Sustainable fashion demand is gaining momentum. From threading the needle to purchase, awareness of the environmental and ethical prices of clothing consumption has become woven into the minds of
. With fast fashion brands still having a strong foothold across Australia, the country’s consumers are starting to put
and to lower their manufacturing footprints. Nevertheless, translating sustainability values into actions is proving harder than expected as Australia’s shoppers attempt to balance their price, fit, style, and quality requirements alongside sustainability
.
Australia’s clothing waste crisis: fast fashion under the microscope
Australia’s clothing industry significantly contributes to the country’s waste crisis, with thousands of tons of clothing and textiles going to landfills each year.
More Australian consumers are engaging in sustainable fashion consumption behaviors, including disposing of clothing in eco-friendly ways through donating items to charity shops, mending and repurposing old clothing items, as well engaging in resale activities by selling to friends or via second-hand platforms such as eBay and Depop. Nonetheless, an estimated 200
kilotons of clothing given to donation and collection services across Australia still ends up in landfills annually. The country’s clothing and textiles industry issues still need to be solved at the roots, with consumer behavior only one of many contributors to the industry’s continued unsustainable nature as one of Australia’s most polluting industries.
Is Seamless the answer to closing the loop?
In collaboration with several major retailers, including BIG W, Cotton On, David Jones,
The Iconic, Lorna Jane, and Rip Curl, the Australian Fashion Council (AFC) aims to put Australia’s fashion industry on the path to circularity by 2030 through its ‘Seamless’ initiative. Launched in June 2023, the scheme aims to improve Australia’s reuse and recycling of clothing through
fostering circular business models, expanding collection and recycling points, incentivizing sustainable design and production, and introducing re-education campaigns on responsible acquisition, care, repair, and disposal. By 2030, the AFC hopes to have changed the fate of countless clothing items, giving them a new lease of life, or remanufacturing residual textiles.
With consumer drive to purchase sustainably prevalent nationwide and many large Australian retailers participating in circularity schemes, this goal may come to fruition.
What do consumers think about sustainability claims in Australia's fashion industry?
Nevertheless, Australia still has a long way to go to transition to a more circular clothing industry structure. While more fashion brands across the country claim to be environmentally friendly regarding material sourcing, manufacturing processes, and end products, several shoppers remain wary of these green claims. Greenwashing, in which a brand conveys misleading information regarding the sustainability of products and services provided, is becoming a more prevalent cause for concern among the country's shoppers. Over 70 percent of Australian consumers indicated in a 2023 survey they believe
fashion brands greenwash to some extent when making claims about the sustainability of their products. Several fashion shoppers indicated they would
cease or reduce purchases from clothing brands found to be making false, misleading, or uncorroborated claims.
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