H&M and Zara: Can fast fashion be eco-friendly?
Summary
TLDREl script explora el impacto ambiental del fast fashion y las promesas de marcas como Zara y H&M de ofrecer ropa ecológica. Se cuestiona la credibilidad de estas afirmaciones, analizando materiales como el algodón orgánico y el poliéster reciclado. La transparencia en la etiqueta y la cadena de suministro es crítica, y se destaca la importancia de la sostenibilidad en la moda, abogando por la compra de prendas sin estaciones y la calidad a largo plazo.
Takeaways
- 👗 La industria de la moda rápida, liderada por marcas como Zara, produce el doble de ropa anualmente en comparación con principios de los 2000.
- 🌍 Se estima que 93 millones de toneladas de ropa terminan en vertederos o son quemaduras cada año, equivalente a una camión de basura cada segundo.
- 💧 La producción de ropa también contamina aguas y emite CO2, con procesos que consumen mucha energía y liberan sustancias nocivas.
- 🔄 El reciclaje de poliéster utiliza hasta un 60% menos de energía que el material virgen y puede hacerse a partir de desechos de telas o plásticos.
- 👖 El algodón convencional es un cultivo intensivo en agua y químicos, requiriendo 20,000 litros de agua para producir un kilo de algodón.
- 🌱 El algodón orgánico es mucho más sostenible a largo plazo, requiriendo menos agua y sin la necesidad de riego intensivo.
- 📈 H&M fue el segundo mayor usuario de algodón orgánico en el mundo en 2016, seguido por Zara en cuarto lugar.
- 🏷 Las etiquetas de sostenibilidad como 'ecológicamente cultivado' o 'consciente' pueden ser confusas para los consumidores y difíciles de verificar.
- ♻️ Aunque H&M y Zara están trabajando en la recolección y reciclaje de ropa, menos del 1% de la ropa usada se recicla para hacer nuevas prendas.
- 🌐 La transparencia en la cadena de suministro es crucial para verificar las afirmaciones de sostenibilidad de las marcas.
- 🛍 La moda sin temporadas y la compra de prendas duraderas son formas de combatir el consumo excesivo y la producción de desechos de moda.
Q & A
¿Cuál es la cantidad estimada de toneladas de ropa que se tiran al vertedero o se queman cada año?
-La cantidad estimada es de 93 millones de toneladas.
¿Cuál es la implicación ambiental de producir prendas de ropa rápida?
-Producir ropa rápida contamina el agua y emite CO2.
¿Cómo ha cambiado la producción de ropa en las marcas de moda rápida desde principios de los 2000?
-Las marcas están produciendo el doble de prendas cada año en comparación con principios de los 2000.
¿Cuáles son las dos materias primas principales utilizadas por Zara y H&M?
-Las materias primas principales son el poliéster, que representa alrededor del 52% de la producción total de fibras, y el algodón, que es aproximadamente el 24%.
¿Qué es el PET y cómo se relaciona con el poliéster?
-El PET es el nombre científico del poliéster y es el mismo tipo de plástico que se encuentra en las botellas de agua.
¿Cuál es la ventaja ambiental de utilizar poliéster reciclado en lugar de material virgen?
-El poliéster reciclado utiliza hasta un 60% menos de energía que el material virgen y puede ser fabricado a partir de desechos de tela o basura plástica.
¿Cuál es el problema ambiental relacionado con el lavado de tejidos de poliéster?
-Los tejidos de poliéster pueden soltar 700,000 fibras microplásticas con cada lavado, que terminan en el océano y también en nuestra comida.
¿Cuánto agua se necesita para producir un kilo de algodón?
-Se necesitan 20,000 litros de agua para producir un kilo de algodón, suficiente para una camiseta y un par de jeans.
¿Qué es el algodón orgánico y cómo se diferencia del algodón convencional?
-El algodón orgánico es mucho mejor a largo plazo para el agricultor que lo cultiva y para el entorno y el suelo que lo produce, requiere menos agua e irrigación que el algodón convencional.
¿Qué significa 'sostenible' en el contexto de la ropa y cómo se define H&M y Zara este término?
-H&M define 'sostenible' como algodón reciclado o algodón que utiliza menos pesticidas y OGM, mientras que Zara lo describe como algodón cultivado ecológicamente, utilizando fertilizantes y pesticidas naturales y certificado por estándares de contenido orgánico y textiles orgánicos globales.
¿Cuál es la importancia de la transparencia en las marcas de moda en términos de sostenibilidad?
-La transparencia permite a los consumidores verificar la cadena de producción y mantener a las marcas responsables de sus afirmaciones de sostenibilidad.
¿Cómo se puede verificar si la ropa es realmente orgánica o reciclable?
-Con una camiseta H&M Conscious, se puede descubrir en qué fábrica específica fue producida, lo que teoréticamente permite verificar la sostenibilidad de la fábrica.
¿Qué tan efectivo es el reciclaje de la ropa y por qué?
-Menos del 1% del material de la ropa usada se recicla en ropa nueva debido a la falta de tecnología y la complejidad de descomponer y reutilizar los materiales de la ropa.
¿Cómo están H&M y Zara trabajando para mejorar la sostenibilidad en la moda?
-H&M se ha comprometido a utilizar algodón y poliéster sostenibles para 2025, mientras que H&M dice que todo su material será sostenible para 2030, y para 2019 ese número ya era del 57%.
¿Qué tipo de moda se considera más sostenible y por qué?
-La moda sin temporadas es más sostenible porque se centra en la calidad y la durabilidad, en lugar de producir prendas que sean desechables.
Outlines
👗 El impacto ambiental de la moda rápida
Este párrafo aborda la presión constante ejercida por los medios para que los consumidores compren ropa más nueva y a la moda, lo que lleva a que se desecho en masa cuando ya no está de moda. Se menciona que cada año se producen 93 millones de toneladas de desechos de textiles que acaban en vertederos o son quemados. Además, se destaca que la moda rápida, popularizada por marcas como Zara, ha duplicado la producción de ropa en comparación con principios de los 2000. Aunque las empresas dicen que están cambiando hacia moda rápida ecológica y reciclable, se cuestiona si se puede creerles. Se explora la sostenibilidad de materiales como el poliéster y el algodón, y se menciona que el algodón orgánico es más respetuoso con el medio ambiente y el agricultor que lo cultiva.
🌿 La promesa de la moda sostenible de H&M y Zara
Este párrafo examina las promesas de sostenibilidad de H&M y Zara, dos de las principales tiendas de moda del mundo. Ambas afirman tener colecciones que reducen el impacto ambiental en la fabricación de ropa y trabajar para hacer sus marcas más sostenibles. Se discute la confusión sobre términos como 'sostenible' y 'ecológico', y se menciona que H&M fue el segundo mayor usuario de algodón orgánico en el mundo en 2016, y Zara el cuarto. Se critica la falta de transparencia en las etiquetas de ropa de Zara y se señala que la ropa de H&M debe tener al menos un 50% de material reciclado para ser considerada parte de su colección sostenible. Además, se aborda la dificultad de reciclar ropa debido a la variedad de materiales y procesos de producción involucrados.
🔄 La desafiante realidad del reciclado de ropa
Este párrafo explora las dificultades de reciclar ropa y las promesas de H&M y Zara de trabajar hacia un futuro circular para la moda. Aunque ambas marcas ofrecen programas de reciclaje, menos del 1% de la ropa desechada se recicla en realidad para hacer ropa nueva debido a la falta de tecnología y la complejidad de descomponer los materiales. Se argumenta que devolver ropa es mejor que tirarla, pero la probabilidad de que se recicle es baja. Además, se señala que incluso si las marcas conocen toda su cadena de suministro, es difícil hacer que cada pieza de ropa sea menos perjudicial al entorno. Se enfatiza la importancia de que los consumidores piensen en la sostenibilidad y la necesidad de ropa antes de comprar.
🛍 Cambios en la moda y el papel del consumidor
Este párrafo reflexiona sobre cómo la moda ha cambiado y la responsabilidad de los consumidores en la industria de la moda. Se menciona que antes de los 90, los diseñadores creaban ropa para dos temporadas al año, mientras que ahora las tiendas de moda lanzan nuevas colecciones cada dos semanas. Esto ha resultado en precios más bajos, menor calidad y más ropa acabando en el vertedero o siendo quemada. Se aboga por la compra de ropa sin estaciones y de calidad que durará en lugar de ser desechada. Se destaca el papel que tienen los consumidores en influir en las marcas y se sugiere que deberían preguntarse si realmente necesitan ropa nueva antes de comprar.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡moda rápida
💡sostenibilidad
💡poliéster
💡reciclaje de prendas
💡algodón orgánico
💡microfibras
💡etiquetado transparente
💡moda sin temporadas
💡rendimiento del agua
💡ciclo de vida circular
Highlights
Media pressures to buy newer, trendier clothes lead to excessive waste.
93 million tons of textiles are landfilled or burned annually.
Fast fashion model by Zara results in double the clothing production.
Eco-friendly fast fashion claims by Inditex and H&M Group.
Polyester production is energy-intensive and polluting.
Recycled polyester uses up to 60% less energy than virgin material.
Cotton production is water-intensive and requires pesticides.
Organic cotton is better for the environment and requires less water.
H&M claims to use sustainable cotton by the end of the year.
Zara used over 38,000 tonnes of sustainable cotton in 2019.
The term 'sustainable' lacks a standard definition.
H&M was the second-largest user of organic cotton in 2016.
Zara's sustainable collection labeling can be misleading.
Zara commits to sustainable cotton and polyester by 2025.
H&M aims for all materials to be sustainable by 2030.
Fashion Revolution evaluates brands for transparency and sustainability.
H&M scored 73% in transparency, while Zara scored 43%.
Recycling clothing is harder than it seems due to technological limitations.
Less than 1% of material in used clothing is recycled into new clothing.
H&M and Zara invest minimally in recycling research.
The fashion industry needs to address overproduction and overconsumption.
Consumers have real influence in the fashion industry and should demand sustainable practices.
Transcripts
We’re constantly bombarded with media that puts pressure on us to buy newer
and trendier clothes.
Just to throw them away when they’re no longer in style.
An estimated 93 million tons go to landfill or are burned every year.
“And that’s roughly about a garbage truckload of textiles, every second going to landfill.
Every second!”
Producing clothes also pollutes our water and churns out CO2.
The fast fashion model pioneered by Zara means that brands are churning out double
the amount of clothing per year
as they did in the early 2000s.
But companies say that’s about to change
because we can now buy eco-friendly fast fashion!
And also recycle our clothes when we don’t want them anymore!
But can we believe them?
Inditex, Zara’s parent company, and H&M Group are two of the biggest fashion retailers
in the world, and both have collections that claim to reduce the
environmental impact of making clothes.
Not only that, but the two fashion giants
say they are making their entire brands more sustainable.
Let’s take a look at these promises, starting with the materials.
Main materials at Zara & H&M as well as worldwide are polyester, which accounts
for around 52% of total fiber production, and cotton, which is around 24%.
PET is a different name for polyester
and is the same type of plastic that's found in water bottles.
Actually, 60% of PET production goes to
textiles, and only 30% to water bottles.
The material is produced from petroleum, and the process uses lots of energy and
releases CO2, as well as acids and ammonia into the water supply.
Recycled polyester uses up to 60% less energy than virgin material and can be
made from textile scraps or plastic trash.
But inconsistencies in the threads can make it require more dye,
and experts say that polyester fabrics can shed
700.000 microplastic fibers with every wash,
which end up in the ocean and also in our food.
Cotton doesn't have these problems, but is still a chemical and water intensive crop.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature,
it takes 20.000 liters of water to make one kilo of cotton,
which is enough for one T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
Also, around 11% of the world’s pesticides are used on cotton fields.
So is organic cotton better?
Essentially there's a massive difference between organic cotton and cotton.
This is Suki, a representative of Fashion Revolution, which is an organization that
advocates worldwide for transparency and sustainability in the fashion industry.
“Organic cotton is, in the long term, much better for the farmer that grows it and
the environment and the soil that produces it, and it's less water intensive and
doesn't require as much irrigation as such.”
We requested an interview with H&M about
the sustainability of their products, but they declined.
Over email they said:
We are happy to say that by the end of this year
all cotton we use will come from sustainable sources.
Zara also responded only through email, saying:
In 2019, the Group [Inditex, Zara's parent company] used over
38,000 tonnes of sustainable cotton in its clothing
(up 105% from 2018).
But what does sustainable actually mean?
There’s no standard definition and it doesn’t equal organic.
H&M says that sustainable cotton can also mean recycled or cotton that uses less
pesticides and GMOs.
Zara portrays its cotton as sustainable but calls it ecologically grown
instead of organic.
It claims the cotton uses natural fertilizers and pesticides, and is
certified by the Organic Content Standard and the Global Organic Textile Standard.
Which say they control for chemical and water use in the whole production process.
Terms like ‘conscious’ and ‘ecologically grown’
are hard to fact-check,
as well as confusing for the consumer.
But according to the non-profit Textile Exchange, in 2016 H&M was the second largest
user of organic cotton in the world.
Zara was the fourth.
Let’s focus on synthetics.
In H&M's sustainable collection, the synthetic clothing has to be at least
50 percent recycled.
Zara doesn’t specify their percentage, and their labeling can be confusing.
This jacket says it’s 100% recycled polyamide, which makes it seem like
it’s completely recycled.
But the filling is polyester.
That’s a different material.
And this isn’t the only time this happens.
The percentage recycled statement often doesn’t refer to the whole garment, making
it look like the item is more recycled than it actually is.
On the subject of transparent labeling, the Join Life tags are also on the Zara website
and are stamped by the Forest Stewardship Council.
This would seem to imply the clothing is certified by this organization.
The stamp, however, is only referring to the tag, not to the whole clothing item.
Talk about misleading.
Zara has committed to sustainable cotton and polyester by 2025.
H&M says all of their materials will be sustainable by 2030, and for 2019 that
figure was already at 57%.
If they stick to these commitments it could mean big changes for the industry.
But material is only part of the story.
To find out if that cotton is actually organic or that polyester is actually recycled,
consumers need to be able to check the production process.
With an H&M Conscious T-shirt, you can find out in which specific factory it was made,
so it’s theoretically possible to check the factory’s sustainability.
Zara only lists how many suppliers it has in one city, but not their names and addresses.
They were both evaluated by Fashion Revolution, an organization advocating for
transparency and sustainability in fashion.
None of the 250 large brands scored over 80%, but for 2020 H&M was the highest
scoring brand, with 73%, so quite transparent.
Zara scored a 43%.
Not so much.
This is important because:
“Suppliers are one of the few stakeholders with a front row seat to brands’ inner workings.”
Kim has a background in human rights and was a garment factory manager in Cambodia.
“They uniquely have access to the information that consumers need to be able to cross check
brands’ actions against their words.”
So being able to research suppliers allows people
to hold brands accountable to their sustainability claims. But...
“Just because you're transparent, it does not mean you're sustainable.
It does not mean that at all.
And that's really, really important.”
Even for brands who know their whole supply chain, making an eco-friendly garment is hard.
“Let's pick up a denim. You can see the dyeing is done in a more environmentally responsible way,
but the cotton is not produced the same.”
Jessie has worked in different industries from product inspection to purchasing,
to product development, in both China and Cambodia.
“Or take another example.
The whole piece of the clothes is made out of waste, but not dyed in a responsible way.
So, they're green, but it's different degrees of green or different degrees of less bad.”
Because an item of clothing is made up of many different materials
all manufactured in different ways, it’s hard to make each piece less harmful to the environment.
This is also the reason why recycling clothing is much harder than H&M and Zara
would seem to claim.
H&M’s advertisements say that the company
is working towards a circular future for clothing.
According to the website, you can bring
your clothing to any store and it will be resold as second-hand clothing,
re-used as other textiles, or recycled.
Zara has a similar campaign.
It says it partners with different local organizations, which then take over what
happens to the clothing.
So what does happen?
They ARE re-sold, re-used, and recycled, but not in the proportions you might think.
Over half of donated clothing is sold overseas.
The rest is mostly turned into industrial material, burned, or goes to landfill.
Less than one percent of the material in
used clothing is recycled into new clothing.
A big reason is lack of technology.
Remember how many materials were in the jacket?
Well, they need to come out again to recycle it.
“Garments that are made from mono materials or can easily be taken apart
into pieces, can be recycled.”
Maxi started her career as a certified dressmaker over 10 years ago and has headed product development
for Hugo Boss and major online retailers.
“But think about your wardrobe, how many pieces would fulfill these requirements?”
So giving back clothing is better than throwing it away, but the chances of it
actually getting recycled are very low.
H&M and Zara are investing in recycling research, but we looked at their annual
reports and the amount is 0.5 percent and 0.02 percent of their profits, respectively.
They say returning clothes is circular, which isn’t really true. And even if it were:
“That's not the solution to our overconsumption.
Or our overproduction.”
The problem is that too much clothing is produced, and bought, whether the clothing is eco-friendly or not.
“Let's just say you're putting one person here who says, you know what, I don't give
a bleep about anything recycled or organic.
I will once a year buy a nice pair of pants
and I don't care about anything, and then there are these people who are saying,
yes, I'm really aware, I want to do that. I want to commit to the environment.
And the pair of jeans that I'm going to buy every four weeks will always be sustainable. So.
Still, this person is better.”
Buying clothing every four weeks is relatively new. Before the 90s designers made clothes
for two fashion seasons per year, and now fashion retailers put out clothes in as little as two weeks.
More clothes mean cheaper prices, lower quality, and more ending up in the landfill or burned.
But it’s not just big fast fashion brands, it’s the fashion industry in general and
our desire for constantly changing outfits that need to hit pause.
“We need to think about how we shop and what we're really calling for.
But there is a bold step in a number of notable fashion brands and fashion houses
now going seasonless and hats off to them. It's an important thing to do.”
The concept doesn’t mean sacrificing style – but instead making clothing to last rather
than be thrown away.
“So all in all, what we're trying to do is working with clothing that is not very seasonal, so to say.
It should be something that you can wear year after year, we want to focus on quality.”
Karishma is the founder of Ka-Sha, an Indian brand featured in magazines like Forbes and Vogue
for championing eco-friendly fashion.
"We try to make products that try to fit into different places depending on who's
wearing it and how it's worn. So we have a lot of different aspects to our clothing.”
So what do you do when you want to buy new clothes?
H&M and Zara say their eco-collections are better for the environment, and they actually are.
If you want to make sure the whole supply chain is sustainable, there are
many smaller brands that can account for every step of their production process.
And buying seasonless instead of trendy clothing means it won’t go out of fashion
and end up in the trash.
Because this is a rare industry where consumers actually have a real influence.
“When I look at the whole picture, I realize maybe only end consumer is the power
[that] can balance brands and can push them, give them pressure to make some changes.”
So, ask yourself not only who made your clothes and what they are made of,
but also, do I need these new clothes? And go from there instead.
And if you want to see more videos like this, we post about environmental topics every Friday.
Like and subscribe so you don’t miss out.
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