If everyone keeps their promises, environmental issues in clothing production will be significantly reduced in 2020. Because with its Detox Campaign, Greenpeace have pressured internationally operating fashion brands such as H&M, G-Star, Nike and Adidas to eliminate toxic discharge in their supply chain by 2020. Successfully so. A growing number of fashion companies, ranging from M&S to Victoria’s Secret, have pledged to engage with their clothing factories in order to prevent hazardous chemicals, such as dyes and bleaches, from polluting water (including the rivers that local communities are dependent upon for their daily water supplies...).
Campaigning has been a consistent element in the sustainable fashion movement. With the Detox Fashion campaign Greenpeace has been one of the most creative environmental activists to join the anti fast fashion movement. Of course, the worldwide Clean Clothes Campaign has been putting the spotlights on the negative side effects of our (cheap) fashion consumption for years. And for designers like Vivienne Westwood and Katherine Hamnett, campaigning for a more green & fair fashion world has been part of their ways of doing business. (Yes, that's the power of slogan shirts for you).
With sustainability and corporate social responsibility becoming ever more popular in the world of fashion, it seems that activism is being gradually supplemented with, if not replaced by, business consultancy and consumer support. Even Greenpeace has indicated a willingness to collaborate with fashion brands to assist them in detoxing their supply chain. In addition, initiatives such as Rankabrand.nl, GoodGuide and Fashioning Change provide consumers with resources to make their shopping carts more fair and green. Because as the concept of Changeanomics suggests, consumers voting with their wallets may be just as crucial to a more sustainable fashion industry than activists campaigning.