Levi Strauss & Co. and Forum for the Future call for the fashion industry to work together to create a sustainable world in a new report launched that explores the future of the trillion dollar sector.
Fashion Futures presents four vivid scenarios of the world of 2025 and the role of the fashion industry, helping companies around the globe navigate the ever-changing challenge of developing sustainable business.
Will climate change refugees spread new fashion influences around the world? Will a shortage of raw materials see us renting our clothes from libraries? Will technological advances make it common to grow what we wear?
The scenarios take account of the key factors that are already affecting the industry and will bring profound change over the next 15 years. They are designed as a tool to challenge companies’ strategies, inspire them with new opportunities and help them plan for the future.
“For the fashion industry to be sustainable economically, it must be sustainable socially and environmentally too,“ said John Anderson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Levi Strauss & Co., which worked with independent sustainability experts Forum for the Future to produce the report.
“These provocative scenarios challenge all of us to look beyond the short term and use our collective power to work to create the kind of positive world we’d like to see in 2025,” continued Anderson.
Peter Madden, Chief Executive of the Forum, said: “The global fashion industry generates a trillion dollars a year. What we wear –- and how it's made and sold –- can have a huge positive impact on our society and environment. This report describes how fashion's future could be greener. ”
Forum for the Future produced the four scenarios in collaboration with fashion experts from around the world in manufacturing, design and retail, as well as universities, trade unions and NGOs. They explore every aspect of the industry, from production of raw materials, through manufacturing and sale, to use and end of life. The four Fashion Futures scenarios follow:
Slow is Beautiful presents a world of political collaboration and global trade. “Slow fashion” is in vogue, and high street brands compete on sustainability credentials. Climate change refugees have introduced new fashion influences. People own fewer, but higher quality clothes. “Vintage” second-hand clothes are also popular, bought and sold online. People also wear “smart” clothes, which monitor their health and wellbeing. Japan specialises in remanufacturing the world’s used garments.
In Community Couture, self-sufficient communities are thriving in a world struggling to cope with the impacts of climate change and resource shortages. Only the rich can afford new clothing, and factories that still make clothes from raw materials need protection from armed gangs. People rent garments from clothing libraries or make their own in community recycling centres. Second-hand clothing is a valuable resource and nothing is thrown away.
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