Toxic Legacies / Filtering the Truth

This lack of transparency and reliable data about
how the clothes are actually produced results in
questionable results of what is considered to be a
sustainable textile. The Higg Index is the tool most
used in the industry, currently managed by the commercial
company Higg Co. The index provides tools
such as the Material Science Index (MSI) that measures
the fibres against each other, the Product Module
(PM) that measures the factories against each
other, and then measures a product sustainability
profile based on the first two. 41 This assessment,
however, addresses only the impact of fibres from
cradle to gate – production to sale – and does not
address the end of life stages. 44 The results are that
both elastane and polyester measure at an 82%
and 73% in comparison to other textiles, leaving a
questionable result of wool, cotton and silk at the
very other end of the spectrum. 44 The assessment
effectively avoids the topic of synthetic fibres, presenting
it as an environmentally friendly choice with
little comment on the overproduction of the fast
fashion industry and no accountability towards their
current business model. 43 These studies – alongside
of many other certification schemes – shape a vision
of sustainability that may not reflect reality, allowing
companies to patchwork certifications and distract
the consumer from a wider impact. 43 In their report
Licence to Greenwash, how certification schemes
and voluntary initiatives are fuelling fossil fashion, the
Changing Markets Foundation eloquently expresses:
“The results highlight that the majority of schemes
represent a false promise of certification for textiles
and represent a highly sophisticated form of greenwashing
as few have the time or inclination to look
beyond a certification or initiative’s stamp of approval.
At best they are a patchy promise of sustainability,
able to offer a degree of assurance on a small
production practice or section of the supply chain.
At worst, they are unambitious, opaque, unaccountable
and compromised talking-shops resulting in an
industry-wide smokescreen for the unsustainable
practices, enabling greenwashing on a vast scale.”
Comfort Lastly, this act of greenwashing creates
a comfort zone, in which the lack of pressure from
the consumer results in the ignorance of major environmental
issues and a lack of action or push for
continuous improvement from the fashion industry.
The Changing Markets Foundation identifies the tactics
employed by fashion brands, grouping them into
three broad categories: delay, distract and derail. 43
Delaying tactics describes the voluntary targets set
in the distant future, serving to ignore pressing environmental
issues whilst still appearing to be taking
action. Distract entails the promotion of end-of-pipe
false solutions such as focussing on plastic packaging
rather than plastic fibres, or recycling PET bottles
for clothing. Derail describes the image of positive
transformation by creating the illusion of progressive
action, and thereby encouraging people to buy
more clothes / justifying a continued consumption,
as technologies do little to reinvent linear, throwaway
business model. 44 Recycling has become a 200 billion
dollar industry 42 as the usage of recycled plastic
grows alongside the demand for virgin plastic clearly
presents how “[…] making garments out of plastic
waste will not even approach stemming the plastics
crisis, and does very little to stop the flow of plastics
into the environment in the first place.” 44
“
At best, projects like this should be seen as a communication
tool to raise public awareness of plastic
pollution in the oceans, but they can’t be considered
a serious step towards circularity.
”
Biomimicry Insititute, 2020
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