The fashion industry is one of the most globally recognized industries in the world, reports suggest that the size of the global apparel market is worth 1.5 trillion U.S.D. The demand share of the Asia Pacific region is alone 38% of the global share, let alone India’s global share in the apparel market is 4%, which is worth billions, now just imagine if the demand of this industry is so high, how does the supply chain remain consistent? Isn’t it a mind-boggling thing, how industries are always in a race with time to deliver consignments of apparel? #ThinkWithNiche
Every industry that functions on a global scale and they have consequences that affect the climatology of our planet; many of us don’t know, but the fashion industry contributes 10% of greenhouse gases due to human activities, causing our planet to get warmer and warmer, it consumes some 20% freshwater on the planet and requires more energy than aviation and shipping industry. Still, while there are serious threats to the planet, there are some ways to reduce global warming if only we adopt certain changes.
Let us take a look at how the fashion industry is responding to the sustainability goals of the planet-
1. Environment-Friendly Denim
While it is not easy to produce environmental friendly denim, and there is very little awareness about these pairs of jeans, but many manufacturers are investing money in reducing the impact of the fashion industry on our planet; they opting ways to recycle denim and to create denim jeans that decompose after putting into a compost pit. Although this technology is not available to many, we can expect this to become a reality shortly.
2. Low Impact Fabric
Fabrics such as cotton and polyester require high intensive energy consumption to be crafted, definitely not ideally sustainable; hence many fashion brands are coming up with the idea of using organic fabrics such as wood, fruits, and other natural textile materials to make environmentally friendly clothing. Sooner or later, the changes will show positive results.
3. Second-Hand Fashion
One of the most trending fashion trends is second-hand fashion; today, millennials are into second-hand fashion more than ever; they search specifically for vintage style standout trends. Smart shoppers choose sustainability by picking second-hand fashion and accessories. This market is worth 32 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to 51 billion by 2023.
4. Cruelty-Free Fashion
As fashion awareness is growing across the globe, consumers are choosing fair and ethical means of producing and testing clothes. The fashion industry has been in controversy for doing tests on animals. It harms the planet; today, consumers choose veganism, cruelty-free fashion, supporting sustainability, and being more ethical; keeping these trends in mind, big brands are considering changes in the way they work and giving balanced work-life schedule labourers, choose sustainability and be fair. Shortly, fashion ethics will be regulatory.
5. Green Fashion
As has been known, the fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries. Still, as times are changing, eco-friendly consumers demand sustainable fashion, sustainability is the future, today’s consumers love eco-friendly fashion with minimal impact on the planet, fashion spruced from renewable sources is called ‘green fashion’;. In contrast, clean fashion means natural or which are not harmful to the earth.
To sum up, the fashion industry has been adopting and working on sustainability and help reduce global warming and cut down on green emission gases; in the last decade, awareness of sustainability has risen, and more are expected shortly.