Eco-fashion
Eco-fashion refers to a sustainable approach to clothing design and production that emerged in the late twentieth century, aiming to minimize environmental impact and promote social responsibility. This movement arose in response to the fashion industry's historical contribution to ecological degradation, which intensified during the Industrial Revolution and the Green Revolution, characterized by the widespread use of hazardous chemicals and wasteful practices in textile manufacturing. Eco-fashion emphasizes the use of organic, recycled, vintage, and locally sourced materials, while prioritizing fair wages and healthy working conditions for garment workers.
The concept gained traction with the introduction of organic cotton and the establishment of brands committed to sustainable practices. Notable companies in the eco-fashion space include Patagonia and People Tree, which focus on environmentally sound production methods. The formation of organizations like the Organic Exchange and the development of standards such as the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) further helped to legitimize and structure the eco-fashion market.
Despite its growth, the eco-fashion industry faces challenges, such as greenwashing and transparency issues in supply chains, which can complicate the commitment to sustainability. However, eco-fashion advocates seek to enhance competitiveness through strategies like product longevity, closed-loop recycling, and rental systems, all of which contribute to a more sustainable future in the fashion industry.
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Eco-fashion
Definition: Philosophy in the world of clothing design that is concerned with the use of sustainable materials produced in a socially responsible manner
Eco-fashion designers seek to reduce the negative environmental impacts associated with traditional methods of textile and clothing production, including air and water pollution.
The fashion industry’s impacts on the environment began during the Industrial Revolution with the large-scale production of fabrics under conditions that included little regulation of pollution and little concern with production by-products. Since the advances in agricultural science of the Green Revolution in the mid-twentieth century, the growing of fibers used in textiles has relied increasingly on pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, a practice that has led to negative ecological impacts. Both revolutions made many kinds of textiles more widely available around the world. With the introduction of ready-to-wear clothing during the 1960s, consumer demand for product diversity and seasonal fashions rose dramatically. This demand led to practices that came to dominate the world market, causing widespread environmental and social harms.
Eco-fashion developed in the late twentieth century as an alternative design approach involving the use of organic, vintage, recycled, locally based, and natural materials to bring consumers ecologically and socially sustainable choices in clothing. Those who engage in eco-fashion practices focus on minimizing the use of hazardous chemicals and the production of waste by-products, maximizing efficiency in their use of energy and water, and establishing fair wages and production standards that are healthy for workers.
Eco-fashion design is evolving constantly to reduce the environmental and social impacts of textile production. Initially it targeted negative preexisting methods, such as the toxicity of pretreatment, dying, finishing, drying, and laundry processes in which emissions from formaldehyde, acids, and volatile organic compounds pollute the air. Eco Fashion also aims to reduce the use of salts, surfactants, heavy metals, toxic chemicals, biocides, detergents, emulsifiers, and dispersants that create aquatic toxicity. The manufacturing and transportation of these products also require large amounts of electricity, principally generated from carbon dioxide-emitting fossil fuels. Scrap waste from garment assembly and unsold garments from retail are increasingly directed to landfills. Given that factory workers suffer from such methods due to their exposure to chemicals, fiber dust, and polluted water, designers who support eco-fashion include healthy workplace standards and sufficient wages within their definition of eco-fashion.
The concept of sustainable fashion first appeared with the introduction of organic cotton as an alternative to conventionally grown crops in the United States. Brands such as Esprit and Vanity Fair began working to create large-scale sustainable clothing lines during the late 1980s, widening the market and developing environmentally sound practices. During the 1990s the Organic Trade Association (OTA) formed and worked with the Organic Fiber Council to adopt the Organic Fiber Certification Standard. In 1996, council member and environmental business leader Marci Zaroff coined and trademarked the term “ECOFashion” to brand and identify this market further. In the same year, the Patagonia apparel company emerged as a leader of eco-fashion, committing to the use of organic cotton in all of its cotton clothing items. They were soon joined by other brands with a focus on sustainable practices and equitable treatment of workers, including People Tree, H&M, Thought, Indigenous, and Rent the Runway. The Organic Exchange was created in 2002 to build a global community of farmers, manufacturers, brands, and retailers committed to producing organic fibers with sustainable practices. Organizations from four nations—the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and Japan—worked together to create the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), a revised version of which was published in 2008; the GOTS has since been revised and provides a worldwide processing standard for organic fibers.
With growing market demand for environmentally conscious products of all kinds, greenwashing (deceptive claims that products are green or eco-friendly) on the part of companies that do not fully adhere to eco-fashion principles has made some observers skeptical of the industry. Additionally, the lack of transparency in clothing manufacturing supply chains poses difficulties; disconnects often occur between designers and the agents who fill designer requests, and between designers and their manufacturing and packaging sites. Eco-fashion designers must research their supply chains carefully, and sometimes they must select more expensive and slower-paced alternative production sources to ensure that the principles of eco-fashion are not violated. For these reasons, eco-fashion companies may often be at a competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis conventional production lines. Eco-fashion companies, however, seek to reduce their long-term costs through augmentation of product longevity and versatility, closed-loop recycling, and participation in rental programs; all of these strategies show promise in making eco-fashion increasingly competitive.
Bibliography
Allwood, Julian M., et al. Well Dressed? The Present and Future Sustainability of Clothing and Textiles in the United Kingdom. Cambridge, England: University of Cambridge, Institute for Manufacturing, 2006.
Fletcher, Kate. Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys. Sterling, Va.: Earthscan, 2008.
Humphrey, Liz, and Nick Robins. Sustaining the Rag Trade. London: International Institute for Environment and Development, 2000.
Khandual, Asimananda, and Swikruti Pradhan. "Fashion Brands and Consumers Approach Towards Sustainable Fashion." Fast Fashion, Fashion Brands and Sustainable Consumption. Textile Science and Clothing Technology, edited by Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu, Springer Nature Singapore, 22 Jun. 2018, doi:10.1007/978-981-13-1268-7‗3. Accessed 17 Mar. 2023.