Across species, we all share a common home. The fashion industry cannot continue to pillage the planet. Unsustainable fashion for profit is a crisis.
Fashion must embrace degrowth and circularity in order to protect the planet.
Too, fashion must choose the right materials.
Materials derived from our fellow animals are some of the most ecologically destructive of all. If we are to reach a genuinely sustainable fashion future, we need to move beyond these materials, change our patterns of consumption and how we use what’s already available to us.
Learn more about how Earth is being decimated by the fashion industry and how we can fix it.
Learn about some of the most significant environmental issues, and how fashion contributes to them:
Over production and consumption
More than anything, we need to consume less, while the fashion industry simultaneously produces less. We need to support circularity and degrowth in fashion.
If we do not slow down the pace of the fashion industry, we will continue to push planetary boundaries, causing pollution, degradation and ecological damage across the globe.
Image: Textile waste in Bangladesh / The True Cost
Deforestation and biodiversity
Animal-derived materials used for fashion are a leading cause of deforestation and associated biodiversity destruction.
We can fix this problem by producing less and moving away from animal-derived materials, instead opting for sustainable plant agriculture and lab-grown, recycled or innovative materials.
Image: Cleared Amazonian land / Ana Terra Athayde / Vox
Greenhouse gas emissions
As our climate continues to warm, many plant and animal species will not be able to survive. More human homes will become unliveable because of rising temperatures and seas.
To curb the climate crisis, we need to transition away from the aspects of the fashion industry most responsible for greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.
Image: A starving polar bear on melting ice / Kerstin Langenberger
Water scarcity and pollution
Fresh water is precious, and all land-dwelling species need it to survive. Yet the fashion industry wastes enormous amounts of water through material production and inefficient dyeing processes.
To conserve water, we need to improve water usage. We must protect the fresh water we have from eutrophication, which disrupts and damages freshwater systems and the life within them.
Indigenous land rights
Indigenous people protect the vast majority of biodiversity left on this planet. Fashion supply chains which impede on Indigenous land rights cause deforestation and soil degradation for the sake of leather, wool, synthetics and other materials.
Image: The Guardian / Lalo de Almeida