Reports announced today that last year was one of the hottest ever recorded, the warmest since global records began. With unprecedented wildfires, superstorms and floods ravaging the planet, scientists point to global warming as the precise cause. Armed with this information it’s hard not to consider the impact of non-vital industries, like fashion, is having on the environment.
Luckily, 64 companies, including Zara, M&S, ASOS, adidas, Ganni, H&M and Reformation have committed to a new sustainable agenda. With the aid of the Global Fashion Agenda, they have created targets for increasing their sustainable design output, garment collection and up-cycling textiles. The ambition is to reach this goal by 2020.
CLICK TO SEE WHICH BRANDS HAVE PLEDGED TO BECOME MORE SUSTAINABLE:
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ASOS have gone one step further promising to train their entire design team in circular design, which is a regenerative process of eliminating waste by reusing, preparing, painting and recycling. As well, they’ve pledged to introduce garment collection so that they can re-use materials where possible.
On the luxury spectrum, Kering (the group that owns Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga) aims to be 100 per cent cruelty-free by 2020. It also has its eye on scaling up pre- and post-consumer waste recycling.
’Global Fashion Agenda's mission is to mobilize the international fashion industry to transform the way we produce and consume fashion. This is done by engaging the broader fashion community on the most pressing issues and solutions and by creating joint commitments to achieve significant progress,’ explains the platform’s website.
While this new agreement only represents 7.5 per cent of the global fashion industry, it's hard not to see it as a step in a positive direction. And, this is especially so if these large retailers can prove there is a scalable business model that can be copied for selling and consuming fashion sustainably.