Rethink and Redeem: The Future of Fashion
Can the fashion industry redesign itself into a model of sustainability with the advent of new, innovative textiles?
FUTURE PROOF – BLOG BY FUTURES PLATFORM
The fashion industry contributes more to climate change than international air and sea travel and shipping combined, yet it has largely managed to slip under the climate-watch radar – until now. A confluence of the pandemic, climate change awareness and technological advances is bringing more sustainable fabrics to the market than ever before.
Until the lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic, our work and social lives revolved around in-person gatherings. The daily commute to the office, not to mention evening and weekend social gatherings, came with the implicit commandment that thou shalt dress smartly and uniquely at all times. Fast fashion met the demand for affordable new clothing, with some vendors selling items at a loss just to get customers in their stores or on their websites.
Yes, a party dress costing less than a fancy coffee may have seemed like a bargain to wear at the time, but its purchase resulted in zero improvement in the wages or working conditions for the workers who made it. Worse still, after its (most likely) single use, it probably ended up in a landfill, where it would stay, along with all the other dresses that were never purchased due to overproduction, for years or even decades to come.
As of March 2020, your onscreen look became your primary fashion concern. Eye-catching tops and curated backgrounds became a priority, focusing on chic looks above the waist and off-camera comfort below it. Faced with this new and limiting trend, fashion and technology stepped up their collaboration to work on digital fashion: clothing digitally tailored to perfectly fit the virtual you. And always available in your favourite colours and patterns. A glimpse of future clothes trends, perhaps?
Of course, actual clothing will always be needed, but with rising concerns over water usage and toxic emissions, fashion and science are working more closely than ever to bring greener, innovative textiles to wardrobes around the world. Replacements for oil-based fabrics (which don’t biodegrade) and cotton (which requires massive amounts of water and arable land) are under development, with many already available and capable of scaling to meet increasing demand.
SUSTAINABLE FABRICS: NEW WAYS WITH WOOD
With the decline in demand for paper as printing processes go digital, companies involved in the sale and export of forest products have begun turning wood pulp into textile fibres – a process that requires a lot of water and sometimes toxic chemicals.
Several new methods of spinning fibre from wood products without the use of chemicals, or even water, have moved from proof-of-concept to production. And though wood-based textiles could be a boon for the forest products industry, legislation to scale back or eliminate tree harvesting might limit this growth of wood fibre manufacturing.
MAKING OLD COTTON NEW AGAIN
Another path to rehabilitating fashion’s reputation is textile recycling. But to recycle at scale requires a robust supply of textiles, which in turn requires making it effortless for consumers to recycle. Textile-collection programmes range from in-store drop boxes to at-home recycling bins.
The technology to separate the constituent fibres in recycled textiles is still a cumbersome process, however. Cotton, in particular, is difficult to strip of dyes, which limits what designers can do with colours and patterns.
FUTURE FASHION – DRESSING FOR THE NEXT DECADE
Many pieces need to be pulled together to create a win-win look for the fashion industry and the planet.
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