Repost: Green threads: How fashion, nature and business intertwine
This opinion piece by Eva Zabey was originally published in Business Green.
Every business relies on nature for resources and ecosystem services including water, food, fibre, and minerals. The fashion and apparel sector is no exception. With Milan Fashion Week in full swing, now is the time to turn our attention to a sector that relies heavily on natural resources including cotton, wool, cellulose and plastics, and examine how it too can take action to contribute to a nature-positive future.
The fashion and apparel sector is dependent on nature through its use of raw materials, freshwater and energy feedstocks. But the fashion sector also has a powerful impact on nature, producing more than 92 million tonnes of waste each year and consuming more than 79 trillion litres of water. The sector’s total greenhouse gas emissions from textiles production - 1.2 billion tonnes annually - is more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
The fashion sector must work to become more sustainable. In doing so, it will make a significant contribution towards achieving global climate and nature goals, whilst also ensuring the long-term stability of its supply chains and continued economic resilience. It is not a case of the environment or the economy, but that both are intrinsically linked.
Some businesses in the fashion and apparel sector have made meaningful progress in addressing their impacts on climate change. Two examples of innovation in the sector are from Levi Strauss & Co and Patagonia. Via its WATER<LESS initiative, Levi Strauss & Co has developed more than 20 techniques to reduce the amount of water it takes to finish a pair of jeans by up to 96%. The company has also set wider targets as part of its 2025 Water Action Strategy - committing to reducing the amount of water used in manufacturing in highly stretched areas by 50% by 2025.
Similarly, Patagonia introduced its ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’ campaign, which encourages customers to consider the impacts of consumption and think twice before they buy. These moves by corporate leaders signal the start of the sector realising how damaging it is to recognise the value of nature only after it has been exploited. But there is more that still needs to be done.
As global consumer demand for more sustainable fashion grows, the sector must continue to acknowledge the value of nature to their business. With McKinsey’s analysis of fashion predicting top-line growth of 2-4% in 2024 disclose performance and other relevant nature-related information, so that this growth can be sustainable.
196 countries have committed to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 by adopting the Global Biodiversity Framework. Businesses now need to develop and publish a corporate nature strategy, as encouraged by It’s Now for Nature, a joint global campaign to bring together all businesses to act on nature.
So how should the whole fashion sector continue the progress that some businesses have already begun? The Business for Nature coalition, in partnership with Accenture, has outlined specific sector guidance, Fashion and apparel: Priority actions towards a nature-positive future, which proposes five priority actions that aim to transform business practices and value chains.
The fashion sector guidance forms part of a series of 12 sector-specific guides, created as part of a broader collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, that outline the specific actions businesses can take to transform their operations and value chains and contribute to a nature-positive future.
Implementing these measures and adopting a more circular business model should also unlock further commercial opportunities for the sector. Indeed, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has estimated that the opportunities created by introducing such a model could reach USD $560 billion.
This commercial gain can already be seen as consumer and employee demands grow for a shift to models that protect nature and biodiversity, rather than harm it.
Consumers no longer see sustainability as a ‘nice-to-have’, but as a ‘need-to-have'. The Harvard Business Review recently discovered that when Gen Z and Millennial customers believe a brand cares about its impact on people on the planet, they are 27% more likely to purchase it than older generations.
A quarter of consumers are also prepared to pay more for sustainable products and packaging, alongside products that respect human rights or commit to ethical working practices. The message from younger generations is increasingly clear: profit must include principles.
As Milan Fashion Week becomes the next runway in the limelight, it’s time for businesses to recognise that sustainable consumerism and reducing fashion’s impact on nature is one trend that’s never going away.
Eva Zabey
CEO, Business for Nature