So what does this have to do with fashion?
Firstly, it is more important than ever to remember that fashion doesn’t live in a bubble; we have to look beyond our own industry in order to find viable solutions for the multiple problems that threaten people and the planet as a direct result of the processes and systems involved in designing, creating, selling and consuming clothing. Cross-disciplinary action is not just recommended, but should be required in order to solve wider global issues like those addressed in SDGs, including housing, employment, sanitation and education, and also the more specific problems that exist within fashion, like the human rights violations that are endemic in garment manufacturing, the lack of gender, class and racial diversity in senior job roles, and toxic destruction of the natural environment for the sake of cheap, fast fashion.
Fashion’s global impact on the economy and the environment is certainly not to be ignored. Indeed, Karen Newman and Cara Smyth commented on this topic for their essay ‘Role of the Fashion Industry in UN’s Sustainable Development Goals’:
“Fashion is not a sector that exists in a vacuum. In fact, the fashion industry is not unlike any other key economic drivers; it is a key component of a global economy and certainly an important sector to consider when thinking about the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). If you consider that the fashion industry is one of the largest employers in the world, especially of women, with some estimates that women make up roughly 80% of the supply chain, it makes sense that fashion and apparel are involved in not only sustainability discussion—but development—where the sector is a powerful driver of job creation. And not for nothing, fashion is a $2.5 trillion-dollar industry and considered a top user of natural resources and polluter of the communities in which it operates. It’s not surprising then that fashion as an industry is now having a moment, especially in the sustainability dialogue.”
It is clear that the fashion industry can, and should, play a huge part in every sustainable development goal. Let’s look through some of the key UN SDGs and explore how fashion could help push those agendas forward.