The fashion industry needs to be more ambitious or risk doubling its carbon emissions targets, the GFA warns in its latest report.

The report calls on the industry to accelerate action on all five priorities: it notes that progress has already been made in resource management, safe working environments and material selection, but actions related to payroll and circular systems are lagging behind.

“Solutions and tools that the fashion industry needs to improve already exist. The time has come to use them ambitiously,” GFA CEO Federica Marchionni said in a statement. “With so much information circulating around sustainability issues, it can be difficult for leaders to determine what actions will put them on the path to progress. With this report, we aim to create a one-stop resource for the industry.”

To deliver higher wages across the supply chain, 58% of brands say company buyers are trained on the cost of production models, according to the report. In terms of cycling, 92% of brands are taking steps to improve energy and fuel use; and two-thirds of brands engage multilateral organizations to accelerate the adoption and development of sustainable materials. However, just over a third of brands say they are already engaging with stakeholders on how to extend the life of products, and only 14% of brands say most products are made from materials that can be recycled where their products are sold.

The GFA Monitor itself counts the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Textile Exchange and the Apparel Impact Institute as co-authors, with additional data from over 200 brands and retailers being used for exposure benchmarks developed by sustainability analysis platform Higg. It will be updated annually to bring the industry’s attention to sustainable development action.

Photo by Rio Lecatompessy on Unsplash