We are moving into a time where sustainability is considered rather important in many aspects to most people, as seen from Go Green campaigns and recycling projects everywhere. It is as such, not shocking that fast fashion, as we know has been one of the Earth’s significant sources of pollution, is increasingly confronted for its unsustainable and rather harmful effects on our environment.
As such many brands, namely H&M, the pioneer of fast fashion, due to consumer pressures, have opted for greener ways to sell and produce their products. Aiming to become a sustainable brand by 2020, they have set out to source materials from sustainable and ethical sources, these either being organic or recycled materials, marketing themselves as a green and sustainable brand. A promotional video made in 2016 documented that H&M collects thousands of tonnes of unwanted fabric each year. From this, 99% are reused, recycled or reworn, while the rest are converted to energy. On an energy level, H&M have also been committed to using renewable energy, which they have claimed to be about 96%.
Let’s say, these are all true. Perhaps, H&M is indeed moving toward a greener and more ‘sustainable’ future. But if we all stopped here and simply applauded them for their ‘green moves’ and continued buying clothes from them, we might have just neglected this very ‘green move’ H&M pushed for.
See, recycled materials are good, but as it is, does not make H&M entirely sustainable. The switch to renewable energy is good, but as it is, does not make H&M entirely sustainable. While they do help, environmental sustainability is elaborate. The greatest problem here is mass production. So long as there is overproduction, so long as there is a cheap supply and therefore large demand for clothes, regardless of how green the company markets itself, it is arguably ironic from the waste it produces, energy it consumes, and pollutants that are released.
[Photo adapted from https://www.sustainablefashion.earth/type/water/synthetic-fibres-used-in-72-clothing-items-can-sit-in-landfills-for-200-years/]
Surely there are ways to minimise pollution, H&M sure knows the green moves to make. However, if we do not confront the consumerist habit of mass consumption in the first place, that makes green moves, well, inefficient – a poor judgement really.
Can fast fashion then ever be green? Can sustainable fashion be the way forward from fast fashion? That’s for us, and fashion brands, to truly understand what sustainability really means.
References
Biondi, Annachiara, Kati Chitrakorn, and Vogue Business for Snap. “Can Fast Fashion Be Green?” Vogue Business, December 6, 2018. https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/hm-fast-fashion-sustainability-recycling-hong-kong.
Burton, Olivia. “How H&M Are Going Green By 2020.” The Green Hub, May 12, 2020. https://thegreenhubonline.com/2017/08/01/global-brand-hm-going-green-2020/.
