Law and the Luxury Environment

Table of Contents
Law and the Luxury Environment...................................................................................................1

Introduction......................................................................................................................................3

Environmental impact......................................................................................................................4

Water use.....................................................................................................................................5

Carbon footprint...........................................................................................................................6

Chemical use................................................................................................................................7

Textile industry waste..................................................................................................................8

Critical analysis...............................................................................................................................9

Gucci..............................................................................................................................................10

Leather.......................................................................................................................................10

Organic fibre..............................................................................................................................11

Fur free alliance.........................................................................................................................11

Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12

References......................................................................................................................................13
Introduction

The fashion business is one of the world's biggest and oldest industries. According to the

United Nations Environmental Program, the fashions industry, which includes textile and

garment design and production, is the world's second largest trading sector. In the last few

decades the impact of the ever growing fashion industry on the environment are multifold,

widespread and substantial. For instance, it is estimated that fashion industry release about 10%

of the global carbon dioxide emissions. In addition to that, fashion industry is the world’s 2 nd

biggest water consumer i.e. 1.5 trillion liters of water each year. That accounts for approximately

20 percent of the industrial water pollution resulting from dyeing and textile treatment textile

treatment, generates 35 percent of oceanic primary microplastic pollution (190,000 tonnes per

year) and produces massive amounts of textile waste most of which ends up in landfills or is

burned, including unsold items. (Claudio, 2007)

The rise in environmental impact of fashion industry can be credited to significant

increase of apparel consumption and hence the textile production. Similarly, global textile

consumption has increased to approximately 62 million tonnes each year, with 102 million

tonnes expected by 2030. Therefore, fashion houses are currently generating nearly twice as

much apparel as they were before the year 2000. The rise of fast fashion, a marketing plan built

on providing consumers with regular innovation as low-cost, trend-driven products, reflects the

dramatic increase in textile manufacturing and fashion consumption. Fast fashion encourages

repeat purchases and spontaneous purchases by creating a sense of urgency. (Heuer and Becker,

2018)
 As a result of increased demand and efficiency in the creation of fashion products,

clothing prices have dropped dramatically. Regardless of an expansion in the quantity of

products claimed, normal per individual clothing and footwear consumption in the EU and UK

has declined from 30 percent in the 1950s to only 12 percent in 2009 and only 5 percent in 2020.

The UK's fashion business alone is now worth £26 billion and employs 800,000

people, making it the country's largest creative industry. Apparel has always been an important

industry in the United Kingdom. Wool was formerly responsible for 80% of all exports from the

UK.

Given the global spread of fashion and the bulk of products produced (and discarded), the

fashion industry is a major environmental concern. With the rising awareness among general

population towards climate crisis efforts are made by manufacturers, retailers in ever growing

fashion industry to limits its carbon emissions, carbon footprint, conservation and consumption

of renewable energy sources, water usage, chemical pollution and fashion related waste. Also

how it can become more environmentally friendly, including reducing garment manufacturing

and waste while increasing garment use and lifespan. (Kozlowski, Bardecki and Searcy, 2012)

Environmental impact

As products are manufactured, consumed and disposed in large quantities the fashion

industry environmentally impact all spheres of life from air quality to growing water

contamination.

Gucci is committed to improving its environmental efforts in accordance with

international standards, as stated in its “Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility Policy”. Gucci

is committed to implementing an Environmental Sustainability Culture and raising awareness

within the Gucci system, i.e. among all parties with a legitimate interest in this and/or who are

affected by its activities: employees, financial partners, shareholders, suppliers, customers,

commercial and, local community and institutions, in accordance with its mission. This

commitment is evident in a number of concrete activities taken in the day-to-day operations of

the company.

The organization operates in accordance to the sustainability goals as highlighted in UN

agenda ensuring that its business reduces the carbon footprint and work towards making world a

better place to live, making planet green and save. (Niinimäki, 2011)

The globalisation of the textile and fashion industries has accounted for an unequal

ciculation of these environmental implications, with developing nations (which manufacture the

majority of textiles and clothes) suffering the brunt of the load (who largely consume the

products). When buying apparel, western nations import the effects (for instance, water via

cotton production and CO2 emissions linked with polyester production).

Water use

The water footprint of clothes consumed in the UK was estimated to be 8 billion cubic

meters by WRAP in 2016. The usage of most of water in fashion industry is linked with the

cultivation of cotton and the wet processes in manufacturing of products such as dyeing,

bleaching, printing, washing and finishing. And on average 200tonnes of water is consumed in

production of 1tonne of textile. Approximately 44 trillion liters of water is consumed per annum

for irrigation out of which 95% percent is used in cotton production. Cotton farming accounts for

88 percent and 92 percent of the entire water footprint in the manufacturing of a Tshirt and a pair

of jeans40–42, respectively. Cotton does, in fact, have the greatest water footprint of any fashion

material. The fashion industry is responsible for 7 percent of global groundwater and potable
water losses due to water use, particularly in China and India's water-stressed industrial regions.

(Tüfekci, Sivri and Toroz, 2007)

The fashion sector has an impact on local water resources by creating waste water, in addition to

worsening water scarcity. Because some of the chemicals used in production are harmful,

untreated waste water that penetrates local groundwater could degrade the environment as a

whole. For example, in Cambodia, the apparel industry, which accounts for 88 percent of all

industrial manufacturing, is responsible for 60 percent of water pollution also 34 percent of

chemical pollution.

Gucci commits to ensure that its actions are conducted out in compliance with all relevant

environmental laws. Promote water management, safeguard water sources, reduce water

consumption, and maintain water quality; ensure that Trash management should be optimised,

and industrial waste and contaminated water generation should be reduced.

Carbon footprint

As “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” states that fashion industry is

responsible for 10 percent of global greenhouse gases (GHG) emission. The UK textile business

emits 3.1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year, accounting for around 0.4 percent of

overall UK emissions. The amount of emissions is determined by the fabric type and processing

technology. The polyester/cotton blend, which is commonly used for corporate clothes, is

thought to have the greatest GHG impact in the steaming procedure, with CO2 accounting for

nearly all of the emissions. Wool, on the other hand, has a higher GHG impact early in the

production process due to methane emitted by sheep before production begins. (Zamani, 2015)
 Majorly carbon footprint due to textile industry is due to energy use also thje kind of

energy used. For instance, fashion industry in China is coal based thus releasing 40 percent more

carbon footprint as compared to that in Europe and Turkey. Initial fibre extraction uses the most

energy and emits the most CO2 in the clothing life cycle, notably for synthetic fibres like

acrylics, which come from fossil fuels. Polyester as well as other synthetic fabrics are made in an

energy-intensive process that uses a lot of crude oil and produces a lot of pollutants like volatile

organic compounds, particulate matter, and gaseous pollutants like hydrogen chloride, which can

induce or aggravate respiratory problems.

However, because natural fibres has smaller carbon footprint that of synthetic fibres,

substituting natural fibres for polyester would be the most effective strategy to reduce CO2

emissions related with fibre production. Furthermore, plant-based fibres operate as a carbon sink

by sequestering atmospheric carbon. To lessen the impact of textile industry efforts need to be

taken to decreasing use of non-renewable energy sources and production volumes. (Kissinger,

2013)

For instance, Gucci is committed in the reduction and gradual phase out of all hazardous

material, which is responsible for carbon emissions as well as land and water pollution, by 2020.

Gucci has created a “Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL)” to help with this. The

MRSL is a document designed to provide guidelines on hazardous substances that may be used

and released to the environment during production and related processes, and those that may be

included in final goods.

Chemical use

During the production process, the textile sector uses about 15,000 distinct chemicals,

starting with fibre production. Cotton crops are estimated to account for 6 percent of global
pesticide consumption in terms of economic value. Agrochemical use can cause nausea,

diarrhoea, malignancies, and respiratory ailments, and acute pesticide exposure kills about 1,000

people per day and causes neurological and reproductive issues. Agrochemicals leak into the soil

and reduce soil fertility and biodiversity, disrupt biological processes, and kill microbes, plants,

and insects in the environment.

Much of the chemical used in the textile industry are related to spinning and weaving

(solvents and lubricants), as well as wet processing (surfactants, dyes, bleaches, water repellents

and antifoaming agents, among others). One European textile finishing industry, for example,

utilises approximately 466 g of chemicals in kilogramme of textile production. The inadequate

information of material safety on data sheets is typically just one source of information when

chemicals are used in textile manufacturing, raising environmental concerns from improper use

or disposal. As per Swedish research, the harmful qualities of 2,450 chemicals used in textile

manufacture were evaluated. 10 percent of these compounds, including scent, were found to be

of potentially high risk for human health. (Parvathi, Maruthavanan and Prakash, 2009)

For instance, the chemical used in the manufacturing of waterproof textile products, such

as fluoropolymers – a chemical stable substance, are even found in remote artic location as well

as in the bodies of seals thus illustrating the global impact proliferation of hazardous materials.

Only around 80% of direct dye synthetic dyes are absorbed by the cloth; the rest is washed out of

the garment. Every year, the worldwide textile industry dumps 40000 to50000 tonnes of dye into

streams and rivers, and 1000000 tonnes of salt (used for the dying process) is dumped in Europe

alone.
Textile industry waste

The unprecedented increase and adoption of fast fashion has resulted dramatic rise in

textile waste.

Pre-consumer textile industry waste – Pre-consumer disposal in the fashion industry, also

known as manufacturing waste, is generated during the creation of textiles and clothing and

includes yarn, fibre and fibre waste, the latter of which is the most resource-intensive. According

to one study, 15% of material used in garment production is wasted.

Post-consumer textile industry waste – Post maufacturing waste includes consumer-disposed

clothing, accounting for about 60% of the 150 billion clothes produced worldwide in 2012 which

were disposed within a few years of manufacturing. Shorter garment lives, along with greater

consumption, resulted in a 40 percent rise in landfilled textile industry waste in the United States

between 1999 to 2009, also fashion waste makeup for up to 22 percent of mixed globally. Both

the US and the UK wastage a normal of 30 kg of materials every individual consistently. Despite

of the rising production and consumption of textile waste the recycling of garments is lagging

and only 15% of it was collected items were recycled in 2015. (Sandin, Roos and Johansson,

2019)

As per the reports UK produces approximately of 206 tonnes of textile waste annully. Out of

which only 0.3 kg is recycled, 0.4kg reused. Furthermore, 0.8kg per person is incinerated,

worsening anathema of air pollution, and 1.7kg is disposed of in landfill.

Critical analysis

The Environment Act is crucial because the UK will require environmental regulations

after Brexit. Unfortunately, the Act that has already become law falls way short of the govt's
original ambitions, particularly in terms of climate policy, forest conservation, and air pollution.

Particulate matter exposure, due to textile industry, can induce heart attacks and strokes, raise the

chance of asthma attacks, promote lung cancer, and hinder children's lung growth. The

government's proposed timetable for meeting new PM2.5 pollution reduction goals of 2040 is

very unsatisfactory. As a result, individuals will have to endure further 18 years before breathe

cleaner air.

Gucci

The company works in compliance to with the sustainable principles ensures that throughout the

supply chain i.e. procurement of the raw materials, packaging are in accordance with the social

and environmental impact. Hence it is ensured that there is no child labor or force labor the

working conditions are fair and sound for the population. (Dahlbo, 2017)

 Use natural resources wisely and efficiently;

 ensure proper soil protection and conservation (raw materials from agriculture);

 conserve and safeguard biodiversity and preserve ecosystem function.

 Use water sustainably;

 streamline waste management and reduce waste production;

 support climate change resilience and mitigation;

 adhere to national laws and international conventions, and treaties;

 have a good impact on the community;

 adhere to the animal care standards outlined in these principles, and ensure minimal

environmental and biodiversity and refrain using any animal in experimentation

Leather

The company in manufacturing of leather product ensures that there is no destruction or

degradation of natural ecosystem. And highest animal welfare standards are observed.

Gucci is likewise concerned about the environmental impact of its leather production.

Industrial-scale tanning procedures are an important component and environmental best

practises, involving the promotion of metal or chrome-free tanning as substitute to traditional

methods. Overall, it is a more environmentally friendly solution since it reduces chemical and

water usage, reduces waste and by-products in tanning and manufacturing, and saves energy and

carbon gas emissions. In 2015, the company began using metal-free leather. Since then, they

have increased metal-free leather production from 0.2 percent to 26 percent of total leather

manufacturing in 2020, with the goal of reaching 100 percent metal-free tanning by 2025.

Organic fibre

The company ensures that organic fibre is produced and consumed. From the beginning

of the supply chain to the finish, Gucci has been looking for ways to lessen its environmental

impact. The company support production systems which do not degrade natural ecosystems or

local biodiversity, but rather improve soil health rehabilitation and boost water and biodiversity

preservation overall, by carefully selecting cotton, wool, and silk. The company's core principles

for organic materials are that no pesticides, insecticides, or dangerous chemicals are used in the

cultivation and production of the fibres, and that the quality standards of workplace conditions

and welfare of animals are observed. (Karaosman, 2020)

Fur free alliance

The company had made announcement of going fur free in 2017 and states that no fur

will be used in making any of it collections. And its implementation started since spring 2018
and has stopping using of kangaroo fur inside its loafer collection in compliance with the global

rules and regulations which ensures no poaching of animals for recreational or in manufacturing

of fashion products. The decision was supported by LAV and “Humane Society of United

Nations”. Moreover, the company joined “Fur Free Alliance’s Fur Free Retailer Program”.

Conclusion

To mitigate the effects of fashion industry on environment collectively action needs to be

done by the government authorities, the involved companies and regulatory bodies that are

working in maintaining, conserving and promoting eco-friendly environmental approaches to

reduces carbon footprint and enhancing air quality. The ultimate obligation in reduction of textile

pollution lies with the companies and how active, concerned and efficiently it is working in

making planet saver and greener.

References

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