Apparel August 2019 Apparel August 2019 issue | Page 92

GOING GREEN
FROM WASTE TO WEARABLE
Samir Alam analyses whether upcycling plastic can make sustainable apparel
a reality.
Modern consumers are slowly but surely
becoming environmentally conscious in their
buying behaviour. This has become quite
imperative when we consider the daily realities
of climate change across the world. In 2015,
research firm Nielsen reported that 45 per cent
of global shoppers were willing to pay more
for environmentally sustainable products and
a 2017 study from the Journal of Mechanical
Design demonstrated that consumers were more
likely to purchase goods that were highlighted
‘environmentally friendly’. This metric reaches
about 87 per cent when we consider the swiftly
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August 2019
growing consumer market that mainly comprises
millennial digital consumers.
In fact, the Retail Industry Leaders Association
(RILA) reports that 93 per cent of consumers expect
brands to follow practices that support social and
environmental issues. As a result, fashion and
apparel companies are beginning to embrace new
design concepts, technologies, and business models
in their attempts to follow sustainable manufacturing
principles. In keeping with this phenomenon, the
fashion and apparel industries have begun to
adopt one of the most widespread environmental
practices—upcycling plastic.