Today, things are changing in the fashion world not only in the trends and clothes we wear, but in the way we make and buy clothes as well.

Over the last years, there have been a lot of discussions about eco-friendly fashion and sustainability in the fashion industry. That is because the clothing industry is an industry that currently has a big impact on the environment. Many designers and brands have realized that this is not a good way to go and have adopted new ways of creating fashion. And thus, the slow fashion concept was born. As designer Richard Rozbora explains in the winter 2016 of the InCompany by Attire Club magazine, slow fashion focuses on creating quality garments that last and that are environmentally friendly. This way, you can keep enjoying good clothes without the environmental impact.

And, while the clothing industry won’t become smaller anytime soon, many companies have also adopted resolutions to create clothes in better ways.

There is definitely a trend towards a more sustainable fashion world, where both the creators and the consumers focus on buying better clothes overall.

Here are some statistics that feature both the negative impacts, as well as the positive upside and the proof that the slow fashion movement is sustained.

The bad

According to an article in The Atlantic, people in the USA buy five times the amount of clothing they used to buy in the 1980s.

Only 15% of clothing bought in the US is recycled. The rest, which is about 10.5 million tons of clothes a year, goes into the landfills.

This makes textiles to have one of the poorest recycling rates of any reusable material.

The clothes that do get recycled are used as follows: 45% is worn as second hand clothing, 30% is cut down and used as industrial rags, 20% is reprocessed and only 5% is unusable. Basically, only giving your clothes to charity or second hand stores helps the environment a lot.

In China, a single mill can use up to 200 tons of water for each ton of fabric it dyes. Therefore, many rivers are colored as the untreated, toxic dyes spill into the water.

Yearly, millions of tons of unused fabrics processed by Chinese mills to go waste because they are dyed the wrong color.

In 2010, the Chinese textile industry ranked third for overall in Chinese industry for wastewater, with a discharge of 2.5 billion tons of water per year.

Each year, the Chinese textile industry creates around 3 billion tons of soot.

Also in Chine, the textile industry releases about 300600 tons of COD each year, thus contributing to 8.2% of the COD pollution in China.

Globally, the clothing industry produces 25% of the chemicals created worldwide. The industry is thus one of the impactful industries on the environment, second only to the oil industry.

On a positive side

This however, begins to be counterbalanced by consumer interest in slow fashion. At the 2015 Ethical Fashion Berlin event, there were 116 brands that presented collections, compared to only 36 a few years before when the event launched.

Working with slow fashion is also economically relevant. According to the Harvard Business Review, resource-efficient companies that use little energy and water and generate just a little waste produce higher investment returns.

Companies that have strong ethical concepts are recorded historically to outperform the average. According to a top of the most ethical companies, the companies that engage in ethnical practices have outperformed the Standard & Poor 500 and FTSE 100 every year from 2005 to 2010.

According to a study, sustainability is a permanent part of 70% of corporate agendas. While there is a difference between the agenda and the actual actions, plans and words define future actions, so there’s a good start.

The consumer

26% of consumers are willing to pay more for a piece of clothing labeled as sustainable or environmentally friendly.

57% of shoppers claim that “sustainability” is influential to their apparel purchase.

2/3 of people aged 18-34 actively buy sustainable brands.

Consumer behavior is definitely the driving force of the slow fashion movement. If we all buy better, brands will be forced to create better products. Bringing awareness to the cause will bring sustainable clothes to the spotlight, which will definitely increase the market for eco-friendly clothing and accessories in the long run.

Fraquoh and Franchomme

Further reading:

Fashion industry statistics you probably did not know

P.S. We want to hear from you! Are you guilty of encouraging the fast fashion trend? How do counter-balance it? How do you relate to the idea of slow fashion? Share your feedback, questions or thoughts in the comments below! For more articles on style, fashion tips and cultural insights, you can subscribe to Attire Club via e-mail or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!