Fashion Needs & Consumption - Global Perspective
When we talk about global environmental and ecological issues, it is only logical to discuss the consumption patterns across the globe as well. We discussed fashion needs in my personal space and immediate environment in my previous posts. Now we move to global perspective.
One of the most talked about topic these days on social media is global climate change. Nations across the world are being forced to observe policies to act against climate change. Youngsters like Greta Thunberg are at the forefront of it. One of the biggest contributor to climate change is different types of pollution released into the environment by different companies across the world. Most of the big brands are making promises to turn carbon neutral by a certain time period in the future. Carbon Neutral is a term used to describe the state of an entity where the carbon emissions caused by them have been balanced out by funding an equivalent amount of carbon savings elsewhere in the world.
Fashion is again at the foremost of the pollution problems across the world. Fast fashion being the lead trend and consumer behaviour leading to these issues. Big fashion brands like H&M and Zara are trying to raise awareness among their consumers by starting recycle programs to buy back the old clothes so that it does not contribute to different types of pollution. But the real problem is hardly being solved since bulk of these old clothes end up in dumpsters or burnt by the companies because of commercial and financial reasons. Even the recycling techniques used by some of these brands are not innovative and add back to the whole problem.
/https%3A%2F%2Fspecials-images.forbesimg.com%2Fimageserve%2F876522442%2F0x0.jpg%3FcropX1%3D0%26cropX2%3D4912%26cropY1%3D189%26cropY2%3D2952)
Companies need to invest in technological advances around recycling of garments focussing on minimizing of pollution during the recycling process itself, try to come up with more sustainable manufacturing processes and machinery and making more recyclable material.
The other thing we, as consumers, can start at our end is end the taboo of repeating apparels, thereby increasing lifetime of a garment and reducing fashion buys. Although, all the mindless consumerism is adding to the world GDP and development of a lot of nations, especially the ones with all the sweatshops, we need to be mindful of the harmful effects it is having on us, our environment and definitely our future generations!
Fast Fashion is indeed on a rise. Even during the pandemic situation, online shopping has increased manifolds. Thus fast fashion has become a powerful force , which in terms of global level, increases manifolds.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point of view Ridhi that companies should try to come up with more sustainable manufacturing processes and definitely at our end we as a consumer should end the taboo of repeating apparels.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what we are going to do about this....bcoz neither companies are concern about the environment nor we are.....everybody is just thinking about themselves and their needs and wants
ReplyDeleteWe as consumers should become responsible and mindful while buying items. We shouldn't rely completely on the brands . There are many brands which work for the betterment of the environment , on the contrary there are brands like H&M, which fools the consumers by doing harms towards the planet.
ReplyDelete