In the photo: a model takes to the catwalk during the Sustainable fashion show as part of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) at Expo City Dubai in Dubai, UAE, 06 December 2023. The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), ran from 30 November to 12 December and hosted one of the largest numbers of participants in the annual global climate conference as over 70,000 estimated attendees, including the member states of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), business leaders, young people, climate scientists, Indigenous Peoples and other relevant stakeholders attended. EPA/ALI HAIDER
Because of a succession of global crises, fashion trends have become exceedingly ephemeral; to compete today, you must be adaptable. The more original the fashion and trends in general, the faster you will capture the attention of customers.
Innovative materials, less environmental impact, and artificial intelligence will soon rule this age-old industry.
Today, increasing environmental and moral concerns leave their imprint on this massive enterprise, forcing it to modernize whether it wants to or not. Regardless of the obstacles it faces, fashion will always be important since it has never been a need, but rather a want.
Fashion houses have always followed the creation of clothes for two seasons - spring/summer, presented in September of the previous year, and autumn/winter, presented in February of the previous year - from the post-war years of the Second World War in the world to the appearance of the so-called fast fashion models in the last 10-15 years. Fashion businesses might gather client requests, investigate consumer sentiments, and plan future production by producing two collections every year. However, with the emergence of "fast fashion," this yearly cycle of manufacture and display of large businesses' outfits was demolished by a market swamped with duplicates of their models. These reproductions were available in stores before the actual versions were included in official evaluations.
This requires official fashion houses to publish at least 11 collections every year, with some - mainly the smaller ones - presenting up to 50 collections per year! For example, the Spanish Zara, which was founded to offer "cheap fashionable clothes," sells over 20,000 models every year, while the Shaein brand, situated in the Chinese city of Nanjing, sells thousands of new models every day on its website. Thus, the process of making a garment is cut to three days, whereas typical fashion corporations require 6 to 9 months.
Environmental impact
Because of so-called fast fashion, the fashion industry is one of the world's biggest sources of pollution. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, over 13 tons of clothing are dumped into landfills globally each year, and the industry generates roughly 2.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases each year, according to McKinsey. The fast fashion business accounts for 20% of industrial water waste globally each year. Because of market overproduction and excess, customer behavior is changing; people are increasingly purchasing garments, which have a significantly shorter lifespan.
According to the European Union's legal framework, all European nations will be required to comply with new textile product regulations by 2025, which mandate that 10% of extra clothing can be cremated, levy ecotaxes on every clothes sold, and so on. Incineration is now one of the most used methods of eliminating unwanted textiles.
In today's Bulgarian and worldwide markets, more and more companies, like Adidas, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, and many more, provide clothing made from recycled materials. "This product is made from recycled materials, which are created by reusing materials before or after use." The use of recycled materials in goods minimizes the quantity of raw materials and related waste, energy, and water used in the manufacture of primary materials," according to the description of an Adidas recycled polyester winter jacket, which costs more than 400 euros in Bulgaria.
Fashion, on the other hand, is the finest example of the life cycle; what is trendy now will not be popular tomorrow. One of the reasons recycling is not a suitable answer for the fashion industry is that the cost and footprint of the process itself are substantially greater than the cost and quality of the recycled product. Real cotton, for example, which is desired by quality and large fashion companies, cannot be recycled into a product of the same quality as the input raw material, resulting in a lower-quality output. Clothing with zippers, buttons, and different ornaments such as eyelets, belts, and buckles is especially difficult to recycle since the expense of removing these decorations from the garment exceeds the cost of the finished recycled product.
Concerning the dangers of synthetic materials
We frequently forget that the skin is the biggest organ in the human body, accounting for 16% of total body weight and performing a plethora of defensive and metabolic tasks that safeguard and stabilize the body from harmful external effects. Wearing garments made of non-natural materials - that is, artificial materials - subjects the body to a test for which it is unprepared.
Until recently, textiles were classified as either synthetic or natural. Today, the distinction is quite hazy, and you may frequently buy "mixed" materials in stores. Even if they are formed of natural materials, they are subjected to rigorous chemical processing. Typically, "fast fashion" producers treat textiles with specific materials that make the garment wrinkle-free, water-repellent, stain-resistant, and so on. The skin does not "breathe" in synthetics. Synthetics are problematic for persons with sensitive skin because they do not allow moisture from the skin to escape, which produces a greenhouse effect and can cause allergies or irritation. Ironically, it is the low-quality material from recycled plastic bottles that is used to make exercise and sportswear.
One of the earliest artificially generated textiles was viscose, which was derived from cellulose (processed wood). Viscose is not dangerous in and of itself because it is breathable and antibacterial. However, its efficiency deteriorates when exposed to water, which is why various chemical components are added to the composition, which frequently causes irritation and deprives viscose of its "breathable" features.
Polyester, for example, is frequently used in the production of numerous children's items, including diapers. Polyester is manufactured from petroleum products and other chemical components that, when combined, are poisonous and carcinogenic. It might also be harmful to your health if you have sensitive skin.
Nylon clothing is prized for its durability. The material is stretchy enough to be used for tights and socks. One of the terrible consequences of this sort of material is that it does not "ventilate," does not absorb secretions, and adds to skin warming, which promotes infections and fungus.
Acrylic is a synthetic wool that is commonly used to make sweaters, caps, and scarves. It completely preserves human body heat but cannot transmit it, i.e. it can not breathe. It causes a greenhouse effect, which might have negative repercussions.
Last but not least, the well-marketed bamboo clothing attracts a large number of purchasers. The material has a hygroscopicity that is comparable to that of cotton. Light does not modify the form of its fibers, and it is incredibly cheap. Although it appears to be a competitor to cotton, the very structure of bamboo necessitates stringent chemical treatment with sulfides, sodium hydroxide, and sulfuric acid. All of these substances are known to cause severe allergies.
What does the future hold?
The most suitable first step would be for corporations to make a concentrated effort to manufacture garments from more sustainable fabrics - quality textiles. As major companies obtain more responsible fabrics for their collections, order volume will increase, lowering total manufacturing costs (and hence the retail price), and making the product more accessible to the general public.
When selecting a garment, the consumer looks for two things: the material from which it is constructed and the method of usage - at what degrees it can be washed and whether it is suitable for a dryer.
Consumers must be informed about what they are purchasing, and most crucially, how it will influence their health, for there to be a qualitative difference. Second, corporations must declare the environmental effects of clothing manufacture. Third, be clear about how the clothes are made and the factory conditions - 'Blood, Sweat and T-shirts,' a BBC Three series that shows the appalling conditions in which clothes are made in Asian countries, even by forced minor children, clearly demonstrated that many /even big/ brands do not know where their clothes come from or the process of making them.
The two primary difficulties facing the market inundated with recycled and health-hazardous materials in the next years are the question of implementing universal ethical guidelines in the process of manufacturing clothing, as well as their sustainable creation in sync with the environment. /BGNES
