Fashion industry's sustainability push isn't keeping up with growth

Paris

THE fashion industry's progress on reducing its environmental impact is not moving fast enough to counteract its rapid growth, according to a report by consultancy BCG and sustainable fashion groups.

Fashion brands improved their environmental and social impact in 2018, but progress was slower than in the previous year, according to the report. It measured brands' efforts to make and implement various commitments such as reducing carbon emissions and water use, boosting the use of sustainable materials, and paying fairer wages.

The worldwide apparel and footwear market's expected growth - pegged at around 5 per cent a year till 2030 by Euromonitor analysts - risks "exerting an unprecedented strain on planetary resources" by raising annual production of fashion to more than 100 million tonnes, the report said.

"The industry really needs to pick up the pace. Brands are improving at a slower rate, and at the same time we're seeing a huge production increase," said Morten Lehmann, chief sustainability officer of the Global Fashion Agenda, one of the groups sponsoring the report.

Fashion companies across the price spectrum, from fast-fashion giant Hennes & Mauritz AB to luxury outfits such as Gucci owner Kering SA and LVMH, have announced new commitments on sustainability in recent years.

Consumers and regulators alike are increasingly concerned about the costs of the fast-moving industry, whose carbon emissions are estimated to be more than those of all international flights and maritime shipping combined.

Outcry over some of the the industry's most visible excesses - such as high-end players destroying unsold stock to prevent selling at steep discounts - have led brands such as Burberry Group plc to ramp up efforts on recycling and reusing materials. Kering is looking for ways to make raw materials such as cotton and cashmere more traceable so that it can impose more rigorous standards on its suppliers.

But surging demand for fashion - led by developing countries and particularly China - means that these changes are rarely enough to reduce brands' environmental impact in absolute terms.

A spokeswoman for H&M said that the report did not fully reflect the progress that companies made on implementing existing commitments. The Swedish retailer has reduced its overall carbon emissions by 11 per cent since 2017 and has boosted the use of recycled, organic or Better Cotton to 95 per cent, she said.

Nike Inc is moving towards the use of renewable power for all its North American and European operations under new energy-purchasing agreements, a representative said. The company has also rolled out more sustainable techniques such as woven "Flyknit" uppers - which reduce waste from cutting and stitching fabric - and recycled leather fibre in shoes.

One reason progress is slowing overall is that many smaller bargain brands, as well as companies producing clothes sold informally in street markets, have yet to take steps on improving sustainability.

Those categories include few household names, but add up to around 30 per cent of the global fashion market, the report said. BLOOMBERG