The fashion industry is the world’s third-largest manufacturing sector and plays an important role for economic development, particularly in low-income countries. But the impact on the environment is significant. To address this, a multi-stakeholder group for Swedish fashion brands was established at SWH (active 2010-2013)​

The brands engaged their suppliers to improve resource efficiency and reduce negative impacts. The co-created methodology turned out to be very effective – 80 million kWh was saved and 11 million m3 water, which equals the daily need for 220 million people. Furthermore, the project reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 460,000 tons.​

The challenge​

Fast fashion comes with a hidden price tag paid by the environment and local communities in low-income production countries:​

• Every year, 93 billion cubic metres of water are used to produce clothes, enough to meet the consumption needs of 5 billion people.​
• Around 20 per cent of the world’s wastewater comes from the dyeing and treatment of textile.​
• The fashion industry generates 10 per cent of global carbon emissions, which is more than international flights and shipping combined.​

The problem is rapidly growing, mirroring the fact that global production of garments has doubled since the year 2000. But progressive brands can significantly reduce their impact; the methodology developed by the participants in the STWI multi-stakeholder platform is a good place to start. The participating brands managed to drastically reduce their water consumption, pollution, and carbon emissions. ​

STWI is currently inactive.

Read more about the environmental impact of the garment industry on the World Bank’s website​