The fashion industry hasn’t experienced the same level of scrutiny about its environmental impact visa vie how we travel or how we eat.
Fashion industry too has a huge environmental impact during both the production of clothing, and in the materials that are used. The polyester production for textiles in 2015 alone produced 706 billion kg of greenhouse gases, which is the same as the amount produced by 185 coal-fired power plants.
Cotton production is also resource-intensive. It takes 2,700 liters of water to produce a single cotton shirt. There are a growing number of people who are tuned in to these factors, and sustainable fashion is finally starting to enter the mainstream.
At this year’s Paris Fashion Week, a number of innovations were unveiled that show the future potential of environmentally conscious and sustainable fashion.
VitroLabs, a 3-D tissue engineering startup uses stem-cell technology and tissue engineering to produce ethical leather. Being able to produce leather without the need for animals would not only have a huge environmental impact, but also remove the need for animals thus eliminating the ethical concerns.
Also exhibiting was Worn Again, which has pioneered a way to reuse non-renewable textiles and clothing to make new clothes. This greatly reduces the environmental impact by saving on the resources needed to produce clothing.
These revolutionary technologies might be a distance away from commercialization, but the interest from wealthy potential customers shows that they are going to hit the first rung on the ladder. Let’s hope ethical leather and responsible clothing can become part of everyone’s wardrobe in near FUTURE