Can Fabric Waste Become Fashions Resource?
COVID-19 worsened the textile waste crisis. Now it's time for the fashion industry to address this ... [+] spiraling problem, say Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu. Unsplash/Francois Le Nguyen  by Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu  COVID-19 has broken fashions supply chain. As a result, an already wasteful industry has become more wasteful. Even before the pandemic, the global apparel industry was producing about 92 million tons of textile waste a year. Thats about one garbage trucks worth of fabric waste getting landfilled or burned every second, according to a 2017 report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. COVID-19 has made things worse. The industry is notorious for its long lead times, high volumes, and lowest cost sourcing. According to John Thorbeck, chairman of Chainge Capital and former CEO of GH Bass & Co (part of PVH), and Rockport (an Adidas subsidiary), a full design and delivery cycle is easily 12 months, and factory orders are usually placed five months in advance. When the pandemic hit, brands had already put in their overestimated fabric orders. While brands such as Adidas and Zara decided to pay fully for these commitments despite financial losses, others, including American Eagle Outfitters, have refused to pay. That potentially cost textile workers an estimated $1.6 billion in wages over three months in 2020, according to the Worker Rights Consortium and the Center for Global Workers Rights (pdf) at Pennsylvania State University. This lack of accountability leads not just to waste, but also to severe inequality between buyers and suppliers. While brands are often headquartered in Europe or the United States, suppliers, including textile workers, often reside in developing countries, such as Brazil and Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, up to 80 percent of garment workers are women working in junior, low-paying positions. Fashions supply chain breakdown means that these women are losing their pay in the middle of a pandemic, with procured textiles that have lost their value. Fabric waste is rampant across the supply chain. Cheap, low-quality clothing fueled by demand for fast fashion has made what we wear disposable. Luxury brands must maintain an image of scarcity and exclusivity while still committing to bulk fabric orders, leading to an accumulation of unused material. Most of the time, we picture fabric waste as consumers discarded clothing or scrap fabrics. However, perfectly good rolls of unused fabric comprise a significant portion of the waste. According to FabScrap, the nonprofit fabric up-cycler, for every pound [of clothing fabric] that we throw away as a consumer, a business throws away 40 pounds. About 60 percent of discarded fabric includes rolls that companies could easily repurpose to make clothing. In fact, while textile scraps can be shredded into insulation or stuffing material, rolls of unused fabric sit idle, contributing to inventory cost, lost opportunity, and waste. Incentivize consumers  Among the most radical ideas is simply to call on consumers to buy less. On Black Friday 2011, Patagonia boldly published a full-page ad in the New York Times that said Dont Buy This Jacket, encouraging mindful consumption and less waste. There have been few followers. Although the number of conscious brands has skyrocketed over the last decade, greenwashing has muddied the message. A recent survey by the Changing Markets Foundation (pdf) found that 81 percent of European Union citizens distrust clothing products claims that they are environmentally friendly. More than marketing statements, making apparel with the right incentives in mind might be more effective. A Patagonia jacket has a timeless aesthetic, functional features, and lasting quality, so consumers would not need to buy a new one for a long time. Patagonia also charges slightly premium prices, discouraging the throwaway mindset that pushes consumers to purchase clothing simply because it is cheap. Solutions through process innovation  Upstream in the supply chain, process innovations can help reduce fabric waste. According to a recent McKinsey report (pdf), more than 25 percent of garments go unsold. Better alignment between production needs, such as fabric procurement, and consumption needs is good practice for businesses and our planet. Thorbeck argues that process innovation in fashion offers a meaningful alternative to lowest-cost production. In electronics, the practice of postponementstaging capacities and hedging materials to mitigate inventory riskshows how companies can reduce uncertainty as well as overproduction. Rapid design cycles, as exemplified by Zara, based on fabric needs could minimize overestimated demand or inventory. Process innovation is one key to restoring fashions future. However, the industry must also address the risk and burden caused by millions of tons of leftover fabric accumulated from the past. Solutions through design  We can use design to turn leftover fabric into opportunities. The idea of repurposing wasted fabric is not new. Kantha patchwork from Indias Bengal region is a traditional practice of sewing together discarded fabric to give wasted scraps a new life while providing warmth to the wearer. It has been revived by entrepreneurs such as Shamlu Dudeja, founder of SHE (Self Help Enterprise) India, who was recently interviewed by Harvard Business Schools Creating Emerging Markets project. The challenge, however, is scale. Piecing together numerous fabric scraps is time consuming and results in inconsistent designs. While this works well for high-end, one-of-a-kind artisan works, it does not allow for scalable production that moves the industry. Shifting the industry requires not only the mindset of repurposing wasted fabric, but also the discipline of efficient designs with scale in mind. Design often starts in a sketchbook or a drawing pad; the unconstrained artistic vision comes first. The fabric is then cut to fit the vision. While this process has resulted in many innovative designs, it also wastes 10 to 30 percent of the fabric. Furthermore, because this design process is trend-driven, it often demands new fabric orders without addressing accumulated old fabric. Another design philosophy may be the solution. For thousands of years in China, Japan, and India, designers have created apparel within the constraints of their fabric resources. Fabric first, design second. This process begins with the rectangular fabric and forms clothing within the creative constraints of the fabric. The resulting designs, like the classic kimono or sari, are minimal and versatile, and waste no fabric. The straight cuts and blocky fabric pieces also result in Lego-like modular design that can simplify manufacturing. This design method can repurpose leftover rolls of fabric into zero-waste designs at scale. Turning waste into opportunities  For too long, the fashion industry has relied on cheap labor and sourcing to drive down costs. The chaos of COVID-19 has shed new light on this unethical, unsustainable practice. To survive and thrive in the post-pandemic market, brands need to find a more humane and sustainable cost advantage. Wiser fabric use through design and processes is likely the answer. Material is often the highest cost of clothing production. Yet, fabric is also the most-wasted resource. By putting unused fabric to new purpose, the fashion industry may help save the planet. Geoffrey Jones is Isidor Straus Professor of Business History. He co-directs the Creating Emerging Markets project at the School. Shelly Xu is the founder of Shelly Xu Design, a fashion startup that creates zero-waste clothing designs.