A new study produced by the University of Cambridge has set out proposals for a sustainable clothing industry, including new business opportunities for retailers and manufacturers.
Written by researchers at the university's Institute for Manufacturing, the study includes a model for the ideal consumer, who would drive environmentally beneficial changes in the clothing industry–for example, by buying fewer clothes, washing them less frequently and recycling them more often. Currently, consumers in the UK spend about £780 per head per year on textiles and clothes, amounting to about 2.15 million tonnes (35kg per person). Of this, just one eighth is sent for re-use through charities whilst the rest is discarded.
The report also proposes actions that the UK government and businesses could take to encourage better practice while remaining profitable, such as more fact-based information for customers. Proposals for retailers, based on separating profit and growth from increasing material flow, include the re-introduction of once-common services such as clothes repair and maintenance–which retailers could use to develop new revenue streams; the active promotion of garments designed for repair; and offering fashion upgrades.
Other proposals in the study include research into technological developments that would allow clothes to be refreshed without washing, sort clothes efficiently and recycle new fibres, and improve the infrastructure for clothing collection.
