How we make and buy clothes is hurting the planet. Here’s a solution.

Have you ever considered the environmental cost of your favorite jeans? And what about the clothes that hang in your closet without wearing?

The impact of clothing manufacturing on the Earth’s climate is certainly in the minds of the executives of the sportswear company Lululemon, which is choosing Earth Day this year to launch a resale program to recover used parts from customers and sell them at a discount. The goal is to keep clothes in circulation for longer, limiting Lululemon’s carbon emissions by reducing unnecessary production and consumption by consumers.

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Lululemon is not the only major retailer submerge your toes in the resale or consignment market in an effort to be greener.

Arc’teryx, Levi’s, REI, Madewell, Michael Stars, The North Face and Tommy Hilfiger are among the hundreds of leading brands that are working to extend the life cycle of their garments by using more sustainable materials, the recycling and reuse of used fabrics and resale. clothes.

The women’s clothing brand Eileen Fisher is a leader in sustainable fashion. Since 2009, the company has recovered 1.8 million pieces of its own clothing and recycled, reused or resold it.

“The point is to be fully responsible for our product throughout its life cycle,” said Lilah Horwitz, head of Eileen Fisher’s recovery program.

2,400 liters of water for a pair of jeans

As climate change intensifies, experts say it is critical to rethink how we produce clothing to decarbonize clothing manufacturing. He The garment industry is one of the most polluting in the worldwhich accounts for an estimated 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all international flights and shipping combined, according to a 2019 World Bank report.

On the other hand, in 2018 the sector produced more than 2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases, about 4% of the global total, according to research by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

Water consumption is another issue. Every year, the fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. It may take about 2,400 gallons of water to make a pair of jeans.

Traditional manufacturing processes often deplete the planet’s natural resources, consume immense energy and water, and use environmentally harmful chemicals. But the damage doesn’t stop there. After consumers use and discard their products, they end up in landfills.

“Our closets are too full”

Manufacturers make more clothing than buyers can reasonably buy and wear. It is estimated that 9 billion pieces of clothing are found mostly unattended in U.S. consumer closets each year, according to ThredUp, the largest online thrift store.

This is no surprise, as most business models of companies expect an increase in production and sales every year.

“We’re buying too many clothes, our closets are too full,” said Peggy Blum, author of Circular Fashion: A Supply Chain for Sustainability in the Textile and Apparel Industry. “It’s not about what brands are doing: there’s no way anyone can be 100% sustainable or make an impact. The only way not to make an impact is to not produce or consume, but we don’t operate that way.”

While many companies are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint per product, experts say this is not good enough as their goal is to continue to increase sales.

“The biggest hurdle to reducing carbon emissions or climate science-based goals is increasing sales each year,” said Lynda Grose, a pioneer in sustainable fashion design and a professor at the California College of the Arts. “The reason for this is that the industry for the last 30 years or so has focused on selling more and more product.”

“Because the jobs and fortunes of so many people are tied to the fashion industry, I don’t see it slowing down. I don’t see it making less of a product,” said Elizabeth Cline, author of The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking. Good While Doing Good and director of advocacy and policy for the nonprofit group Remake.

Even the Patagonian outerwear and apparel manufacturer, known for repairing and recycling used clothing from its customers and which has long been committed to using sustainable materials, acknowledged in its 2019 Benefit Corporation Report that these efforts alone were insufficient.

“We are working to become a carbon-neutral company throughout our supply chain, but while we are making significant strides, such as increasing the adoption of recycled materials, our footprint is increasing due to our sales growth, ”the company said.

Three years ago Patagonia launched its “Worn Wear” program to recover used clothing from the brand in exchange for a credit in the store. The company says it believes that “the best way to reduce the environmental and carbon footprint of clothing is to keep it in use for longer.”

The second-hand market is expected to double

This philosophy is gaining momentum. Other prominent brands, from luxury fashion designer Stella McCartney to sportswear brand Adidas, have entered the retail space and are now allowing customers to return their used clothing. Then, new customers can buy these used goods at a discount directly through the retailer, as well as through resale websites such as ThreadUp or TheRealReal, a luxury online store and shipping brick and mortar.

Second-hand market value, including resale and donation of traditional clothing, is expected to double in the next five years to $ 77 billion, according to ThredUp’s 2021 Resale Report. Keeping garments in circulation longer also promises to open up new sources of revenue for brands whose business models have long relied on producing and selling more clothing each year for profit.

“Brand resale is a trend that’s accelerating, and we need to see how companies invest in it and how math is shaken so that they eventually produce less,” James Reinhart, co-founder and CEO of ThredUp, told CBS MoneyWatch.

To date, second-hand retail sales have displaced more than half a million pieces of clothing that would otherwise have been purchased in 2020, according to ThredUp’s annual report. In other words, this is the number of items that customers bought used instead of new.

“The natural conclusion from this is that the world produced half a million items that we probably didn’t need by 2020. So it’s another data point on how overproduction is a real problem,” Reinhart said.

Beyond reducing carbon emissions, experts say a thriving clothing resale business could also help companies acquire new customers.

“Over the next five years, as younger people gain more purchasing power, I think it’s critical that brands understand that,” Reinhart said. “People who are now teenagers and 20 are natives of resale; that’s part of their experience. I think brands are smart to find out now.”

Cline also believes that the resale market is very promising for both brands and the environment.

“Resale is the success story. Who would have thought that wearing second-hand clothes would become so popular? Many brands are doing more with recycled clothing,” he said. “Reuse in general is very promising and good for the industry. They will continue to do new things, but at least we are reusing things that already exist and we don’t depend so much on virgin resources.”