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In 2024, sustainable fashion has become all of the rage – with Gen Z straying away from fast fashion stores such as H&M or Forever 21 in place of thrift shopping: but can ethical fashion truly exist?
There are several challenges to the transition of ethical fashion, such as excess consumerism and growing social media use for influencers to promote potentially harmful products – making a world where ethical fashion is the singular choice a true challenge.
In this article, we’ll explain what ethical fashion is, the challenges of implementing ethical fashion, and how we can work towards ethical fashion.
Ethical fashion refers to clothing, accessories, and other fashion garments that are produced in a sustainable and socially responsible manner.
💡Oftentimes, ethical fashion utilises fair trade practices, ethical sourcing, and manufacturing mechanisms to avoid excess emissions – as the fashion industry already accounts for 8-10% of global carbon emissions.
Here are some other key features of ethical fashion:
👉 As a whole ethical fashion is an honest attempt to decarbonise the current impact created by the fashion industry – allowing for innovative ideas and reduced waste from old clothing items.
Ethical fashion is important as it serves as a direct response to mitigate the current environmental impact of fast fashion.
💡 A whopping 92 million tonnes of fast fashion garments find their way to the landfill every year, with this number only increasing as post-pandemic behaviors encourage more single-use clothing purchases – such as by creating DIY single-use outfits for concerts with Taylor Swift’s Eras tour.
Here are a few reasons why ethical fashion is important:
Ethical fashion can inspire customers to better understand the impact of their purchases, which in turn – could encourage consumers to make more sustainable purchases in other industries such as electronics and home appliances.
Furthermore, as the demand for ethical fashion increases – the desire for people to purchase fast fashion will decrease. This could effectively reduce the amount of harmful chemicals and high amounts of water usage used to produce fast fashion garments.
As millions of textile waste is generated each year, it’s imperative to emphasise the importance of slow fashion and durable clothing.
💡 Currently, the fashion industry uses 79 billion cubic meters of water every year – making ethical fashion the perfect remedy to counteract this excessive water usage.
Businesses that align themselves with the goals associated with ethical fashion will also work towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, as these goals will help to encourage both economic growth and ethical development & consumption.
One of the most imperative components to developing good CSR and a sustainable company is to remain transparent on all aspects of your business, as this can help to avoid greenwashing and legal fines due to lack of compliance.
The values built into ethical fashion can help your business to practice transparency.
👉 As a whole, ethical fashion works to address the dire social, environmental, and even economic challenges presented via the fast fashion industry – as ethical fashion can help to create a more well-rounded, sustainable business model while also avoiding excess pollution and waste.
Any effort to reduce water usage, excess emissions, or false eco-labeling can be considered as an approach to ethical fashion.
Here are some well-known examples of ethical fashion brands:
Here are some examples of ethical fashion shopping practices:
👉 Although ethical fashion seems simple enough to employ, the truth is that implementing ethical fashion worldwide could prove next to impossible – especially in the midst of digital media and the growth of easy access to online shopping.
Although the interest in ethical fashion continues to grow, first-world countries which focus on capitalism and consumerism will deeply struggle to fully transition to ethical fashion – as many big name shoe, clothing, and accessory stores do not qualify as ethical fashion and may never venture into the world of sustainable fashion.
💡 In the same vein of net-zero emissions, ethical fashion should be viewed as an ideal to work towards – as no ethical fashion company will be able to completely avoid carbon emissions in the same way any other business cannot be completely carbon neutral.
Here are just a few of the challenges associated with fully implementing ethical fashion:
The table below will discuss further why ethical fashion may not truly exist:
Reason | Description |
---|---|
Supply Chain Complexity | Fashion supply chains are often vast and opaque, making it difficult to ensure every step adheres to ethical standards. Subcontractors may not follow the same principles as the primary brand. |
Greenwashing Practices | Some brands use misleading marketing to exaggerate their sustainability or ethical claims, leading consumers to believe their practices are better than they are. |
Resource Limitations | Producing ethical materials, like organic cotton, still consumes significant resources – such as water, and can still have an environmental impact depending on farming practices. |
Economic Challenges | Paying fair wages and implementing sustainable practices increases production costs, which can make ethical fashion inaccessible to many consumers and limit widespread adoption. |
Dependence on Fossil Fuels | Although there is an effort to use sustainable materials, even ethical brands rely on transportation to deliver clothes in addition to using synthetic materials derived from fossil fuels – both of which contribute to environmental harm. |
Overproduction | Ethical brands may produce excess inventory to meet consumer demand, leading to waste and undermining sustainability goals. |
Lack of Standardisation | There is no universal certification for ethical fashion, which leads to inconsistency and consumer confusion whether a brand is truly considered as "ethical fashion". |
Consumer Habits | Fast fashion culture encourages overconsumption, making it challenging for ethical fashion to compete without addressing fundamental shifts in consumer behavior – as the only way to ensure the same amount of profits is to employ dynamic pricing. |
👉 Ultimately, while ethical fashion may not be able to truly exist as the production of sustainable clothing will always use finite resources and energy to a certain extent – there is still an opportunity to lessen the impact created by the fashion industry and encourage ethical fashion practices to both businesses and consumers.
Although fully ethical fashion companies or a transition to ethical fashion as a whole may be out of reach, it’s still worthwhile to work towards implementing ethical fashion practices.
💡 Reducing emissions as a result of the fashion industry from its current 8 to 10% to 4% is still substantial, still worth the effort to employ ethical fashion even if no clothing company will ever be entirely emission-free.
Here are some ways in which the fashion industry could successfully promote the importance and potential for ethical fashion:
However, it is still important to take steps, no matter how small, towards becoming a more sustainable company – which is something we can help you with at Greenly
If reading this article on ethical fashion and if it can truly exist has made you interested in reducing your carbon emissions to further fight against climate change – Greenly can help you!
It can be overwhelming to figure out how to effectively reduce your environmental impact, but don’t worry – Greenly is here to help. Click here to schedule a demo to see how Greenly can help you find ways to ensure your company is complying with all current and future environmental regulations.
Greenly can help you make an environmental change for the better, starting with a carbon footprint assessment to know how much carbon emissions your company produces.