SDG 13: Let’s Talk Climate Action
In this edition of the ThreadingChangeXSDGs we take a look at the connection that SDG 13 has to the fashion industry. With the GEF 7th Assembly being in Vancouver this week, where Threading Change is headquartered, fashion impacts on the environment and climate go hand in hand.
Increasing reports of extreme weather patterns and natural disasters. Biodiversity diminishing. Water scarcity and food insecurity. The vast effects of pollution and accumulating industrial emissions are felt all over the world daily. Climate change is a reality and the fashion industry is perhaps the least talked-about contributor to the crisis.
In a world where ‘buy more wear less’ culture reigns, how then, do we work to navigate and mitigate the increasing toll on the environment while still maintaining our sense of style? The #envison2030 goal for climate action and its associated list of targets seeks to explore this. Read on to learn more about this topic.
SDG 12: Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns
In this edition of the ThreadingChangeXSDG we take a look at the connection that SDG 12 has to the fashion industry and how it relates to this month's global campaign, Second Hand September!
This article dives into the many impacts of the “fashion industry that are already being felt on the environment and on the human communities living in the areas where there is industry presence and production is located.The first target of Sustainable Development Goal 12 is to achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources. It is not only resource-demanding but also a high waste generating sector.”
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities & SDG 15: Life on Land
In this special edition of the ThreadingChangeXSDG we take a look at the connection that SDG 11 and 15 have to the fashion industry and the connections that these SDGs share with one another.
This article dives into the many threats that the current fashion model imposes to life on land as well as how they inhibit local economies and communities to become sustainable and healthy spaces for people and the planet to thrive.
SDG 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
SDG 10 looks at many issues that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and deepened the wage crisis for garment workers, leaving them with struggles to access adequate housing, healthcare and healthy nutritious food. Globally, garment workers face wage theft, including more than $11 billion in the first year of the pandemic.
SDG 9: Building Resilient Infrastructure, Inclusivity, Sustainable Industrialization and Innovation
SDG 9 looks at many issues related to industry, innovation and infrastructure inequities when it comes to sustainable economic growth. Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were already key indications that many key infrastructures were crumbling. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the lack of workplace infrastructure and it has worsened with the climate crisis.
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, and the Fashion Industry
Garment workers are exploited, underpaid, abused and used as commodities. There is an intricate linkage between SDG 8 and the fashion industry. The industry is built from a web of inequality and exploitation with retailers and corporations profiting from the endless growth and race to the bottom economies.
SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, and the Fashion Industry
SDG 7 highlights the goal of affordable and clean energy and contains three aspects including energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation and the Fashion Industry
SDG 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all". There is increased access to clean drinking water and sanitation, but billions of people - including many indigenous communities - still lack these basic services. As well as many of our water systems are contaminated and world water resources are in an ecological crisis. Worldwide, 1 in 4 people (2 billion people) around the world lack safe drinking water (WHO/UNICEF 2021), and almost half of the global population (3.6 billion people) lack safe sanitation. (WHO/UNICEF 2021).
SDG 5: Gender Equality and the Fashion Industry
Gender equality is one of the most disused goals but there are still so many targets to reach in regards to eliminating the root causes of discrimination against women, transgender, non- binary and 2-spirit people that persists within the private and public spheres.
SDGs 1-4 Recap: No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, and Quality Education
The fashion industry has contributed to maintaining poverty and food insecurity globally. Fashion impacts food insecurity in two ways: the taking of the land and the usage of the land. Food security means food sovereignty; the materials are part of a much larger picture of colonization and exploitation of the Indigenous people of the land and their traditional agricultural practices and systems.