After several resounding scandals, the textile sector set out to improve its social and environmental impact, under pressure from consumers and economic upheavals following the COVID-19 epidemic.
• Read also: Forced labor of Uyghurs: the textile industry struggles to show its white paws
A problematic industry
For the NGO Greenpeace, “the disposable fashion industry symbolizes the dead end of our economic system”, citing “pollution and destruction of ecosystems, violation of human rights, irresponsibility of multinationals, frenzied obsolescence of products”.
The April 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza, a garment workshop located in Dhaka (Bangladesh), killed more than 1,130 people and shed a harsh light on the underwear of fashion. More recently, reports and investigations into the use by certain brands of cotton from forced labor by Uyghurs in China have served as a wake-up call.
However, Nathalie Lebas-Vautier has observed “for three years” an acceleration in the taking into account of the challenges of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSR) in the sector. For the founder of Good Fabric, who advises companies on their CSR strategy, the trend has even “strengthened this year thanks to or because of the COVID-19 epidemic”.
Evolving demand
Céline Choain, specialist in the fashion and distribution sector within the firm Kea & Partners, evokes a growing proportion of consumers “attracted by brands that have meaning”, and who ask companies to do better, both socially and environmentally.
One of the most frequently cited international examples in this area is the American Patagonia. “We no longer obtain cotton from China, it does not only concern Xinjiang,” Cara Chacon, CSR vice-president, explained in an email to AFP.
It was necessary “to go up our supply chain to the level of farms”, she explains, by collecting information from the suppliers concerning their own supply chain to “help identify the countries of origin of the fibers. of cotton ”.
Shattered supply chain
Anything but simple, “especially in Asia”, supports Olivier Salomon, director at AlixPartners, in charge of distribution and consumer goods. “It’s always a little surprising how difficult it is to have precise data.”
Not necessarily a question of ill will, but of interaction between teams, language, classification of information. Harmonization is “feasible, but may take time”, explains the specialist.
“This is a very fragmented industry,” confirms Nathalie Lebas-Vautier. While “a business transformation requires coherent governance at all levels”, and the involvement of all stakeholders in the industrial sector.
Constrained evolution
The situation is also changing because “the inflationary system of advance orders has reached its limits,” explains Céline Choain. The consumption of new clothes is declining and consumers are looking for durable products, less and less hesitant to turn to second hand.
However, importing from Asia implies longer delays, and, as the year 2020 reminded us, greater vulnerability in the event of border closures. Companies seek “to balance their supply basin between large import and close import”, even if it means paying more for the purchase.
Another consequence of COVID-19, which has hit the clothing sector – sales down 17% in France in 2020, according to a provisional report from the French Fashion Institute – “many brands have plus the means to finance plethora of collections, ”explains Céline Choain.
New models
The crisis could then lead to the emergence of other models. It is for example that of the ready-to-wear brand for men Asphalte, which proposes to produce only on demand, on the basis of a prototype, the finished product not arriving until a few months later, once made.
Another line of work: recycling, “one of the major challenges of the coming years” for Céline Choain, especially for countries like France where the higher labor costs prevent competition from strongholds in the clothing industry. .
Laurent Thoumine, Executive Director of Accenture France and Benelux, finally pleads to display in stores “the negative externalities, social or environmental” of a product, to accelerate the awareness of consumers on the fact that a t-shirt at two euros does not necessarily have the same impact as a more expensive product, but of better quality.
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