The adverse implications of climate change have highlighted the contributions of different industries in polluting the environment. The fashion apparel industry has been on the list of those top polluters of the environment.
Statistics show that the fashion industry accounts for 10% of the global carbon emission and 20% of water pollution around the globe. This made the fashion industry the second largest polluting industry.
Figures and stats like these have compelled many in the fashion industry to adopt better practices and combine them with sustainable fashion technology to cut down on pollution. That being said, let’s check out some of the technologies helping the fashion industry in this endeavor.
- Blockchain: This might come as a shock to many, but blockchain technology is also finding its way to the fashion industry. Technology has been vital in boosting transparency in the fashion industry. This enables one to get extensive details associated with every item of clothing they wear. This ensures enhanced accountability from different points in the supply chain, further aiding the sustainability efforts. This is an excellent way to eliminate all practices that work to the detriment of the environment, which is made possible by customers demanding better accountability from manufacturers.
- Virtual Sampling: Physical samples have long been key to the buying process in the fashion industry. This includes sending out samples to wholesalers, retailers and even the end customers. Needless to say, this resulted in unaccounted wastage of fabric and consequently valuable resources needed to produce that fabric. However, this is not changing with the advent and application of virtual sampling. Many manufacturers are now leveraging 3D technologies to eliminate the need for physical samples. This has made the entire process much more cost-effective while reducing the wastage of resources to a great extent.
- Digital Body Scanning: The other major player in the area of sustainable fashion technology is virtual or digital body scanning. When end customers pay for a clothing item, they automatically expect it to fit them ideally. Consequently, many customers ordered two to three items intending to return the ones that did not fit them. While you might be thinking that the returned items will find their way to customers, the reality is far more different. Most of these returned items never find their way to new customers and end up in landfills instead. This is where virtual body scanning comes to the rescue to simultaneously reduce the returns and pollution.
- Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning: There is no debate about the impact of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in almost every industry. Hence the fashion industry is no different as many manufacturers are now leveraging these technologies to predict future fashion trends. This is very helpful in reducing the wastage of materials used by designers to create new designs to suit customers’ preferences. Furthermore, even manufacturers can now produce only the items they are certain to increase in demand in the near future resulting in minimal wastage.
Final Thoughts
There is no doubt the fashion industry is one of the largest pollution contributors. However, it is good to see that technology is finally coming to the rescue of the fashion industry as well as the environment. Therefore, every fashion business must make efforts to hasten the adoption of these technologies and reduce wastage of resources.
