The Green Future Of The Garment Industry: Sustainable Fabrics May Become A Breakthrough in The Industry

The sustainable transformation of the garment industry has changed from a plus for the development of the industry to a must-choose topic

In 2023, SMCP, the French luxury fashion group that owns Sandro, Maje and other brands, announced that it would stop using feathers and down in favor of sustainable fashion with "zero animal cruelty." Similarly, more than 1,500 brands around the world, including Prada, GUCCI and Chanel, as well as several well-known designers, have banned the use of fur and other animal materials in their collections. Coincidentally, French luxury brands Hermes (Hermes), Balenciaga and other new products made of "mushroom mycelium" fabric. As the "weather vane" of the apparel industry, luxury brands have made "sustainable transformation" into the "mainstream" in the apparel industry. It is worth noting that it is no coincidence that many enterprises attach great importance to the development and promotion of "sustainable fabric" products. The application of sustainable fabrics will become the key to the sustainable upgrading of clothing brands.

The climate crisis expands sustainable fabrics as a breakthrough

The climate crisis has expanded to become one of the major risks facing the apparel industry. According to The State of Fashion 2024 report, published by Business Fashion (BoF) and McKinsey, the high frequency of extreme weather-related events in 2023 means the climate crisis is more urgent than in previous years, It also makes the fashion industry more vulnerable. The sustainable transformation of the garment industry is not only a positive response to the climate crisis, but also a timely adjustment to the increasingly strong environmental awareness of consumers. In this context, the application and promotion of sustainable fabrics has undoubtedly become a key breakthrough to promote the industry's low-carbon emission reduction and move towards a green future.

It has been reported that the emission intensity of organic cotton production is about 50% lower than that of conventional cotton. Using material recovery and closed-loop production methods, the emission intensity of rPET (recovered polyethylene terephthalate) is about 40% lower than that of conventional polyester; Using a closed-loop production method, sustainable man-made fibers such as Modal and Lyocell have about 50% of the emissions of conventional fibers. It can be seen that the application of sustainable fabrics not only efficiently reduces the carbon emissions of the upstream production, but also points out a new path for the low-carbon transformation of the whole chain of the clothing industry from raw material collection, processing, dyeing, clothing to logistics and transportation.

The landing application of sustainable fabrics in the brand makes the application scenario of sustainable fabrics more clear. Cost difficult to control sustainable fabrics still need to achieve market leapfrog. Although the low-carbon emission reduction effect brought by sustainable fabrics is immediate, but limited by the gradual process of fabric research and development and the lack of consumer market awareness, the sustainable development of fabrics still faces many problems. According to McKinsey's "Fashion on Climate" report, less than 1% of textile waste, for example, is currently recycled into new products. In addition, in terms of the current market share, the proportion of sustainable goods in the clothing industry is still not high, and many brands have great room for improvement in the development and application of sustainable fabrics.

In addition, the cost problem is also a major reason that restricts the wide application of sustainable fabrics. Affected by the cost, most sustainable fabrics are still concentrated on the conceptual application of high-end brands, and the price of sustainable items is generally high, and the technology and quality control are still not mature. Moreover, the upstream and downstream interests of the industry are related, such as fur farming, which contains unsustainable and environmentally unfriendly traditional industries, and really need to be banned and transformed, which cannot be completed overnight. The wide application of sustainable fabrics, in order to achieve the leap from the niche market to the mainstream market, still requires the long-term efforts of upstream and downstream enterprises in the apparel industry chain. Nevertheless, according to the observation of the brand practice, the cost problem in the application of fabrics has shown positive signs of gradually resolving.

First of all, from the perspective of the entire consumer market environment, the application scenarios of sustainable fabrics and the market performance of sustainable brands are very optimistic. "Although the brand was just launched in March this year, we can see the feedback from the consumer market on the brand's investment in sustainable fashion is very positive, and product sales have also reached a good result. Second, advances in processing technology are also reducing the cost of sustainable fabrics. For example, the intervention of 3D printing and other technologies makes small batch personalized production possible, and consumers will have more choices. In addition, the recycling rate of storage resources in some enterprises has gradually increased, which has better controlled the cost of sustainable fabrics. In the past, clothing brands due to design effect, cost and other considerations, some sampled fabrics were not ultimately used in product production, but stored in warehouses. Now, the introduction of new technologies allows these new, high-quality fabrics to be used efficiently, reducing the waste of resources.

At present, for many brands, the application of sustainable fabrics is no longer limited to the data quantification and concept level, but to explore at the practical level, through sustainable fabrics into the mainstream market, to achieve a win-win brand long-term management and social responsibility practice.