As a primary issue of the twenty-first century, sustainability has many definitions. The term “sustainability” was coined in the Brundtland report in 1987, and its original meaning is “satisfying the current needs without jeopardizing the future generation’s needs.”
“Satisfying the current needs without compromising the future generation’s needs”
Since then, sustainability has been expanded to include three perspectives: environmental, economic, and social, which is referred to as the “Triple Bottom Line” of sustainability.
Nowadays, sustainability refers to activities that can be carried out indefinitely without harming the environment, such as how you expect to be treated and how you treat others, as well as thinking about how to meet the needs of the current generation without jeopardizing the needs of future generations.
Because the term “environment” is defined with humans at the implicit center, sustainability is essentially about trade-offs between different groups of people, such as rich and poor, young and old, laborers and capitalists, and developed and developing countries. The complex and dynamic interactions between human livelihood and the environment are required for sustainability. It pervades the ecological, economic, social, and political dimensions on a local, regional, and global scale.
Textile and garment production processes in the fashion industry raise many concerns about sustainability. For example, there is a significant amount of energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, hazardous waste generation, and toxic effluent discharge into the ecosystem containing dyes, finishes, and auxiliaries.
Bringing the concept of sustainability together in the fashion industry, sustainable fashion is defined as clothing with a conscience about labor conditions and environmental responsibility. A growing number of consumers advocate purchasing sustainable fashion products to meet psychological needs such as equality and sustainability.
Recent resources focus on four aspects of sustainable fashion: (i) sustainable production and remanufacturing, (ii) green marketing, (iii) green information sharing, and (iv) green attitude and education. The first three are fashion companies’ responsibilities, while the last is about fashion consumers.