and maximalism. However, a recent trend towards minimalism has emerged as fashion has reached a crossroads with sustainability taking center stage. Fashion is a globalized industry and has been mostly unregulated due to its extensive supply chain spanning across every continent. With that, change in regulation in one place impacts the industry everywhere.  According to the New Standard Institute in New York, apparel and footwear account for 4-8.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If left unregulated, the industry will be responsible for over a quarter of the world’s emissions by 2050 (Chan 1). 

So what would fashion legislation look like? Well, right now, the main concerns are accountability for environmental and humanitarian impacts. The Fashion Act addresses any  fashion brands doing business in New York that make over 100 million in global revenue each year. Labels meeting these criteria would be required to identify and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions as well as chemical waste management, plastic usage, and energy, water, material, and electric expenditure (Chan 2). Under the Fashion Sustainability and Accountability Act, these numbers would be expected to align with science based targets based on the Paris Agreement’s goal to keep global warming to 1.5C. Any brands failing to comply would receive a 2% fine of their annual revenue which would go towards environmental justice organizations (The Fashion Act 1). Even though the U.S. isn’t specifically included in the Paris Agreement, many of the major fashion labels residing in New York are European based and would be expected to adhere to the same expectations as their Italian sisters. The Fashion Act does most directly impact New York immediately but because of fashion’s reach overseas, this would be a step toward the global movement toward sustainability. 

The Fashion Act was proposed by the New Standard Institute in New York, a cooperative organization which uses research to motivate the fashion world to move towards an environmentally friendly future. As a cooperative organization, they strive to be community based and identify as a “thought tank” with the purpose of changing fashion for the better (New Standard Institute 1). Cooperative organizations are typically created by people with shared needs or goals and are often motivated by a sense of greater good (Miller 12). The main struggle the organization has faced is getting major labels to acknowledge and comply with their goal. On the website, the organization utilizes crisis communication by emphasizing that if we don’t do something now and redirect our path by 2030, the adverse effects of our gas emissions will be irreversible. One feature that they use to convey this sense of crisis is a countdown to 2030. 2030 is the predicted date for when it will officially be too late to save our planet from overheating. The communication practice falls under the crisis category because the communication transmission is direct and lacks discourse (Miller 13). Communication around climate change tends to take on this form because of the sense of urgency and impending doom around it. 

Unfortunately, many major fashion brands do not share this outlook and have deemed environmental accommodations as something of a luxury. For this reason, it is necessary that the government gets involved to exercise direct control and implement legislation.  Legislation will most impact the critical domain of communication within the impacted organizations. Discursive reflection within these organizations will look like confronting their contributions to global warming and instilling new practices which mitigate and prevent greenhouse gas emissions and unethical use of labor. In the Vogue article, “6 Ways the Fashion Industry Can Become More Sustainable in 2024,” Emily Chan suggests the rise of made-to-order fashion. With overproduction leaving an estimated 10-45% of clothes that are never even sold, on-demand manufacturing could cut down exhaustion of resources and labor significantly (Chan 2, 3). Organizations could also use this practice to communicate a sense of exclusivity and authenticity to their products. 

The UN has already begun to transform its world of fashion production.  With an increase in government mandates in European countries, brands are rapidly investing in innovative solutions to source sustainable textile alternatives (Vogue Business 2). One alternative is a “biosphere circulation” project by the brand Spiber Inc. which was inspired by the protein composition of spider silk. These biosphere textile alternatives are lab-grown and plant based fibers, resins, and films that are produced through fermentation (Vogue Business 3). Brands like The North Face and Patagonia have already adopted this new technology. These brands are key examples of organizations that adopted eco-friendly practices into their critical domain and have had major success as a result of their dedication to sustainability. Hopefully, other companies will learn from their example. 

Building a better future is no easy feat but maybe we can save the world one couture coat at a time. Like the popular BTS singer Sarifah says, “There’s no luxury fashion on a dead planet,” (Chan 5).

Sources 

Nast, C. (2023, December 29). 6 Ways the Fashion Industry Can Become More Sustainable in 2024. Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/article/6-ways-the-fashion-industry-can-become-more-sustainable

‌Nast, C. (2024, January 24). Biosphere circulation offers a future for textiles. How can brands get involved? Vogue Business. https://www.voguebusiness.com/story/sustainability/biosphere-circulation-offers-a-future-for-textiles-how-can-brands-get-involved

The Fashion Act. (n.d.). The Act on Fashion Coalition. The Act on Fashion Coalition. https://www.thefashionact.org/

New Standard Institute. (n.d.). New Standard Institute. https://www.newstandardinstitute.org/