TOOLS FOR TRANSPARENCY: MEASURING FASHION’S FOOTPRINT
Angela Cavalca NEW DIGITAL TOOLS CAN HELP INCREASE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS FOR BOTH BRANDS AND CONSUMERS
REPORT
It’s no secret that the production, distribution, consumption and disposal cycles of the fashion and textiles industry play a consistent role in climate change. According to ‘The Fashion on Climate’ report released in 2020 by McKinsey & Company, around 70% of the fashion industry’s emissions in 2018 came from upstream activities such as materials production, preparation and processing. The remaining 30% were associated with downstream retail operations such as the use-phase and end-of-use activities at consumer level.
Consumers therefore play an essential role in the cycle and are becoming increasingly aware of how their spending decisions impact the world. Boston Consulting Group’s 2020 Fashion’s Big Reset analysis highlights that the pandemic is shifting consumer sentiments; now – more than ever – consumers favor brands that put sustainability and ethics at the forefront of their ethos. Therefore, brands and retailers must ensure that they operate transparently, acting in ways that are environmentally and socially responsible.
New digital tools that measure the ecological or carbon footprint of a material, garment or a wardrobe are one way of helping both brands and consumers track the impact of their decisions. In 2020, the online luxury retailer Farfetch introduced a new fashion footprint tool that allows consumers, when choosing a product, to consider which materials can reduce the environmental impact of their purchase and to compare the environmental savings of incorporating pre-owned purchases into their wardrobes.
Consignment and thrift store ThredUp recently launched a Fashion Footprint Calculator in collaboration with the California-based carbon calculating startup Green Story. The tool allows customers to understand the environmental cost of their fashion choices with suggestions on how to reduce their footprint. Similarly, e-marketplace Goshopia provides a personalized carbon footprint calculator that not only makes customers aware of their footprint but suggests ways to offset it via small changes in their daily activities.
At industry level, brands and retailers can collaborate with their upstream partners to ensure consistent actions to accelerate sustainable progress. In the textile sector, Italian fabric manufacturer Eurojersey adopted the PEF (Product Environmental Footprint) self-assessment system that allows brands to calculate the environmental footprint of garments made in their Sensitive Fabrics. The designer Chiara Boni at Chiara Boni La Petite Robe utilized these fabrics for her whole collection and, as a result, was the first Italian womenswear company to obtain the European PEF certification.
Brands and retailers can implement several tools to be more forthcoming with data regarding their efforts to pursue responsible actions while increasing customer awareness of product purchases. As consumers continue to value brand transparency as a key purchasing decision, such tools will undoubtedly help the process towards a more sustainable fashion economy.