How to Fix the Carbon Crisis in Fast Fashion

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.

L.L. Bean created it 80 years ago to haul heavy blocks of ice. Now it's a must-have summer fashion accessory, The Associated Press reported.

The simple, sturdy canvas bag called the Boat and Tote is having an extended moment 80 years after its introduction, thanks to a social media trend in which they're monogrammed with ironic or flashy phrases.

New Yorker Gracie Wiener helped get it started by ordering her humble bags from L.L. Bean monogrammed with “Psycho” and then “Prada,” the pricey Italian luxury brand, instead of just her name or initials, and posting about them on Instagram. Then others began showcasing their own unique bags on TikTok.

Soon, it wasn’t enough to have a bag monogrammed with “Schlepper,” “HOT MESS,” “slayyyy” or “cool mom.” Customers began testing the limits of the human censors in L.L. Bean’s monogram department, which bans profanity “or other objectionable words or phrases,” with more provocative wording like “Bite me,” “Dum Blonde” and “Ambitchous.”

Social media fueled the surge, just as it did for Stanley’s tumblers and Trader Joe’s $2.99 canvas bags, which were once selling on eBay for $200, said Beth Goldstein, an analyst at Circana, which tracks consumer spending and trends.
The tote’s revival came at a time when price-conscious consumers were forgoing expensive handbags, sales of which have weakened, and L.L. Bean’s bag fit the bill as a functional item that’s trendy precisely because it’s not trendy, she said. L.L. Bean's regular bags top out at about $55, though some fancier versions cost upward of $100.
“There’s a trend toward the utilitarian, the simple things and more accessible price points,” she said, and the customization added to the appeal: “Status items don’t have to be designer price points.”

L.L. Bean’s tote was first advertised in a catalog as Bean’s Ice Carrier in 1944 during World War II, when ice chests were common. Then they disappeared before being reintroduced in 1965 as the Boat and Tote.

These days, they’re still made in Maine and are still capable of hauling 500 pounds of ice, but they are far more likely to carry laptops, headphones, groceries, books, beach gear, travel essentials and other common items.

Those snarky, pop-oriented phrases transformed them into a sassy essential and helped them spread beyond Maine, Massachusetts’ Cape Cod and other New England enclaves to places like Los Angeles and New York City, where fashionistas like Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker are toting them — but not necessarily brandished with ironic phrases.

“It’s just one of those things that makes people smile and makes people laugh, and it’s unexpected,” said Wiener, who got it all started with her @ironicboatandtote Instagram page, which she started as a fun side hustle from her job as social media manager for Air Mail, a digital publication launched by former Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter.

The folks at L.L. Bean were both stunned and pleased by the continuing growth. For the past two years, the Boat and Tote has been L.L. Bean’s No. 1 contributor to luring in new customers, and sales grew 64% from fiscal years 2021 to 2023, spokesperson Amanda Hannah said.

The surge in popularity is reminiscent of L.L. Bean’s traditional hunting shoe, the iconic staple for trudging through rain and muck, which enjoyed its own moment a few years back, driven by college students.

How to Fix the Carbon Crisis in Fast Fashion