We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Fashion, Sustainability, and the Anthropocene
Summary
This review examines the environmental impact of clothing consumption in the context of the Anthropocene, discussing emerging sustainable materials and circular economic models against the broader historical backdrop of human-environment interactions in the fashion industry.
ABSTRACT The unbridled consumption of clothing threatens the environment. A discussion is developing around the adoption of new materials and economic models to reduce the impacts of clothing production and use. We discuss these emergent technologies in the wider historical setting of the Anthropocene. The history of human-environmental interactions is interwoven with the development of international garment economies. This article provides an account of how changes in clothing manufacturing and consumption patterns have affected environmental systems, focusing on laundry practices in Britain. We draw on closed-loop recycling to discuss how ideas from clothing businesses privilege the status quo and technological change. Optimistic solutions to fashion and sustainability challenges are an example of mechanisms that are responding to a utopian eco-modernist argument that human systems can adapt and prosper in a changing world. Such flawed solutions hide from view more radical visions to transform the relationships among fashion, technology, and the environment.
Sign in to start a discussion.
More Papers Like This
Sustainable Fashion—Rationale and Policies
This review examines the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry — from synthetic fiber microplastic pollution and water contamination to labor exploitation — and surveys emerging global policies aimed at driving the sector toward greater sustainability.
Scenarios for reducing the environmental impacts of the UK clothing economy
Researchers modeled scenarios for reducing the environmental footprint of the UK clothing economy over the next two decades, where per-capita consumption is double the global average. They found that both production changes and shifts in consumer behavior are needed to bring clothing impacts within planetary boundaries. The study suggests that fast fashion's growth has driven dramatic increases in carbon emissions and material consumption that current circular economy efforts have been too slow to address.
Linear Economy versus Circular Economy: New raw material
This paper examines the fashion industry's role in environmental sustainability and argues for a transition from linear to circular economic models. It highlights how the current take-make-waste approach generates massive textile waste, including synthetic microplastic fibers. A circular fashion economy would reduce both material waste and plastic pollution from textiles.
The Environmental Impact of the Fashion Industry: The Necessity of Sustainability
This study examines the environmental impact of the fashion industry across six dimensions — carbon emissions, clothing waste and synthetic material pollution, chemical and dye water contamination, water resource consumption, microplastic fiber shedding, and land use — arguing for the necessity of systemic sustainability transitions in fashion production and consumption.
Sustainability Challenges of the Textile Industry
This review examines the environmental, social, and economic sustainability challenges facing the global textile industry, including high water consumption, chemical pollution, labor exploitation, and the compounding effects of fast fashion on waste generation and resource depletion. The authors argue that addressing these interconnected challenges requires a multidimensional approach spanning supply chain transparency, regulatory reform, and shifts in consumer behavior.