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How to Fix the Carbon Crisis in Fast Fashion

Workers organize used clothing for packaging at a warehouse near Barcelona on Aug. 1. REUTERS
Workers organize used clothing for packaging at a warehouse near Barcelona on Aug. 1. REUTERS
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How to Fix the Carbon Crisis in Fast Fashion

Workers organize used clothing for packaging at a warehouse near Barcelona on Aug. 1. REUTERS
Workers organize used clothing for packaging at a warehouse near Barcelona on Aug. 1. REUTERS

With all eyes on climate talks in Dubai, the world of fashion is working out how it can fulfill an ambitious pledge to slash the emissions it makes clothing the world with speed and style.
And the outlook isn't rosy, says Reuters.
Big brands have promised big cuts to their carbon footprint - but it is manufacturing that causes most of the environmental damage and somebody has to foot the bill for the radical change.
"The scale of the decarbonization challenge completely dwarfs the funds available," said Vidhura Ralapanawe, executive vice president at the fashion company Epic Group.
Hong Kong-based manufacturer Epic - which makes clothes in Bangladesh, Jordan and Ethiopia - has been at the forefront of global efforts to clean up the environmental footprint of the 2 trillion-dollar fashion industry.
"We are working with local and global organizations to move the whole industry forward, while trying to bring together brands, retailers, manufacturers, mills, and service providers."
The key to progress, he said, is a positive partnership between brands and manufacturers.
"Given the investment and risks manufacturers are taking, they need support in terms of long-term partnership as well as business terms that are sensitive to pricing," added Ralapanawe.
Fashion is one of the world's most damaging industries.
Behind 2% to 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions, it sucks up scarce water and creates vast amounts of pollution and waste.
The industry in 2018 set the goal of halving emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050. But progress has been slow.
Britain's monthly fashion habit alone creates the same carbon footprint as 900 round-the-world flights, according to the Oxfam charity. A 35-mile car trip creates the same environmental damage as making one cotton shirt, it added.
The stats have only got worse as the global appetite for fast fashion grows, with ever more consumers chasing the latest catwalk-to-high street trends.
Industry also knows that as of next year, it must comply with European Union legislation forcing companies to report and address emissions in their supply chains, with manufacturing to blame for about 80% of all apparel sector emissions.
But as global fashion brands pledge to drive down emissions and power towards the 2050 net-zero goal, textile and garment manufacturers are demanding that brands share the financial burden of investing in low-carbon technology and processes.
Last month, Transformers Foundation - a New York-based think tank that speaks for denim makers and brands - released a report urging more collective action to achieve a climate transition.
Kim van der Weerd, intelligence director at Transformers Foundation, said the apparel sector rarely asks 'who pays' for the big transition, assuming that it is the suppliers whose facilities must change who will foot the bill.
"That is both impractical and inequitable," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, given that suppliers have far less money than the big brands.
Experts said decoupling the key sticking point - who must act and who can pay - could help break the impasse, putting suppliers in charge of what changes to make and ensuring that brands duly invest in that overhaul.
PAYING FOR AMBITIONS
Textile makers want a range of funding options from the brands they feed to finance a new, cleaner production line.
Mohiuddin Rubel, a director at Bangladesh's apparel makers' trade body - the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) - said fashion brands can support suppliers by offering grants, low-interest loans and direct investments.
That will help suppliers move to more renewable energy and energy-efficient technology, as well as retain workers, he said.
Some initiatives are already underway.
The Apparel Impact Institute (AII), a US think tank promoting sustainable investments, formed the Fashion Climate Fund last year that mobilized $250 million with the aim of unlocking $2 billion of finance and cutting 150 million tons of carbon from fashion over the next three decades.
Kurt Kipka, chief impact officer at the Institute, said the fund could help speed cuts as the sector is ripe with opportunity for rapid reform.
Among suggested easy, quick wins: recovering heat from the water used in production or improving boiler efficiency.
Apparel makers said making climate finance available, accessible and affordable for suppliers is essential for a low-carbon future for fashion. But the sums involved are sizeable.
If the industry wants to achieve net zero by 2050, it will need more than $1 trillion of investment, said an AII report.
NO COOKIE-CUTTER
Besides a shortfall in funding, the industry faces another big hurdle to rapid decarbonization - the sheer diversity of priorities and problems faced by its myriad suppliers.
In densely-populated Bangladesh, suppliers find it difficult to generate enough rooftop solar power as most factory buildings expand vertically rather than horizontally, limiting roof space, cloth makers told a climate conference held in Dhaka in October.
In Pakistan, factories are unable to cut deals with third parties that would supply renewable power to help them cut emissions, and must instead make the reductions in-house, said the Transformers Foundation report.
In other words, one size will not fit all.
"If our approach is to take the collective goal of the Paris Agreement and to divvy it up equally amongst companies without taking feasibility into consideration, we will fail," said van der Weerd of the denim industry think tank.
Epic Group's Ralapanawe said the needs of a giant may not be the same as those of a heavily-leveraged small supplier, and a mix of financial tools will be needed to meet both.
Kurt Kipka, chief impact officer at the Apparel Impact Institute, said helping suppliers lighten their footprint demanded flexibility from funders.
"It’s imperative that we meet industry and partners where they are - based on the different needs of leading facilities and facilities only starting in the decarbonization journey," he said.

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Fashion

Next Nudges Up Profit Guidance but Sees UK Headwinds

Shoppers walk past a NEXT retail store in London, Britain, January 2, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo
Shoppers walk past a NEXT retail store in London, Britain, January 2, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo
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Next Nudges Up Profit Guidance but Sees UK Headwinds

Shoppers walk past a NEXT retail store in London, Britain, January 2, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo
Shoppers walk past a NEXT retail store in London, Britain, January 2, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo

British clothing retailer Next edged up its annual forecast on Thursday, as it reported a 10.5% profit rise for its first half, but expects sales growth to slow in its second half and warned of headwinds in its core UK market.

The group, which trades from more than 800 stores in the UK and Ireland, including Reiss, Joules and FatFace outlets, and has an online ⁠operation serving the ⁠UK and overseas markets, said full price sales were 7.7% higher in the six months to August 1, helped by a hot summer in Britain.

But it said full price sales growth would slow to 5.8% in its second half, and moderated its second half sales growth expectations for the UK to 2.0% from 2.8%, flagging concerns in its ⁠home market which accounts for about three quarters of sales.

"Our primary concerns are rising inflation, higher mortgage interest costs and a weak employment market. These worries will only be compounded if they are accompanied by tax increases," it said in reference to new finance minister John Healey's first budget on October 28.

"It seems likely that it (the government) will have to increase taxes in order to fund its expenditure,” Reuters quoted it as saying.

British households will see their energy bills rise in October, inflation ticked up on Wednesday, and, last week, Next rival John Lewis highlighted a tough UK ⁠trading environment, saying ⁠consumers were holding back on bigger ticket items.

Rival Primark said trading in continental Europe remained challenging, though Zara owner Inditex reported a strong start to autumn trading.

Next made a profit before tax of £569 million ($762 million) in its first half. It said its international business had made an encouraging start to the season, and raised its second half sales growth guidance to 20.5%.

The retailer, whose shares have increased by a quarter over the last year, raised its profit before tax guidance for its year to January 2027 by £12 million ($16 million) to £1.255 billion, reflecting the small upgrade in sales expectations and some additional cost savings, mainly in warehousing. It made £1.158 billion in 2025/26.

Fashion

Ukrainian Fashion Designer Debuts Art between Air Raids

An empty street near the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in Kyiv. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
An empty street near the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in Kyiv. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Ukrainian Fashion Designer Debuts Art between Air Raids

An empty street near the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in Kyiv. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
An empty street near the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in Kyiv. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

In Kyiv's largest art museum, Arina Petrova and her father Serhii busily applied the final touches to their mannequins, anxious that a Russian drone attack could delay her long-awaited debut.

The fashion-designing duo from Ukraine's "Bob Basset" art house were about to present Petrova's first ever collection -- an array of punk leather animal costumes.

But with Russian jet-powered drones now crashing into Ukraine's capital on a daily basis, triggering air alerts that paralyze life in the city, the pair had more pressing concerns.

"If it's in the shelter, fine -- we'll do it in the shelter," Petrova told AFP, adding she was prepared to bring all the models and their cellist down to the basement to showcase their work.

Petrova and her 50-year-old father run their punk fashion studio out of Kharkiv, a heavily attacked city close to the Russian border.

Having arrived to the capital by minibus, their designs in hand, the pair wanted to show through their art that Kharkiv was still very much alive.

Petrova was concerned that a drone could cut things short.

"We want to have time to say what we want to say," the 28-year-old said with a sigh.

If halted, they would continue underground -- even if they had to use the flashlights on their cellphones to light up the show, she said.

As Petrova adjusted the lace on a corset, an alarm started blaring: Russian jet-powered drones were approaching the capital.

Security guards evacuated the audience.

Outside, a woman in a red dress posed for a photographer. There was a heavy explosion, she flinched, and without hesitation, resumed her pose with a smile.

In the distance, a plume of black smoke rose among the buildings.

- 'Become a little more ferocious' -

While other designs on display at Kyiv Fashion Week were full of color, Bob Basset's collection was monochrome.

In front of large black drapes, the designers adjusted a black leather breastplate adorned with a feather-like design, to be paired with a black horse mask.

For her first collection, entitled "Mutabor" ("I shall transform," in Latin), Petrova based her designs on creatures her father had imagined -- dark, feathered animals with claws.

"I feel like during war, everyone has to become a little more ferocious... grow fangs," the designer told AFP.

"You acquire something from the animal that makes you stronger."

Before Russia invaded in February 2022, Bob Basset had built a reputation designing leather masks, some of them worn by metal bands Korn and Slipknot.

But as Russian troops approached the outskirts of Kharkiv in 2022, the group closed their workshop and the family moved west.

Far from his hometown, Serhii sank into depression.

Leaving his wife and children safe in Europe, he returned to Kharkiv, under bombardment.

"I'm afraid," he said. "But I'm even more afraid of not being able to do anything tomorrow."

Their collection at Kyiv Fashion Week is their first in 11 years.

- Fashion amid the bombs -

Wearing a mask himself to hide a squint, Serhii has made face coverings the focus of his work -- a way to reinvent his identity.

He began creating masks for free for wounded soldiers who wanted to hide their scars.

His daughter joined him, and despite the sleepless nights, the workshop in Kharkiv came back to life.

"If I hadn't come back, this collection would never have existed," she said.

With just a few minutes to go before the show, Petrova appeared agitated.

In Kharkiv, anxiety kept her awake at night, as Russia bombed warehouses and logistics centers, complicating their work.

"If something hits the studio, everything we've worked on for a year will be gone," she said.

"Every day, there's this feeling that we have very little time. Something could happen, and you'll never be able to finish."

During a brief moment of respite from incoming strikes, a cellist played for a few moments.

Then, silently, the models made their way through the crowd, their faces masked, amid the flashes of cell phones.

The performance ended in a mix of applause and air raid sirens.

A woman approached Serhii to congratulate him, wearing a dress made from pieces of drones.

In the courtyard, Petrova smiled, despite the explosions from air defenses in the sky overhead.

She's used to it. In Kharkiv, "only those who are capable of creating under these conditions remain," she said.

Fashion

Joyful Dressing and the Trends that Took Over New York Fashion Week

Models present the latest creations from the Carolina Herrera SS27 show during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan, New York City, US, September 14, 2026. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

Models present the latest creations from the Carolina Herrera SS27 show during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan, New York City, US, September 14, 2026. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

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Joyful Dressing and the Trends that Took Over New York Fashion Week

Models present the latest creations from the Carolina Herrera SS27 show during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan, New York City, US, September 14, 2026. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

Models present the latest creations from the Carolina Herrera SS27 show during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan, New York City, US, September 14, 2026. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs


Across the runways this New York Fashion Week, designers reimagined spring dressing by shaking up the season’s staples of florals and pastels, opting instead for more modern and irreverent trends.

From legacy brands to emerging talents, designers including Tory Burch, Ralph Lauren and Eckhaus Latta brought joy back to dressing with sartorial twists on color, movement and contrasts that could easily transition off the Spring/Summer 2027 catwalks and into New York’s busy streets.

While New York Fashion Week is only the first stop for celebrities and fashion editors before seeing what London, Milan and Paris have in store, the celebratory tone is bound to be contagious.

The joy of dressing Designers had a lot to celebrate, with many marking career milestones: Rachel Comey notched 25 years, Michael Kors and Carolina Herrera reveled in 45-year anniversaries for their brands, and Coach hit a storied 85 years.

Coach sent models down the runway in party hats, glittering gowns with colorful large bow trains, and gift-wrapped present accessories for its anniversary.

InStyle Fashion director Kevin Huynh said designers are waving goodbye to the quiet luxury era and leaning into vibrancy.

“We’re really stepping into like, more is more,” he told The Associated Press, “but not in that dopamine dressing where everything feels haphazardly put on, but like a real sense of vibrancy and excitement.”

Models present creations from the latest Michael Kors collection during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan, New York City, US, September 11, 2026. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

At Eckhaus Latta, designers Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta feted their J.Crew collaboration with confetti. Guests were told to open envelopes on their seats at the sound of laughter during the second half of their show and toss rainbow confetti onto the runway.

“Designers are really trying to kind of have fun and show the power that fashion can have in uplifting and inspiring people,” Matthew Velasco, ELLE’s fashion news editor, said.

Tory Burch embraced joyful dressing as a sense of escape, with models in color-blocked embellished looks strutting around a circular indoor catwalk that surrounded an outdoor garden with fountains. Burch said she wanted to contrast opulent femininity with utilitarian sportswear. Her collection featured embroidered cardigans with brightly colored skirts, boa-like thin scarves and a turquoise coat with a matching bag.

“I think when things are a bit more rough in the world you need to dream,” Burch said.

Ralph Lauren opened New York Fashion Week by bringing romance and a celebration of style to the runway.

“It’s about ways of dressing that celebrate ingenuity, originality, and character — the freedom and fun of creating a style that is truly personal,” he said in his show notes.

Michael Kors had the optimism to stage his show outside in the garden at the Museum of Modern Art, where a bright orange trench coat and sunny yellow shoes popped against his black and white looks.

Thom Browne, who often leans into whimsy, created a show inspired by “A Bug's Life,” with a giant indoor garden and models dripping in green crystals that hung from layered suiting.

Some channeled actual ladybugs and butterflies with giant colorful hoop skirts, and jackets that looked like cocoons, eliciting smiles from the crowd.

Collections filled with shades of blue Designers may not be feeling blue this season, but the color was certainly interwoven throughout their collections.

Ralph Lauren played with a palette of blues — from his classic denim to satin and lace gowns, to suiting and blue fur and feather collars. Tommy Hilfiger said he often takes his inspiration from nautical flags, so primary colors — including navy — were prevalent on classic and oversized blazers and rugby shirt stripes on his runway at The Plaza Hotel. Tory Burch styled turquoise and navy, and Henry Zankov delivered teal on the runway this season for Diane von Furstenberg.

After a decade-long gap, the Diane von Furstenberg line returned to New York Fashion Week with Zankov unveiling his first collection as artistic director for the brand. Known for his namesake knitwear brand, Zankov highlighted animal prints on von Furstenberg’s signature wrap designs, while incorporating sheer blouses and dresses along with fluid suiting.

“You want to feel alive,” Huynh said, “like we’re coming out of the cold of winter, and color is such an easy way to accomplish that.”

“Chartreuse had its moment, but teal is something that feels really refined,” he added.

Cobalt blue or Klein Blue — made famous by artist Yves Klein — also took over the runways with Proenza Schouler and Sergio Hudson including the color in their collections.

Accentuating the waist All eyes were on waistlines this season as designers sent models down runways in cummerbunds, scarves and chunky belts.

For Daniella Kallmeyer of Kallmeyer, the designer added a cummerbund to a buttoned-down blue top over trousers, as well as a white cummerbund embellished with white beading over an all-black suited look.

“It’s that injection of androgyny with a cummerbund in womenswear that feels exciting and edgy,” Huynh said.

At Ralph Lauren, the designer wrapped fringed scarves around the models to break up an all-white look or add a pop of color to the waistline.

Fringing out After shedding the constraints of winter coats and layers, designers introduced a freedom of movement and fluidity to their collections with fringe.

Asymmetrical dresses swayed with fringe at Jonathan Simkhai while shimmering fringe peeked out from an all-black look at Rachel Comey.

In a twist on tailoring, jackets dripping with fringe made their way down the runway at Monse.
“I always am a firm believer that with the Spring/Summer shows, designers really flex their prowess a little bit more than fall,” Huynh said. “You’re really getting the full spectrum of a woman and a man’s wardrobe.”