Karun's Podcast (TexConnect)

Fashion waste is costing the global economy more than $400 BILLION every year, according to a recent World Economic Forum report. And this is just the economic impact of fashion waste, Beyond economic loss, fashion waste leads to environmental disasters. Source: Wikipedia.org / sustainability.uq.edu.au / wtvox

Cotton is a natural seed fibre derived from the cotton plant. It is the second most common fibre used today after Polyester, making up 26-35% of the textile market.   Cotton is a natural and renewable resource, which is good but can have an extremely harmful impact on people and the environment.  source: Theworldcounts/  Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc

Today, the regular use of petroleum-based products and other non-renewable assets are depleting the world’s natural resources. In addition to the damage caused by this depletion, the use of these natural resources has resulted in serious environmental damage — burning petroleum-based fuels have seriously damaged the Earth’s atmosphere, while petroleum and oil-based products harm the ecosystem  To accelerate the deployment of a sustainable bioeconomy to maximize its contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the Paris Agreement. An important role can be played by bio-based chemicals Biobased chemicals defined as chemical products that are wholly or partly derived from materials of biological origin (for example biomasses, feedstock, but also plants, algae, crops, trees, marine organisms, and biological waste). Source: Beta Analytic /EU SCIENCE HUB /Acme-Hardesty /ACS Green Chemistry Institute 

In today's fast-fashion market, how to use multifunctional design to achieve the balance of environmental protection and fashion is still worth exploring. Source  AUTEX 2009 World Textile Conference J. Cunha, A. C. Broega University of Minho, School of Engineering, Department of Textile Engineering, Guimarães, Portugal Journal of Arts & Humanities Meng-Mi Li1 , Ying Chen2 , Ye Wang1 Image source : wtvox.com / the Emami dress pinterest.com

Climate change is undoubtedly one of, if not, the biggest challenge of our lifetime. It is and will affect everyone on this planet and our future In 2018, the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action came into being and contained the ambitious vision of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. It was launched at COP24 in Katowice, Poland, in December that year. Source: Standearth report / Apex-insight.com  / oecd.org /apparelresource.com

The two most important actions required to make the fashion industry sustainable are bringing transparency in the supply chain and providing digital credentials for consumers to choose sustainable products

Companies are making efforts to becoming more eco-friendly — but there’s no doubt some are simply greenwashing to sell more clothes. This podcast makes you aware of how to spot greenwashing in fashion and make sure your purchases are actually sustainable

Being Fashion, the second largest polluting industry in the world, it is of high relevance to integrate the targets of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals into this industry. The aim of the commitment, is to tackle the environmental and social issues related to fashion production and consumption: Implementation of sustainable design strategies, promoting the use of sustainable technologies and appropriate resource management throughout the textile supply chain, proposing new business models and engaging with consumers for better consumption habits.

Fashion Sustainability should be addressed in a holistic way that maintains ecological boundaries whilst respecting and protecting human rights 

This podcast episode talks about sustainability in the fashion supply chain and the impact of the fast fashion cycle on people and the planet.

The first episode is a short introduction to the term sustainability