Fast-fashion chains opt to slip into something more sustainable

The climate crisis has ratcheted up the pressure on big fashion industry players to mend their ways, and last week Primark and Asos, which both sell clothes by the truckload to young shoppers, announced plans to clean up their respective environmental acts.

It is not before time. For years MPs and green campaigners have been banging on about the environmental harm that is caused by the carbon emissions, water use and chemical and plastic pollution from a fashion industry that produces 100bn new items of clothing every year.

Asos has now set a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2030, by which point all its own-brand clothes would be made from recycled or more sustainable materials; that rate stands at just 30% today.

By 2030, all Primark clothes will be made from recycled or more sustainably sourced materials (today just a quarter are) and the low-price fashion chain is also promising to make them last longer.

The retailers’ ambitions are to be welcomed, although one suspects they are being driven by the responsible investing trend in the City rather than by shoppers’ appetite for greener clothes. Just look at Boohoo, whose customers have been all too willing to turn a blind eye to allegations of poor working conditions in clothing factories in the UK when they have needed a wardrobe fix.

But it is getting harder to ignore the elephant in the room. In an age where the mantra is sustainability, the fast fashion model – which requires people to keep buying clothes when they have a wardrobe full of stuff at home, seems dangerously anachronistic.

Asos chief executive Nick Beighton said: “The responsibility for a sustainable future lies with all of us, and businesses must lead the way.”

That’s true. At this juncture the industry’s famous creativity needs to be ploughed into drawing up the innovative supply chains and fabrics that will make it fit for the future.