“Put Earth First”: Can a Greener and Fairer Fashion Industry Get Out of the Crisis? | Fashion

The closure of society as we know it gives a lot of time for reflection, especially in fashion circles. In an interview with design magazine Dezeen, influential trend forecaster Li Edelkoort called it a quarantine on consumption which has a devastating impact on our economy and our culture, but ultimately offers a blank page for a fresh start.

While some sections of the fashion industry already knew they could not continue their current trajectory, it was inconceivable that brands would be forced to slow down, let alone stop production altogether. But this is what happened when famous names from Prada to Zara transformed their production lines by making medical gowns and masks, and luxury houses went from manufacturing perfumes to disinfectants. It was an unprecedented disruption to an industry that counted on accelerating sales from one season to the next. And it brings a new sense of connection, responsibility and empathy.

Until factories began to feel the effects of Covid-19, the global fashion industry produced 150bn clothes every year, far beyond the needs of a world population of 7.9 billion. In 2017, global clothing consumption is expected to increase further, by 63% by 2030, according to the Global Fashion Agenda and the Boston Consulting Group. Who knows if these projections will be started now that the brick and mortar stores are closed, orders interrupted and supply chains stopped?

As factory orders dry up, overpaid and overworked garment workers, with no sickness benefits or any financial cushion, pay the highest price. The question is how, when self-isolation and fear decrease, we can use this temporary moratorium on production to correct the course of an industry that consumes and exploits carbon. We cannot continue on this path of uncontrolled overproduction, waste and human misery.

Saturday, people around the world will reflect on the temporary decrease in CO₂ as they turn off their lights at 8:30 p.m. (local time wherever they are), participate in Earth Hour. This annual WWF environmental campaign will remind us that, according to the UN, we only have 10 years to keep global warming at 1.5 ° C. This is something of which academics Kate Fletcher and Mathilda Tham are well aware. In their new report, Earth Logic Fashion Action Research Plan, they write: The time limit of 10 years is the same as the time of a child in school. One eighth of most people’s lives, or 10 annual reports for a business. Think about what you, your family, your community, your workplace will do over the next 10 years. Every moment will count.

Their argument revolves around the idea that the only way to reduce carbon emissions and end the cycles of overproduction and waste is to imagine a whole new system that puts the needs of the Earth before those of industrial growth . In a post-Covid-19 world, this starts to seem a little more achievable. We put the planet before industry as a radical idea in which the health and survival of our planet Earth takes precedence over commercial interests, they write.

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the fact that the status quo can be broken. It seems that everything is now possible. According to environmental journalist and broadcaster Lucy Siegle, who wrote the foreword to the Earth Logic report, this disruption is a lifeline for the industry and a chance to restart our efforts and change course based on evidence and of facts.

Once we realize that the current system is still going to limit itself because there are limited resources, prioritizing Earth is the only option, says Fletcher, of the London College of Fashions Center for Sustainable Fashion. It is not a question of tinkering around the existing way of working, creating sustainable collections or recycling programs for clothes: Earth Logic tackles the very root of the problem: the existing economic model itself. This means a shift from production to the care, use and care of existing clothing. This means reducing the volume of clothing we produce and, in turn, the amount of resources we use. This means moving from globalized, tangled and dangerous supply chains to small production centers based on the needs and wants of local communities. We need to find a role for the industry scattered across communities, says Fletcher, with several local centers for people to be educated, to make and repair their clothes.

Patriarchy and the logic of growth are inextricably linked, says Tham. The same types of people make the same types of decisions. According to Earth Logic, there would be respect for fashion in non-Western geographies. We can train fashion to support race and gender equality. Each perspective offers new models and practices for the relationship with fashion as well as the widening and diversification of the base of fashion expertise.

These are all points that the next generation to come in the industry also demands. The questions students ask are very different now, says Tham, who teaches fashion and economics students at the University of Linnaeus, Sweden. The way we design clothing must match the needs of society and the environment and work with them, not against them. We see this happening with designers looking for ways to help make protective gear and gowns for medical teams. These new positive models must be allowed to lead the way.

We have uncertain and painful times ahead. But Fletcher says: It’s about trying not to look away when things get difficult. We find that in times of real emergency, people’s behavior must change. Even hitting pause on the cycle modes relentlessly for one season (maybe two) will have a profound effect. Already, so much has changed. The fashion cycle for the love of fashion is broken. We must use this time to rethink how this industry can be redesigned with respect for the planet and the health of the people who work there.

It’s like spinning a kaleidoscope and seeing new models emerge, says Tham. There are so many possible models. Things can change very quickly when we have a new perspective. It is not impossible.