Julia Redman, POC’s ambassador for fashion, delivered the first in a series of six webinars hosted on the POC platform, addressing the impacts, solutions, and innovations towards sustainability in the fashion industry.
The first session focused on addressing the global impact of fashion, from the emissions and waste it produces, to over-production, resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and deforestation. Julia covered what sustainable principles we can embed into our businesses to reduce that impact over time.
Julia began by acknowledging that sustainability in fashion is a difficult subject to address practically; “Sometimes it feels like a monumental task and like you’re pushing water uphill,” Julia said.
But the purpose of this webinar was to provide practical applications with what you can do to improve sustainability in various aspects of your business, through looking at GHGs, waste, over-production, resource depletion, biodiversity loss, deforestation and other detrimental effects of the fashion industry.
“As an industry we are struggling to address our impact,” said Julia, “And we are going in the opposite direction at the moment. So tangible action is required to turn the tide.”
Julia then presented a number of sobering statistics from Optitex: Fashion is the second most polluting industry; it sends 92 million of tons of waste to landfill; it is responsible for 10% of carbon emissions and 20% of industrial water pollution; and one truck of textiles is wasted every second.
“It really doesn’t matter what kind of fashion business you are, luxury fashion, fast fashion, contemporary fashion, or licensed fashion, it’s all much of muchness and very few businesses in any of those sectors can claim to be doing enough to mitigate their impact, so it is something we all have to address,” Julia added.
“Some brands talk about themselves as sustainable brands; I am a firm believer at this time that there’s no such thing as a sustainable brand, there is no such thing as sustainable fashion. It just doesn’t exist at this point in time. There are brands that are doing things more sustainably, but a truly sustainable brand does not exist,” she stated.
One of the largest issues with the industry is that it currently relies on vast quantities of fabric designed from fossil fuels. “Our overuse of polyester which is growing, even now, is really something that we need to address first,” said Julia.
Especially with more research coming to light about the impacts of microplastics on not just the environment, but human health.
Julia added, “But it is really hard not to buy polyester as most clothes are made from polyester or contain some polyester.”
We are also contributing to widespread deforestation with the production of cellulosic fibres and leather. Plus our consumption of water and creation of waste are all critical and need to change.
“We talk about the business case for sustainability a lot,” said Julia, “but what if we flipped it, and asked nature to make the case for business?”
Tracey Herald from the Eden Lab asked this very question, and posed: if business could speak to nature, what would it say? To which she wrote:
“You depend on me for everything – your materials, your energy, your very existence. Yet you treat me like a resource to be mined, rather than a partner to be nurtured. You think in quarterly profits, but I work in centuries. I’m not asking for charity, I am your greatest asset. When I thrive, so do you. Every step you take towards regenerating what you’ve taken, isn’t just good for me, it’s survival for you. You don’t need to make the ‘business case’ for me. I am the case. Without me, there’s no business.”
Julia added, “This just sums up the place we’re at. That we need to think about it very differently.”
There are also people to consider and the impact fashion has on those who work in the industry. There are widespread issues of child labour, forced labour, excessive overtime, and physical, mental and sexual abuse which often goes unreported. Exploitation is rife and women and children are the worst affected, Julia explained. Payment of a living wage is rare, perpetuating poverty in garment producing regions. Health and safety is overlooked in the pursuit of profitability.
“A lot of our clothes are manufactured in the poorest places in the world, because they are the cheapest place to produce, because wages are so very low there. We either need to drive towards payment of a living wage or rethink how we source product,” said Julia.
As explained, there are multiple problems which is why it feels like such a monumental task, she added.
“It must be remembered that our impact as a fashion industry happens at every stage of the buying lifecycle, whether we are researching, sampling, producing, shipping, at every spoke of the wheel of buying, we are having an impact,” Julia said.
She then drew on her takeaways from Stephen R Covey’s book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:
Seek first to understand, then be understood: understand the factories you are working with, the people involved and their needs and perspectives.
Be pro-active: focus and act on what you can control, and make a difference in.
Put first things first: prioritise your most important goals that will make the most amount of difference, or the things you can achieve quickest, both strategies needed for optimum progress.
Begin with the end in mind: this plays into circularity, really thinking about clear measures of success and plans to achieve them with an understanding of what is going to happen to a garment at the end of its life as unless you plan it from the very beginning it won’t happen.
A good place to start is an impact report, said Julia, which enables traceability, transparency and accountability, allows your whole company to see your responsible business practices, allows you to be a role model and share best practices, encourage sharing of information between companies to learn, stakeholders and investor support, and build the business case for responsible product development, sourcing and retail within a fashion business.
Julia highlighted that the culture of a business is fundamental: “You need buy in from the top of the organisation; the culture of the business is driven by that person. It is much more difficult to push processes through without support at that level.”
By creating an impact report, you are committing to making a positive impact for the benefit of all stakeholders. Julia recommends using the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
She then shared examples of sustainability reports from businesses that she believed was doing a good job in terms of reporting on their impact and progress on sustainability, which included: Joanie Clothing, Stella McCartney, Marks & Spencer, GANNI, Reformation, Everlane, and Sezane.
“They are all very different, and every brand approaches it in a different way. But they can be useful pointers to structure your own impact report,” Julia advised.
Next, she set out examples of tangible actions that could be taken, using the strategic levers from the POC Sustainability Framework and linking back to the SDGs, and divided into the short, medium, and long term.
“It is important to ensure every goal we set meets these criteria, and is measurable and time bound,” she said.
Examples in supply chain:
Short Term Examples
Sourcing 70% of fibre/yarn/fabric close to manufacture by end 2026.
Minimise usage & depletion of finite natural resources – eliminate 100% virgin synthetics be end 2026.
Migrate all manufacturing partners from 2 pillar to 4 pillar SMETA audits, which include modules on business ethics and environment by end 2026.
Medium Term
Build transparency into sourcing, production & approvals processes by end 2027. (partner with relevant software provider?).
Use mono materials whenever possible, to facilitate recycling and/or biodegradability by end 2027.
Review all partners to meet minimum certified material guidelines eg. BCI cotton, GOTS organic cotton, GRS recycled fibres, RWS wool content etc by end 2027.
Digital Product Passport readiness by end 2027 (earlier for EU).
Long Term
Fully traceable, responsible and sustainable design, sourcing & supply operation by end 2030.
Waste reduction:
Short Term
Actively review and reduce any unnecessary sampling by 50%, by end 2026.
80% of products and packaging to be recycled and recyclable by end 2026.
Medium term
Eliminate all unnecessary sampling by end 2028.
Focus on 50% materials/yarns that are suitable for recycling by end 2028.
Consider 20% sources of fibre/yarn from post-consumer waste by end 2028.
Zero waste policy across offices and manufacturing by end 2028.
Product design transition:
Short Term
Reduce/replace 70% of the most damaging fibres & materials, replacing virgin fibres with recycled in all cases where this is possible, by end 2027.
Implement and scale use of 3D design – 30% of designs to be developed in 3D by end 2027.
Understand and utilise best fabric/fibre options and certifications available, for every product, by end 2027.
Construction – design to minimize waste, working with technologist & pattern maker.
Medium Term
Research and prioritise materials which are recyclable, to ensure an end-of-life waste stream is readily available, by end 2027.
Long Term
Design for disassembly or multiple end-use & reuse of components.
Why?
To meet the requirements of the EU Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation, which will be implemented in 2026 and enforced in 2027.
The requirements include environmental impact, durability & reusability, recycled content and resource efficiency, recyclability & end-of-life management.
This is a framework for Eco-Design requirements and will require every product to have a unique code, so that it can be tracked from its production to the end-of-life.
The code will be used to track products through customs, and by recyclers, repairers and local authorities, so no product will ever disappear into an untraceable mountain of landfill. It will also be used to check tariff codes & ensure that the right amount of tax is paid on import.
If it hasn’t got a data code (effectively a digital product passport), it will not be able to pass through customs.
Reduce emissions:
Short term
Review and re-evaluate scope 1& 2 emissions by mid 2025.
Begin supplier discussion to assess & reduce scope 3 emissions – SMETA/Higg data.
Minimise processing which involves toxic chemicals or heat processing – find new ways to achieve those features/benefits by end 2026.
Mid term
Partner with Carbon Trust or SBTi to effectively track and measure all emissions by end 2026 and set targets for the future.
Join a climate action community e.g. Ecologi, to offset any remaining emissions and reduce impact https://ecologi.com/
Long term
Net Zero/Net Positive Business by 2030.
Facility management:
Short Term
Identify key sources of manufacturer impact e.g. waste, water, energy, transportation, social by end 2025.
Reduce waste – canteen food waste to local farms for animal feed, recycle or reuse paper/card/plastic, recycle waste fabric into other small accessories & bags for local community (to eliminate the use of plastic carrier bags) by end 2025.
Medium Term
Work with manufacturers to reduce energy usage, and introduce renewable energy wherever possible – solar panels on factory roof, skylights, low energy LED lighting, insulation, evaporative cooling systems to replace AC etc by end 2027.
Monitor & minimise water use – establish on site water treatment plants, recycle water internally, rainwater harvesting, push button taps by end 2028.
Long Term
Build back biodiversity on factory grounds by end 2028.
100% renewable energy/opportunity to sell clean energy back to the grid by end 2028.
Zero waste to landfill by end 2028.
Overall priority must be taken for the conservation of natural resources, minimised impact, reduction of carbon footprint, respect for workers, social development of region, durability of garment, and disassembly and redesign of existing garments.
