Though reducing, reusing, and recycling aren’t new concepts, the world lost its way with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution. Waste has become a growing issue that, no matter how hard you try, you cannot simply continue to ignore.
Thankfully, the zero-waste movement has been gaining traction in recent years, with more people opting to live a sustainable life and adopt a more circular economy. The fashion world has also taken some crucial steps, highlighting the importance of zero-waste fashion and its impact on humanity.
What Is Zero-Waste Fashion?
Back in the day, textiles were a much more precious commodity, so our usage was more sustainable overall. With the advent of industrialized manufacturing, the fashion industry has become the third-largest polluter on our planet, alongside food and construction.
Zero-waste fashion aims to change that through a variety of techniques that have extreme waste reduction as the main goal. Within it, we can identify two types of waste: pre- and post-consumer waste. Consequently, there are also two main approaches to reducing waste that revolve around pre-consumer design and post-consumer fashion waste management.
Pre-Consumer Design
Pre-consumer zero-waste fashion deals with eliminating waste during the manufacturing of clothing. Depending on the designer and their goals, there are many waste-reducing options to consider here, such as smarter yardage utilization, better textile selection, and designing new clothing from fabric scraps.
Using the yardage to its fullest potential when cutting fabric is one of the best ways to reduce leftover waste. Placing the pattern pieces flush with each other may result in faster cutting. Better still, designers would need less fabric to create clothing — and may thus offer their pieces at more competitive prices.
Another option is to focus on textiles made from natural fibers that won’t impact the environment too much. Some popular examples include organic cotton, which is grown using more sustainable practices than regular cotton, organic hemp, organic linen, and even recycled/upcycled cotton.
Various man-made fibers are also a great option, as some of them, like recycled nylon, may divert waste from landfills. Others, such as recycled polyester, require less energy and generate less carbon dioxide emissions than their virgin counterparts.
Finally, there’s a fabric scrap design. This technique entails using scraps left after pattern cutting to complement current designs by using them as embellishment or details. Alternatively, designers can weave the scraps together to get new fabric and use it to make new clothes.
Post-Consumer Fashion Waste Management
Post-consumer waste management in the fashion world is somewhat new, but it has shown some fantastic results. One way designers and brands are managing waste at the end of a product’s life is by implementing take-back programs.
Some brands ask customers to send back or bring their old clothes. The fabric leftovers from these garments could be used in new pieces or at least recycled into new fabrics.
Another option is to have a lease and rent service in place, this type of program allows people to rent clothing they may need for special occasions and then return them so that someone else could wear it later. However, transporting rented garments still contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. For this model to work, brands would have to find a way to reduce their carbon footprint further by using zero- or low-emissions modes of transportation.
Finally, both brands and smaller designers could offer repair services. As sustainable as darning your own socks at home, this model allows customers to send back broken or ripped items. Once they receive them, the brands can then fix them correctly, thus extending the items’ lifespan.
This is a cost-effective service for the customer, as they’d be able to enjoy their favorite fashion pieces for longer. Similarly, the brands and designers behind the items would keep their pieces in circulation for longer. As a result, they would likely remain relevant in the fashion industry and nurture a strong relationship with their clientele.
The Importance of Zero-Waste Fashion for Our World
Data doesn’t lie, and when it comes to the fashion industry, it may not surprise you. Fashion production contributes to humanity’s carbon emissions even more than maritime shipping and international flights combined. It has been drying up our water sources for a while now, thus significantly contributing to the scarcity of water sources in some regions. Delve deeper into the subject, and you’ll discover that garment manufacturing contributes to about 20% of industrial water pollution too.
Once you have your facts straight, it’s easy to see why and how vital zero-waste fashion is for our world and whether it continues to be a comfortable place to live. By producing more and more clothing that lasts only a few years (common for fast-fashion brands), we’re depleting our planet of vital resources and creating a massive amount of waste that either gets burned or dumped at landfills. As a result, this further implicates the industry as a significant contributor to global warming and climate change — among other things.
Embracing Zero-Waste Fashion
Unsurprisingly, we should aim to act fast to reverse the damage we’ve done by being wasteful for fashion’s sake. Zero-waste fashion offers some clear guidelines that would allow designers and brands to do their part and transform their industry into a more sustainable one.
As the average consumer, you can promote this cause too by buying fewer clothes and focusing on quality and durability. You can support various charity and secondhand shops and get new clothing without contributing to our environment’s destruction.
Better yet, consumers can start investing in sustainably made clothing that uses renewable materials and has an overall lower environmental impact. If anything, they can begin swapping clothes with friends and family as well or even rent clothing.
In either case, zero-waste fashion doesn’t rob you as a consumer of following trends and keeping your style in check. Without the burden of a substantial environmental impact hanging over your head, every outfit will be more satisfying to wear, too - and strengthen your role in preserving our planet’s integrity!
About the author: www.zerowaste.com a waste + recycling management company.