What if to reduce the rise of our planet temperature it was enough to create fabrics and clothing in a more sustainable way?
The textile industry is one of the major contributors to “global warming”, due to production processes that consume large amounts of energy and raw materials, introducing into nature scraps and waste that are increasingly difficult to dispose of. According to McKinsey’s 2020 “Fashion on climate” report, 4% of global emissions came from the clothing industry in 2018, corresponding to approximately 2.1 billion tons of CO2.
A catastrophic result if we consider that in the world the sale of clothing is constantly growing, mainly driven by emerging markets such as Asia and Africa, and that in the next 30 years it could reach a production of 160 million tons of new garments, or more than three times that of today. Furthermore, if the demand for clothing continues to increase, carbon emissions would rise to about 2.7 billion tons per year by 2030, increasing by 28% in the absence of concrete actions to contain waste and fight against pollution.
What, then, are the paths to take to protect the environment and the health of those who live there?
Revolutionize the system of production and consumption
In recent years, the demonstrations in the streets promoted by Greta Thunberg with her Friday for future and by the Extinction Rebellion movement have increasingly attracted public attention to the environmental problems caused by global warming.
In 2020, the forced slowdown of the world economy caused by the Covid-19 pandemic also helped the environment. The industry – even the textile industry – has suffered significant losses, but the planet has breathed a sigh of relief.
What in many ways might seem like a catastrophe has proved to be an opportunity to reflect on and an opportunity to “start over” in a new way. This is why, in addition to reinventing strategies to revive the fashion sector and meet the needs of consumers, the time has come to drastically rethink processes and products, not only with the aim of offering the market garments that are more suited to the needs of the coming months, but above all more sustainable textiles that respect the resources needed to make them.Today there are many choices offered by Green Textile: the use of renewable sources, the recycling and reuse of discarded clothes, the choice of organic or synthetic raw materials of first quality, but also the use of production processes with a low social and environmental impact. To make each of these possibilities truly effective and easily achievable, however, a radical change of mentality is needed that embraces a new approach to production and consumption.
A sustainable fashion to save the planet
Making eco-friendly clothes means designing them in an innovative way, different from the past, experimenting with new production methods and high-tech solutions, especially when it comes to working synthetic fibers, the most polluting in nature, but which are often preferred by brands for high technical performances that guarantee particular garments. A valuable choice consists, for example, of the use of synthetic textiles capable of degrading more easily in the environment and in a completely non-toxic way for humans, or the use of 100% recycled fibers, produced with highly sustainable dyeing and finishing processes with low energy consumption. And so on.
However, this is only the beginning. The real revolution comes above all from the sustainable way in which you choose to experience fashion, whether it is street style or sport wear. Every action to protect the environment becomes more incisive if we manage to promote new business models, capable of making the market perceive a suit not as a disposable item, which feeds the vicious circle of the so-called Fast Fashion, but as a high quality good, manufactured to be durable and to tell the lifestyle of the wearer, without having to give up the high performance or comfort for which it is chosen.
To make the textile system more sustainable, minimizing its negative impacts, it is therefore necessary to profoundly transform the textile industry, beginning a change in its economic system. A choice that involves an unprecedented social and ethical commitment, based on collaboration between brands and manufacturers, on technological innovation and creative sharing. An approach based on a circular economy model would in fact become more effective if supported by awareness-raising actions aimed at giving rise to new trends and fashions, stimulating the acceptance and participatory involvement of the consumer.
Greenperforming starts right here: from the fusion between the passion for green fashion and the search for high textile performance. From the environmental sustainability of the fibers that are used to produce each garment, to the responsible use of new technological and process solutions. From the collaboration of the supply chain to a shared planning among the various actors that animate this sector.Here you will find our Manifesto.
