By Connect4Climate
Fashion comes at a huge cost to people and planet. From water pollution to toxic chemical use, the clothes and accessories we wear harm our world. The Connect4Climate program of the World Bank Group is supporting the newly-forged United Nations Alliance on Sustainable Fashion to advance eco-friendly, human-centred and low-carbon solutions in the industry. Join the #Fashion4Climate discussion and share your solutions.To highlight the impacts of a 2.5 trillion-dollar fashion industry and emphasize approaches to making it sustainable Connect4Climate is working with partners to produce the X-Ray Fashion Virtual Reality (VR) Experience and advance a global discussion through the Fashion4Climate initiative. Created by the young Danish media group, Manned, and directed by the renowned fashion photographer and filmmaker Francesco Carrozzini X-Ray Fashion will have its world premiere and be exhibited at the upcoming 75th Venice International Film Festival – Mostra del Cinema di Venezia – Biennale Cinema.
The average consumer is now purchasing 60% more items of clothing than 20 years ago. This comes at a huge cost: 20% of global wastewater comes from the production of garments, while cotton farming is responsible for nearly a quarter of the world’s insecticides. The vibrant colours and prints we wear also have a price. Textile dying is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, after agriculture.
The pressure to deliver frequent new collections at a low cost is particularly bad for the planet. About 85% of textiles are sent to landfills or incinerators, and incredibly 60% of textiles are thrown away within a year of being made. As more people buy more clothes increasingly our oceans are impacted, affecting life below water. To make the fashion industry sustainable we need to reduce waste, recycle and reuse resources, and apply a circular economy thinking to the industry.
The fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
Making fashion sustainable is a necessary step in helping achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and acting on climate change. Using virtual reality, X-Ray Fashion will immerse the viewer in the reality of the situation behind the clothes we wear and encourage positive action.
The X-Ray Fashion is the winner of the Uniting4Climate global VR pitch competition implemented under C4C’s Film4Climate initiative. The virtual reality experience is produced by Connect4Climate alongside philanthropist Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Productions and carbon-neutral company Alcantara.
Join the conversation, let’s make Fashion sustainable. – World Bank Group
