Global Initiatives Promoting Sustainable Fashion

The fashion industry produces 20% of the global wastewater and 10% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Textile waste accounts for plastic pollution, with about half a million tonnes of plastic microfiber from synthetic fibers in the world's oceans. It is high time we all participated in global initiatives promoting sustainable fashion.

This article explores eight of these. Governmental and non-governmental organizations create these initiatives because they play a critical role in ensuring a more sustainable future. 

Must-follow Global Initiatives Promoting Sustainable Fashion  

1. The United Nations Alliance for Sustainable Fashion

The United Nations and supporting organizations created the United Nations Alliance for Sustainable Fashion initiative. The UN did this to support the sustainable development goals (SDG) through strategic action in the fashion industry. 

The alliance exists to address fast fashion's damage by facilitating collaboration between the UN bodies in the fashion industry and promoting policies and projects that ensure the fashion value chain yields outputs that further the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion was launched at the UN Environment Assembly on March 14, 2019. It focuses on producing raw materials and manufacturing, distributing, consuming, and disposing of clothing, leather, and footwear made from textiles and other materials.  

They analyze the efforts of the UN agencies in the fashion industry to identify the errors and offer solutions to the government. Presenting the information to the government positively impacts the fashion sector by triggering policy developments. 

Some UN agencies that work to prevent environmental damage from the fashion industry include the Food and Agricultural Organization, the International Trade Center, the UN Global Compact, and the UN Economic Commission For Europe (UNECE).

2. Fashion For Good

Fashion for Good is another initiative to provide a sustainable future for the fashion industry. The initiative was established in 2017, with its innovation hub in Amsterdam. Together with its partners, the C&A Foundation created a brand identity and strategy that was interesting enough to appeal to all stakeholders in the fashion sector to take action.

Their initiatives promote the Five Goods: good raw materials, good economy, good energy, good water, and good lives. Good materials promote safe, quality, and healthy materials suitable for reuse and recycling, while a good economy promotes a circular economy within the fashion sector. 

Good energy and good water encourage the use of renewable energy to reduce the fashion industry's global carbon emissions and encourage the safe use of water, emphasizing the industry's need to avoid polluting the water. The fifth G, Good Lives, promotes the excellent working and living conditions of the fashion industry's workers. 

Fashion For Good supports fashion manufacturers on their journey to a more sustainable future through knowledge sharing by a network of experts and mentors, project management, and funding access. In 2017, they created the first sustainable fashion museum, Fashion for Good Museum.

It was an interactive museum focused on educating people on the social and environmental impacts of the fashion sector and inspiring them to take action towards a more sustainable future. The Fashion for Good Museum showcased the history of the global fashion industry, innovative materials, the production process of a T-shirt, consumer consumption patterns, and more.

3. Re/Make Our World

Re/Make is a sustainable Initiative that promotes climate justice and living wages as fundamental human rights in the fashion industry. The organization aims to connect the industry's disruptive areas to practical solutions, ensuring a more sustainable fashion industry. 

Relevant stakeholders back Re/Make's strategy, which involves accountability, advocacy, education, intersectionality, and radical collaboration. The organization also has an ambassadorship program that inspires and trains the next generation in high school, middle school, colleges, and universities to advocate climate justice.

As of 2022, Re/Make has an ambassador community of over 1500 people across 65 countries. They have also created campaigns that helped secure workplace safety and recover millions of stolen wages.

The organization partners include Chicago Fair Trade, Fairwage Network, Fibershed Garment Worker Center, Stand Up Movement Lanka, War On Want, Fashion Revolution, Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion, Fashion Revolution USA, Remember Who Made Them, The Fashion Connection, Redress Raleigh, and many more.

4. Global Fashion Agenda (GFA)

The Global Fashion Agenda, established in 2009,  is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable collaborations within the fashion industry. The organization often holds a yearly summit to promote a sustainable fashion revolution.

Several stakeholders show up to discourse about critical environmental, ethical, and social issues. In 2024, over a thousand stakeholders in the fashion industry attended the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen 2024.  

The organization also makes a positive impact by influencing policy through advocacy. It fostered Global Textiles Policy Reform and publishes sustainable fashion thought leadership on The GFA Monitor, Fashion CEO Agenda, and Fashion on Climate. Furthermore, it implements programs like the GFA Academy, Circular Fashion Partnership, and Global Circular Fashion Forum.

The global fashion agenda aims to reduce 50% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2050. It also aims to increase the possibility of 70 million workers earning a living wage and reduce the use of synthetic fibers and conventional cotton.

5. Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC)

Next on our list of global initiatives promoting sustainable fashion is the Clean Clothes Campaign, established in 1989. It is an international network of organizations dedicated to defending human and workers' rights and fighting against gender inequality.

The Clean Clothes Campaign has four main active areas. The first is information and awareness raising. Here, they share information and create awareness about the working conditions in clothing production. They analyze and share the gathered data with consumers to help them make sustainable choices. 

The second active area is demanding corporate responsibility from clothing companies. They speak with companies and run campaigns with their stakeholders to pressure companies to improve their business models and working conditions.

Clean Clothes Campain also works with trade unions and a network of other organizations, which helps them alert the right authorities when human and worker rights are violated. They also facilitate the creation of rules and lobby for legislation to protect the industry's workers. 

6. Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI)

The Ethical Fashion Initiative is a program of the International Trade Centre created by the UN and the World Trade Organization in 2009. The Initiative aims to foster sustainable and inclusive development in developing economies through increased employment in the fashion and textile industry.

EFI coordinates a network of artisans from the global south to produce for leading luxury brands. It maintains a structured network of social enterprises, including Artisan Fashion in Kenya, CABES in Burkina Faso, IkatUz in Uzbekistan, Koyibaton in Mali, and Ozara in Tajikistan. 

These businesses manage EFI's regional branches, assisting artisans and small manufacturers with production, trade, and logistics. They help build tight-knit communities and facilitate the production of quality, handcrafted products. 

The EFI also has another program, the Accelerator. It focuses on discovering fashion and homeware brands with great potential in Africa and Asia. Accelerator matches designers and entrepreneurs with local and international mentors, while the EFI publicizes the products and gives them a global reach.

The initiative manages an intricate network of sustainable supply chains and uses the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) to determine, prevent, and reduce supply chain risks. 

The EFI has created jobs for 3,500 Afghan women, helped increase the living wage of women in Burkina Faso, and provided an average of $152 for 46 artisans in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

7. Sustainability and Circularity in the Textile Value Chain

Sustainability and circularity in the textile value chain are reports published in 2020 and 2023 by Philippa Notten under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report aims to use an evidence-based value chain approach, map the textile value chain with stakeholders, and measure the environmental and socio-economic impacts along the value chain's multiple stages.

Based on research and consultations with over 140 textile value chain stakeholders, the report prioritizes shifting consumption patterns, improved practices, and infrastructure investment. 

The report examined how the industry's current practices increase the risk of climate change and affect land and water resources and ecosystem quality. It states that circularity in the fashion industry is more than incremental improvements. It requires a system-wide approach that transforms textile design, production, consumption, and disposal.

Building on the 2020 Stocktaking report, the 2023 Roadmap report provides an action plan for all stakeholders, including brands and retailers, producers, policymakers, innovators and recyclers, NGOs, and communicators.

8. Forests4Fashion Initiative

Last on this list is Forests4Fashion. It is an initiative launched in 2014 to encourage sustainable forest management outside the forestry industry. The initiative follows the UNECE/FAO Integrated Programme of Work goal of raising awareness about the connection between the world's forests, their products and services, and every other industry.

The initiative planned to reach its goal by raising awareness about the environmental impacts of textile production. It also organizes outreach activities to educate consumers online and through exhibitions. 

Partnering with the UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion, the UNForum on Forests, and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative helps the initiative change the fashion world by providing sustainable alternatives to industry keyholders.

Conclusion: Global Initiatives Promoting Sustainable Fashion 

These initiatives align with the UN's sustainable development goals, which include several ways to protect the environment and society. Knowledge sharing is the ultimate tool used by these initiatives to tackle fast fashion. They spread sustainability awareness among producers, suppliers, and consumers, helping reduce the industry's effects on the environment. 

Start putting your knowledge into action by supporting sustainable clothing brands and avoiding fast fashion brands.