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 86 I APPAREL I 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.