The UK Institute of Mechanical Engineers is calling on the British government to collaborate with the fashion industry by investing in initiatives that provide incentives for the development of more environmentally-friendly fibres.
The group is stepping into the debate because it believes that reducing the environmental footprint of the fashion industry is dependent on engineers designing and delivering improved industrial processes – and consumers changing their behaviour.
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A new report ‘Engineering out of Fashion Waste’ also argues the UK government should work with the fashion industry and manufacturers to develop a comprehensive framework to tackle ‘greenwashing,’ or false sustainability claims.
“Corporate Social Responsibility is an essential element of a brand’s identity. It helps a company position itself as a responsible business and market itself to ethically conscious customers. However, sometimes a company’s claims don’t always add up,” the report says.
Its third recommendation is for the entire industry – government, fashion industry and manufacturers alike – to support the development of mechanical and chemical fibre recycling technologies, particularly those able to separate blended fibres.
“Fibres produced by mechanical recycling are shorter and inferior in quality to virgin fibres, which in turn makes them less valuable. Chemical recycling will play a more prominent role in recycling, as the method develops.”
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By GlobalDataThe report states that while engineers can design and deliver improved industrial processes, such efforts would not amount to anything unless the public and industry changes its attitude to clothing and fashion – a challenge, it says, as both have “mastered and benefitted from the economic cycle of fast fashion.
“Building longevity into clothing will require a change in attitude to clothing and fashion from the public and the industry which has mastered and benefited from the economic cycle of fast fashion,” explains the report.
Separately, environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth is calling on the UK apparel industry to do more to tackle plastic pollution, in a campaign released to coincide with London Fashion Week, which kicks off today (14 September).
