The series of global crises has made trends in the fashion business extremely transient - nowadays you have to be flexible to withstand the competition. The more innovative the fashion and trends in the industry in general, the faster you grab the attention of buyers.
Innovative materials, environmental footprint, and artificial intelligence will soon dominate this age-old business as well.
Today, more and more ecological, but also moral concerns leave their mark on this huge industry and force it - whether it wants to or not - to modernize. Despite all the challenges before it, fashion will always be relevant because it has always been not a need, but a desire.
From the fashion in the post-war years of the Second World War in the world to the appearance of the so-called quick clothing models in the last 10-15 years, fashion houses have always followed the creation of clothes for two seasons - spring/summer, presented in September of the previous year, and autumn/winter, presented in the previous February. By creating two collections a year, fashion companies could take requests from their customers, research consumer attitudes, and plan their future production. With the advent of the "fast model clothes", however, this annual cycle of production and presentation of the clothes of the big corporations was obliterated by a market flooded with replicas of their models. And these replicas hit the stores even before the real models are presented in official reviews.
This forces official fashion companies to produce at least 11 collections a year, with some of them – usually the smaller ones – presenting up to 50 collections a year! For example, the Spanish Zara, which was created to offer "cheap fashionable clothes", markets over 20 thousand models a year; and the Shaein brand based in the Chinese city of Nanjing offers a staggering thousand new models every day on its site. Thus, the process of creating a garment is reduced to three days - for comparison, it takes 6 to 9 months for traditional fashion companies.
Ecological footprint
Because of the so-called fast fashion, the fashion industry is among the leading causes of environmental pollution in the world. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 13 tons of clothing are thrown into landfills worldwide each year, and according to McKinsey, the industry emits nearly 2.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases each year. The fast fashion industry is also responsible for 20% of industrial water waste annually worldwide. Due to overproduction and oversupply in the market, the behavior of consumers is also changing, who increasingly buy clothes, which, however, have a much shorter life.
According to the legislative framework set by the European Union, by 2025 all European countries will have to comply with new requirements for textile products, which stipulate that 10% of excess clothing can be incinerated, impose ecotaxes on all clothing sold, etc. Currently, incineration is one of the main ways of destroying unnecessary textiles.
Today, more and more brands - such as Adidas, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, and many others - offer clothes made of recycled materials to the Bulgarian and global markets. “This product is made from recycled materials, which are created by reusing materials before or after their use. The use of recycled materials in the products reduces the amount of raw materials and related waste, energy and water in the production of primary materials", reads the description of a winter jacket created from Adidas recycled polyester, with a price for Bulgaria of over 400 euros.
Fashion, however, is the best example of the cycle of life - what was fashionable today will no longer be fashionable tomorrow. And this largely lies in the materials used – one of the reasons recycling is not a good solution for the fashion industry is that the cost and footprint of the process itself is much higher than the cost and quality of the recycled product. For example, real cotton, preferred by quality and big fashion brands, cannot be recycled into a product of the same quality as the input raw material, that is, a lower quality product is obtained. Thus, clothes that have zippers, buttons, various ornaments such as eyelets, belts and buckles are also difficult to recycle because the cost of removing these ornaments from the garment is more expensive than the cost of the final recycled product.
About the harm from artificial materials
We often forget that the skin is the largest organ in the human body, occupying 16% of the total body weight and performing a huge number of protective and metabolic functions that protect the body from negative external influences and stabilize it. Wearing clothes made of materials that are not natural to the body - that is, artificial - exposes it to a test for which it is not prepared.
Until recently, fabrics were divided into two groups: synthetics and natural. Today, the line between them is extremely blurred, and you can often find "mixed" fabrics in stores. And even if they are made of natural materials, they undergo strict chemical processing. Typically, "fast fashion" manufacturers treat fabrics with special materials that allow them to make the garment wrinkle-free, repel rain and water, stain-resistant, etc. In synthetics, the skin does not "breathe". For people with sensitive skin, synthetics are dangerous because they do not allow moisture from the skin to evaporate, which creates a greenhouse effect and can cause allergies or irritation. Ironically for the manufacturers, it is the low-quality material from recycled plastic bottles that is turned into fitness and sportswear.
Viscose, made from cellulose /processed wood/, was one of the first artificially created fabrics. Viscose itself is not so harmful because it has breathable and antibacterial properties. But under the influence of water, its effectiveness deteriorates, which is why various chemical components are added to the composition, which often lead to irritation and deprive viscose of its "breathable" properties.
Polyester, for example, is often used to make various children's goods, even diapers. Polyester is made from petroleum products and other chemical components, which, when mixed together, exhibit toxic and carcinogenic properties. With sensitive skin, it can even be dangerous to health.
Clothes made of nylon are valued for their durability. The material is elastic enough, which is ideal for making tights and socks. One of the terrifying effects of this type of material is that, for example, nylon pantyhose does not "ventilate", does not absorb secretions, contributes to overheating of the skin, which provokes infections and fungi.
Acrylic, from which various sweaters, hats and scarves are most often created, is a synthetic wool. It perfectly retains the heat of the human body, but does not have the ability to pass it, that is, it does not breathe. It creates a greenhouse effect, which can also cause unpleasant consequences.
Last but not least, the widely advertised bamboo clothing also attracts many buyers. The material can boast of its hygroscopicity, which is not worse than that of cotton. Light, it does not change the shape of its fibers, it is at an extremely affordable price. And although it seems as if it could be a competition of cotton, the very structure of bamboo requires strict chemical treatment, and it is treated with sulphides, sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid. All elements that provoke serious allergies.
What is the future?
The most appropriate first step would be for companies to make a concerted effort to produce clothes from fabrics – quality textiles – that are more sustainable. And as big brands source more responsible textiles for their collections, there will be a higher volume of orders, which will lower overall production costs (and therefore retail price), making the product more accessible to the mass market.
The two main things that the consumer looks for when choosing a garment are the material from which it is made and the way of use - at what degrees it will be able to be washed and whether it is suitable for a dryer.
In order for there to be a qualitative change, consumers must necessarily be informed about what they are buying, and most importantly: how it will affect their health. Second, companies must clearly declare the environmental impact of the production of a garment. And thirdly: to be clear about how the clothes are made and the conditions in the factories - 'Blood, Sweat and T-shirts', a BBC Three series which shows the appalling conditions in which clothes are made in Asian countries, even by forced minor children, clearly proved that many /even big/ brands do not know where their clothes come from and the process of making them.
The issue of introducing uniform ethical rules in the process of creating clothes, as well as their sustainable production in sync with the environment, are the two main issues facing the market flooded with recycled and hazardous materials in the coming years. /BGNES
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Bisera Ilieva, editor in Internal information of BGNES Agency