Fashion industry puts profit before planet
2 Min Read
As the topic of climate management comes to the forefront of the sustainability requirements for the planet, the clothing industry pushes forward standards scrutinized for greenwashing.
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Extinction Rebellion, a global environmental movement, protesting at the University of Melbourne.
The Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act, which proposed that all fashion companies conducting business in New York, and whose revenues exceeded $100 million, must delineate no less than 50% of their supply chains and reveal the impacts of corporate such as greenhouse gas emissions, water footprint, and chemical use.
The New York Fashion Act’s index of certification of sustainability is tied to fashion giants like Patagonia and Walmart - both of which, more than a decade ago, agreed to combine efforts to rebrand the fashion industry’s environmental image. The clothing industry, as has been highlighted on past occasions, has become the largest polluter in the world.
The standard created, as a result of the cooperation between leading brands, sought to grade ecological impact. However, critics argued that the standard led to an ineffective regulatory framework and mislead ratings. Dileep Kumar, the program coordinator of the International Sericultural Commission, claimed that the fashion industry is “colluding with the fossil fuel industry to protect their bottom line.”
Read more: The West's used clothes choke the environment in Ghana
As the world suffers from climate change, some countries scrutinized the New York law. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index, a standardized supply chain measurement tool used by some clothing labels to show their social and environmental footprint to consumers, has faced a ban in Norway. The country’s watchdog accused the aforementioned index of possible “greenwashing.”
Briefly, the current methods show that despite the initial goal of climate change initiatives, which is to reduce emissions, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and a variety of self-promoted “independent” organizations allowed brands to score high on sustainability while they annually generate increased levels of pollution.
The fashion industry, the biggest culprit of climate catastrophe, has proved that they remain loyal only to their stakeholders as they adhere to greenwashed goals.
