Blog By: Abbigale Harrison
Fashion has always been an important part of any cultural landscape, but with social media and online brands raging onto the scene, consumers are only keeping styles around half as long, leading to a significant increase in consumption levels.[i] This increase created the “fast fashion” phenomenon[ii] Although this consumption spike provided millions of jobs and stimulated financial growth within the industry, the trend negatively impacted the environment, with the fashion industry’s greenhouse emissions credited with “between 2 and 8 percent of the global total.”[iii] Not only is the fashion industry emitting greenhouse gases worthy of attention, but it is also consuming more natural resources than ever before.[iv] The fashion industry at large consumes 79 trillion liters of water per year.[v] The fashion industry remains overwhelmingly unregulated despite its 75 million jobs, valuation of roughly $2.4 trillion globally, and stark environmental impact.[vi]
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe referred to the fashion industry as an environmental and social emergency, indicating that great action must be taken.[vii] Rather than focusing on the issue from a legislative perspective, global leaders instead looked to fashion leaders to shift the conversation surrounding sustainability and overconsumption.[viii] In June 2023, the United Nations created The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook to combat a variety of issues in the fashion industry with an overwhelming focus on sustainability.[ix] This Playbook provides a framework for current and future brands on how to align communication and sustainability targets in order to shift the narrative with consumers to a more sustainable lifestyle.[x] The Playbook describes an overarching goal of a 1.5-degree science-based target in accordance with the United Nation’s Paris Agreement, an overall reduction of around 7 percent of greenhouse emissions.[xi] The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change and global warming, cites a goal of achieving a lesser global temperature in order to halt the harsh effects of greenhouse gases.[xii]
The United States joined the Paris Agreement in 2021.[xiii] However, the U.S. has expressed more general goals regarding the environment, including reducing greenhouse emissions 50-52 percent lower than 2005 levels and switching to 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035.[xiv] There is no mention of fast fashion in any currently passed federal legislation, despite the U.S. being one of the largest consumers of fast fashion brands, such as Shein, a China-based direct-to-consumer company that has overtaken other popular fast fashion brands with U.S. consumers.[xv] One proposed act, the Fashion Accountability and Building Real Institutional Change, or FABRIC Act, accounts for workplace conditions and labor standards but neglects to include standards regarding emissions.[xvi] Despite being one of the fastest growing fast fashion brands, Shein has taken no recognizable action to assist in their negative environmental impact which includes using hazardous materials, microplastics, and generally contributing to carbon emissions.[xvii] With the U.S, contributing 16 million tons of textile waste per year, it is high time to initiate change.[xviii]
Only one U.S. state has proposed any regulation on the fast fashion industry; New York state legislature recently proposed the Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act.[xix] This would create “legally binding and environmental labor standards for the industry,” the first in the U.S..[xx] The Act would require companies to disclose their environmental impacts and “detail the greenhouse gas emissions, chemical management, energy consumption, water, and materials” used in their production processes.[xxi] The Act also requires that brands create emission reduction targets in order to improve those impacts.[xxii]
With the fashion industry currently on track to commit 26 percent of global carbon emissions by 2050, the U.S. should already be feeling the pressure of a fashion climate crisis and must take action.[xxiii] To avoid this crisis, a federal implication similar to New York's proposed Act is necessary. The federal Act should require a target goal of permitted emissions by each registered brand of fast fashion production, similar to the action plan outlined in the Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act.[xxiv] With no action currently planned and the fast fashion market anticipated to grow to $167.50 billion by 2030, the U.S. needs to play catch-up, before it’s too late.[xxv]
[i] UN Alliance Aims to Put Fashion on Paith to Sustainability, United Nations Econ. Comm’n for Europe (2018), https://unece.org/forestry/press/un-alliance-aims-put-fashion-path-sustainability [https://perma.cc/4BRB-8PLE].
[ii] Id.
[iii] Id.
[iv] Madeline Cobbing & Yannick Vicaire, Timeout for Fast Fashion, Greenpeace., https://storage.googleapis.com/planet4-international-stateless/2018/01/6c356f9a-fact-sheet-timeout-for-fast-fashion.pdf [https://perma.cc/N5LV-6XUR].
[v] Kerrice Bailey et al., The Environmental Impacts of Fast Fashion and Water Quality: A Systematic Review, Water, March 29, 2022, at 1073 [https://perma.cc/JVV4-4683].
[vi] Press Release, Solidarity Center, Global Garment and Textile Industries: Workers, Rights, and Working Conditions (2019), https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Garment-Textile-Industry-Fact-Sheet.8.2019.pdf [https://perma.cc/YRU2-VYTW].
[vii] United Nations Econ. Comm’n for Europe, supra note i.
[viii] Press Release, U.N. Climate Change, UNEP and UN Climate Change Provide Fashion Communicators With Practical Guide to Contribute to Sustainable Change (June 23, 2023).
[ix] The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook at 2 (United Nations Env’t Programme 2023) https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/42819/sustainable_fashion_communication_playbook.pdf [https://perma.cc/79AC-3VGD].
[x] Bella Webb, Why the way fashion talks about sustainability needs to change, Vogue Business (June 28, 2023), https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/why-the-way-fashion-talks-about-sustainability-needs-to-change-united-nations-sustainable-fashion-communication [https://perma.cc/ZXG9-JK23].
[xi] United Nations Env’t Programme, supra note ix at 2.
[xii]U.N. Climate Change, Process and Meetings: The Paris Agreement: What is the Paris Agreement?, United Nations, https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement [https://perma.cc/BMH5-XAM3].
[xiii] Press Release, U.S. Dept. of State, The United States Officially Rejoins the Paris Agreement (Feb. 19, 2021), https://www.state.gov/the-united-states-officially-rejoins-the-paris-agreement/ [https://perma.cc/Q8AJ-GSY8].
[xiv] National Climate Task Force, President Biden’s Actions to Tackle the Climate Crisis, The White House (2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate/#:~:text=Reducing%20U.S.%20greenhouse%20gas%20emissions,clean%20energy%20to%20disadvantaged%20communities [https://perma.cc/34WT-6999].
[xv] Janine Perry, Shein holds largest U.S. fast fashion market share, Bloomberg Second Measure (Jan. 4, 2023), https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/fast-fashion-market-share-us-consumer-spending-data-shein-hm-zara/. [https://perma.cc/PRR9-K96U].
[xvi] The FABRIC Act, https://thefabricact.org/ (last visited Sept. 28, 2023). [https://perma.cc/8E8K-RK7X].
[xvii] Isobella Wolfe, How Ethical is SHEIN? Why It Gets Our Lowest Rating, Good on You (May 3, 2023), https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-shein/ [https://perma.cc/W7RX-Q4PL].
[xviii] Nicole Greenfield, New York Is Exposing the Fashion Industry for What It Is: A Climate Nightmare, NRDC (Feb. 13, 2023), https://www.nrdc.org/stories/new-york-exposing-fashion-industry-what-it-climate-nightmare [https://perma.cc/7A9M-6R5Z].
[xix] Id.
[xx] Id.
[xxi] Id.
[xxii] Id.
[xxiii] A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future, Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017) at 21, https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/a-new-textiles-economy. [https://perma.cc/2BWT-ZVU2].
[xxiv] Wolfe, supra note xvii.
[xxv]King’s Research, Fast Fashion Market Size to Hit USD 167.50 Billion by 2023, Driven by Rising Customer Interest in Stylish Clothing, States King’s Research, Yahoo Finance (Aug. 7, 2023), https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fast-fashion-market-size-hit-151900251.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADqUtJ3iBFsJVMsnZAlx5n9YA2a1SwtzFAsy5VXA2lmf4fjOaQWK3HUQHM1y4dhApuM7J_4zyTxcTquQCUe5RWZFwTKJWdspB7K2mjJ-p8Z8torgX4PHKoKk8s4cpXHHzJCBUiAL8m78244NHJrZ4K6bT-I_cbZ4h9E83QtaSyLL#:~:text=Dubai%2C%20UAE%2C%20Aug.,7.70%25%20during%20the%20forecast%20period. [https://perma.cc/6PTA-Y6P8].