Project Overview

The report hightlights what retailers, brands, designers, producers, governments and consumers need to do to take action, proposes sustainable solutions at every stage of the supply chain and provides useful links for more information.

The Fashioning Sustainability report aims to draw a line in the sand for the clothing industry to be able to move forward and seize new opportunities. Through research and interviews with key people from across the clothing supply chain, the report identifies eight key issues that need to be tackled to take sustainable clothing into the mainstream:

1. Fashion consumption – the increasing number of fashion items that we buy and then dispose of.
2. Intense cotton production – requiring lots of energy, water and pesticides.
3. Working conditions across the supply chain from cotton production to sweatshops.
4. Use of toxic chemicals in production that can damage workers health and the local environment.
5. Unsustainable manmade fibres that take longer to degrade in landfill sites.
6. Animal welfare – avoiding fur and ensuring that good standards are upheld during leather and wool production. 
7. Fashion miles  -  the carbon burned as fabric and clothing are transported around the world.
8. The energy consumed when we wash our clothes.

"Fashioning Sustainability collected the views from a wide range of stakeholders to identify the key social and environmental challenges for the clothing industry. M&S used it to develop our own understanding of the issues and subsequently to help shape some of our Plan A commitments." Mike Barry, Head of Sustainable Business, Marks & Spencer

The report is available for download on the left sidebar.

For further information contact Vicky Murray.

Fashioning Sustainability is the first in a series of Forum for the Future reports that focus on sustainable fashion.  Find out more about our latest project, Fashion Futures 2025: Global scenarios for a sustainable fashion industry.