Digital transformation cuts waste and boosts opportunities in fashion

To appreciate fashion’s future, it’s necessary to understand its past, according to Chris Baeza, associate program director and assistant teaching professor of fashion industry and merchandising at Drexel University.

Though the modern fashion industry has roots dating back to the Industrial Revolution, Baeza traces its more recent history to 1994 when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect, opening the door to US companies operating overseas. After NAFTA, Baeza says, American apparel brands moved their production en masse to Asia in pursuit of cheap labor, low taxes, and reduced oversight. That led to the birth of “fast fashion”—the mass production of cheaply made clothing that can be purchased off the rack in any size for a low price.

“When NAFTA was passed, it dramatically transformed the textile and fashion industries in the United States, shifting much of the manufacturing overseas and leading to a surge in clothing consumption,” Baeza says. “Before, people typically had maybe two pairs of jeans. Now, many of my students report having 15 to 30 pairs of jeans in their closet. Clothes are cheaply made, so they rip and tear easily and ultimately end up in a landfill.”

Waste is rampant at every link in the fast-fashion supply chain, Baeza points out:

• To create garments, fashion designers test and iterate with physical fabrics, generating scraps of discarded textiles.

• At the production stage, factories also have to test and iterate, which creates even more scraps.

• Retailers, meanwhile, place massive orders for garments to make sure consumers can get the items they want in their desired size and color. When the season ends, their stores and warehouses are full of unpurchased items.

• Finally, there’s e-commerce. When modern consumers buy products online, they don’t know how they will look or fit. That leads to excessive returns that once again end up in landfills.

Of course, it’s not just materials that are wasted. It’s also the fuel used to shuffle them between designers, factories, warehouses, stores, and consumers, which generates significant greenhouse gas emissions.

“The fashion industry is very tied to the oil industry,” says Baeza, who cites not only shipping, but also fabrics. “We’ve gone from natural fibers dominating the market to synthetic fibers that are petroleum-based. These synthetic fibers shed microplastics and can release harmful chemicals as they break down, contaminating our soil and water.”

Though it has been the norm for 30 years, it’s plain to see that fast fashion is not sustainable for the environment.