Por Andrea Mejia Fajardo
The fashion system is one of the most polluting industries in the world, a consequence of a linear economy (production-use-waste) and the indiscriminate use of natural resources and chemical substances in various production processes, contaminating sources of drinking water, the air we breathe and arable land, while violating the human rights of many of the workers along the value chain.
Campaigns such as Detox my Fashion de Greenpeace (2016) y consumidores cada vez más conscientes frente a las problemáticas ambientales y sociales, han motivado cambios en la producción y consumo hacia prácticas más sostenibles.
La cuarentena de consumo, consecuencia de la pandemia y como la nombró el State of Fashion Report update 2020, aceleró el rechazo de más consumidores frente a modelos no sostenibles, quienes desean favorecer a aquellas marcas responsables frente al medioambiente y comunidades.
McKinsey (2020) estimó que un 15% de los consumidores en Estados Unidos y Europa optarán por adquirir prendas más ecológicas y con iniciativas sociales.
But what are sustainable garments?
For Paola Deda of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the textile-garment industry must improve its environmental practices and think about the well-being of society along the supply chain: "While companies need to learn to reduce the environmental impact of production and protect workers, we must learn to make appropriate choices to influence and change the market.
In Colombia, the word sustainable is increasingly present in the fashion system, but there seems to be little clarity on what a green garment is. From the design of the garment, it is important to consider its carbon footprint, the use of natural resources required in production, the raw materials from the fiber, the social impact and the possibility of recycling, reusing, remanufacturing or repairing the garment to minimize waste and maximize its durability.
Leonie Meier, a consultant to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, says that extending the life of a garment by as little as nine months could reduce its water footprint by 25 to 30%.
Some brands and designers have focused on the use of ecological textiles, but without proposals for recovery of the garment to enter a circular cycle and without considering other characteristics: Is the packaging sustainable? What is the efficiency in energy and water during production? How is the final disposal of the garment? Are the inputs sustainable? Is it free of chemicals harmful to health and the environment? Throughout the production chain, was there a positive impact on the communities?
It is becoming increasingly common to see garments made from recycled PET bottle-based fabrics as a commitment to sustainability. Although it is a great advance not to use virgin polyester (fiber from petroleum), synthetic fibers (recycled or virgin) when washed at home, release about half a million tons of plastic microparticles into the ocean each year. In addition, cotton-polyester blends are almost impossible to recycle.
The risk of greenwashing
Whether out of ignorance or as a sales incentive, companies and brands frequently fall into greenwashing or greenwashing. greenwashingThis practice is sometimes difficult for consumers to identify.
The greenwashing occurs when marketing and communication campaigns advertise a product as a "good" or a "bad" product. greenThe company's environmental and social performance is not good enough or the company continues to generate negative impacts on the environment and society.
At other times, the company or brand makes an effort to be sustainable in some aspects, but is not transparent by omitting or hide unsustainable practices within the company.
Reject the greenwashing is also the responsibility of the consumer who has the authority to demand that companies and brands be transparent and coherent: how sustainable is an organic cotton garment made in a factory where workers have no social security? If such a garment does not have a certification such as Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), how do you know what kind of substances and chemicals were implemented in the dyeing and finishing processes? Meier states that more than 2,400 substances are used in the fashion industry, of which 30% pose a risk to human health.
En ocasiones una marca o empresa publicita una prenda con un acabado sostenible, pero desconoce los procesos textiles anteriores y origen de la fibra, ¿cómo garantizar una sostenibilidad trazable del producto?
Marcas y consumidores deben cuestionar todo el ecosistema de una prenda. Ningún producto será 100% sostenible, pero mientras más transparencia, no solo evitará el greenwashing and thus be the victim of a possible socially driven smear campaign, on the contrary, brands will find Generation Z and millennial consumers who will lean their purchasing decision towards green garments.
El texto original fue publicado en Revista Semana y hace parte de la tesis Policies for the sustainable development of the Fashion System in Colombia: opportunities in the value chain (Universidad de los Andes, 2020) de Andrea Mejia Fajardo.
