Planet Earth: Sustainability of Textiles and Fashion
Textile is among the oldest industries discovered and utilized by mankind. The increasing demand for fashion in clothing is responsible for sustainable growth in the textile industry. The textile industry is famous for the consumption of huge amounts of social amenities like water, energy, and natural resources. Therefore, the growing environmental impact has compelled the textile industry to strategize along the path of sustainability. The textile industry, clothing fashion production forms part of the leading industries polluting the world the most. Sustaining the textile industry involves challenges with complicated interrelated and multiple issues. Clothing and textile play a crucial role in the world public discourse on changes in climate, water problems, increasing chemicals in the society, and the human rights activists on the environment and natural resource protection (Goworek, 8). The demand for textile and clothing products increases with global population growth and need and evolution in fashion, making it a necessary commodity; however, at what cost. The production and consumption of clothing and textile products in the world of fashion triggers alarm for many questions and uncertainty developing challenges and problems about the way people live social, political, and economic lives and impact on shared commodities.
The large portion of the concerns revolves around common private and societal practices and the contribution of different and conflicting values linked to textile and clothing production and consumption. The actors come from across all sectors, including private, corporate. Media, civil society, government, among others, all of which play a role in the production and consumption in this industry. The emergency and introduction of technology targets to resolve some of the problems, but other challenges need the committed effort and action on the part of stakeholders on increasing international scale. The critical actors among the stakeholders include consumers and businesses because of the nature of the fast fashion and textile industry. Technological solutions depict that adjusting and modifying practices and behavior requires highly complex systems and tasks of working with changing values attributed to production, consumption, which is sensitive to geographic, political, and cultural contexts. There is a need for improved communication and information flows from governments, businesses, activists, the media, educational organizations, among others (Boström, & Micheletti, 21). the challenge lies in how effective and efficient communication can be formulated, designed, and framed as well as considering specific actors that are best able to communicate the method widely. The technology has opened platforms to promote public awareness on the emission, increasing carbon footprints, carbon emissions because of the textile industry pollution. This marks the increasing demand for sustainable textile organizations. The production process entails manufacturing fibre to complete garments that risks the environment. Production and processing are instrumental in reducing the impacts on the surrounding environment and sustain millions of employers to earn competitive wages and promote proper working contexts. The study explores ways for sustainability in the present and uses innovativeness and creativity to reveal the valuable factors and techniques to promote and prevent more sustainable business and consumer practice.
Research Questions
How and to what extent should stakeholders such as businesses and consumers take responsibility to ensure the clothing and textile production becomes more sustainable?
What mechanisms are being used, and which techniques need to be deployed to ensure this industry sustainability is attained?
How effective are the mechanisms in place working to resolve the textile sustainability challenge/problem?
What ways need to be adopted to safeguard the environment from pollution?
Research Objectives
The primary objective of the research is to examine the ways and how to ensure sustainability in the textile and clothing industry is attained and the environmental pollution controlled. The work needs to be done collectively because the challenges touch on the lives of all stakeholders involved, both societal and private groups. The focus is on ensuring the collective responsibility of the stakeholders such as consumers, businesses, government, among others, to compel the industry towards complying with environmental sustainability and protection for the common good of all.
Argument (thesis)
The study explores ways for sustainability in the present and uses innovativeness and creativity to reveal the valuable factors and techniques to promote and prevent more sustainable business and consumer practice. It seeks the use of technology such as Sustainable Technology Production Practices is the approach that targets to shape and move the textile and clothing industry towards Eco-fashion clothes taking into account environmental, consumer health, and working conations of people in the fashion industry.
Sustainability of Textiles and Clothing
Establishing environmentally friendly and sustainable resources and materials used in the textile and clothing production boost the ecological system. The main focus is attributed to the product’s life span and its effect on the carbon footprint of the earth. Environmentally friendly materials help in the production of Eco-fashion clothing that targets to promote environmental protection from pollution generated in the process of clothing production. The green clothing fashion initiative is vital and requires keeping attention on each stage of production, starting from fashion clothe designing for the environment, resource and raw material collection, garment production, distribution of textile garments, and stores as well considering the waste and reverse logistics. The product lifecycle involves many contributing factors and inputs that are essential for green lifecycle clothing procedures. The evaluation of the clothing and textile industry is based on the product life cycle. Some of the most outstanding eco-initiatives encompass campaigns to expose the direct association between clothing brands, suppliers, and pollution impact worldwide. For instance, the detox campaign of 2011 organized by Greenpeace conducted different investigations in leading fashion industry brands and report the harmful nature to the environment (Boström, & Micheletti, 23). The campaign entailed collecting samples and conducting tests for the presence of carcinogens and environmentally hazardous, which resulted in irrefutable findings depict facts and data which threaten human survival.
The clothing and textile sector responsibility issues are closely aligned with the rapid globalization of trade and business ventures. The companies dealing in textile and clothing products are engaged in a race to gain control of market share in the retail fashion sector seek to minimize the textile and clothing manufacturing expenses through outsourcing the production resources in developing nations. The low costs in manufacturing in developing countries comes at the cost of social and environmental regulation disintegration. The large textile and fashion industry brands and consumers need to consider the problem of climate change seriously if the industry needs to attain sustainable textiles. The consumers in the rece3nt period are demanding the textile industry to observe global environmental protection regulation and moral, ethical responsibility in the production processes. The increase in clothing and textile production and consumption eco-friendly and sustainable measures to keep nature natural to continue supporting different forms of life (Vishnoi, 56). the issue of sustainability and textile and clothing companies and fashion retail firms need to prioritize reducing harmful emissions into the environment. The effort needs to establish new sustainability solutions explored and implemented in the growing demand for sustainable textiles.
Further, consumers have been called upon to improve and monitor insufficient consumption choices and lag way behind other players to realize eco-friendly fashion brands. The reasons the consumers need to contribute towards environmental protection and campaign against pollution are diverse. The development of the changes implies that women, migrants among other minority group workers are susceptible to temporary employment contracts, longer working hours and days, low wages, unsafe and unhealthy working environments. The textile and clothing industry has a significant environmental sustainability effect, including pollution of water sources such as rivers, use of chemicals in production, and another ecosystem like land and water use affects the environmental stability. The impact also stretches to climatic problems in the globalized mass production and consumption in the fast fashion industry. The overdependence on fast fashion is a critical challenge as it is characterized by short-term use, low quality, frequent clothing replacement, and increasing textile wastes features, which play a crucial role in textile and clothing industry sustainability effect (Niinimäki, 31). The manufacturing sector consumes a lot of energy and poses a substantial effect on sustainability on the environment that stretches to the demand-supply of the products in these sectors.
Moreover, the fast fashion, textile, and clothing industry should consider going green in their operations—the application of green operation targets to improve the existing textile and clothing industry products and processes. The operations under consideration include manufacturing, network design, reverse logistics, and waste management need for the adoption of green operation. The primary objectives of green manufacturing in the textile and fast fashion industry are to mitigate against negative environmental effects of products and processes. The materials used in making the products are also critical; the use of proper materials is valuable. The process of green processing and manufacturing includes activities like recycling and reducing, remanufacturing (materials and product recovery) processes (Foure, & Mlauli, 14). Both green manufacturing and remanufacturing are aligned on inventory management, production organizing, planning, and scheduling, aside from planning because of differing amounts of products returned for recycling in the textile industry. The reduction is a mechanism in which consumption rates of scarce materials and energy are minimized. Recycling refers to activities that involve material and product recovery in the textile company. Reusing is the concept of deploying intact parts of used products for manufacturing processes, and activities are vital in the industry. The material and product recovery involve regaining the product value at the terminal point of product lifecycle encompassing refurbishing or repairing and disassembly. Waste management is the process of regulating the waste generation and its effects via activities like pollution prevention and disposal. The textile and clothing industry entails source reduction and pollution control, and prevention mechanisms endeavor to hinder pollution at the generation sources, and disposal is intended to dispose of waste and regulate waste generation in the industry (Eryuruk, 89). The clothing and textile waste can be categorizing and classified as post-consumer and pre-consumer consist of by-product materials from the textile sector.
The governmental stakeholders and actors also form an instrumental role to play in promoting green consumption via sustainable acquisition and procurement. The government is distinct from private sector firms like Nike, H&M, IKEA, among others, because they depend on tax resources for financing and set legislation in making the purchases (Foure, & Mlauli, 8). The actions and choices of government institutions are subject to public accountability and scrutiny. Scholars and researchers on the subject show special challenges associated with public actors on different administrative levels linked to the greening of government procurement and purchases. The most prominent challenge is that public institutions cannot go against international free trade policies and regulations which compel them to consider the principles on equal trade treatment and non-discrimination among foreign and domestic tenders during procurement decisions. Legal, economic, political, and cognitive variables reduce the opportunities for developing more sustainable procurement. The development of territorial and non-territorial view responsibility linked with the complexity of globalized demand and supply chain perspective, conflict with the traditional mandate of public sector actors. The public sector is aligned by the members of society to be socially responsible and deploy environmentally friendly approaches in textile and clothing manufacturing and consumption to keep the environment free from pollution.
The responsibility of consumers in textile and clothing consumption players play a role in promoting sustainability. The NGOs hope that they can mobilize and convince the consumer into forcing the supply actors to change manufacturing practices by threatening to stop consuming products that are not sustainably produced or manufactured (Boström & Micheletti, 21). The consumers can reward more sustainable businesses in the textile and clothing industry through purchasing goods, observing the role of fast fashion and affordable products in their lives, such as political consumer lifestyle alterations. The consumers regulate the demand for the product in the market by shopping environmentally friendly fashion products. The studies and literature paint the attractiveness of fast fashion is incorporated into personal appearances, social identity, and status to create barriers for more sustainable clothing and textile product shopping habits. The demand in the market for products compels the manufacturers to align with the needs and consumer preferences to increase market shares. The consumers are among the most vital influences and driving forces on ensuring textile, clothing, and fast fashion industry abide by regulations to ensure environmental sustainability.
Conclusion
Supply and demand-side acknowledge the heterogeneity and plurality of different actors, values, and interests linked to clothing and textile products. The clothing and fashion is and will continue to be drivers of socio-cultural distinctions, beliefs, and norms in the societies across the world. The sustainability in the fast fashion and textile industry is attained using the responsibility and of the participants in the industry, such as government players, businesses, private entities, and the consumers in the market. The stakeholders in the textile and fashion industry play a crucial role in ensuring the environmental preservation by compelling the manufacturers to observe environmental sustainability in the production, distribution, and marketing of the product in the market. Many consumers are not expected to do much; they are simply required to be aware, competent buyers that will elect to only include ethically produced products in their shopping basket. The most outstanding lesson learned is that sustainability management and stakeholder responsibility is designed to be long term and learning-oriented. Sustainability and responsibility for the course of textile and clothing industry responsibility will always be contested in public debate, and research is key to uncovering the truth.
Work Cited
Boström, Magnus, and Michele Micheletti. “Introducing the sustainability challenge of textiles and clothing.” Journal of Consumer Policy 39.4 (2016): 367-375.
Eryuruk, Selin Hanife. “Greening of the textile and clothing industry.” Fibres & Textiles in Eastern Europe 6A (95) (2012): 22-27.
Foure, Pat, and Tembeka Mlauli. “Eco initiatives in the textile pipeline–a South African experience.” Eco textiles. Woodhead Publishing, 2007. 96-106.
Goworek, Helen. “Social and environmental sustainability in the clothing industry: a case study of a fair trade retailer.” Social Responsibility Journal (2011).
Niinimäki, Kirsi. From disposable to sustainable: the complex interplay between design and consumption of textiles and clothing. Aalto University, 2011.
Vishnoi, Aditi. “Environment Protection by Textile Recycling: A Route to Sustainability.” (2013).