PwC New Zealand partners with Mindful Fashion to support the fashion industry’s transition to a sustainable future.
5 August 2022
PwC New Zealand is delighted to announce a strategic relationship with Mindful Fashion New Zealand that will see the firm’s Legal team provide pro bono services to help the fashion industry’s transition to a sustainable future.
Mindful Fashion is a not-for-profit collective of leading New Zealand designers, suppliers and manufacturers who support members and the wider industry through advocacy, sustainable business resources and facilitating collaborative solutions to shared challenges.
Nicky Harrison, Director at PwC Legal, says the opportunity to provide advisory services to an organisation determined to achieve meaningful change is a privilege.
“Mindful Fashion is doing something that hasn’t been done before in Aotearoa and is organising a collaborative, joined-up voice across the fashion industry to solve an important problem to ensure a thriving and sustainable future.”
PwC has a long history of delivering professional services to not-for-profit organisations and charities, allowing people to use their skills to assist and engage with community organisations in need.
With fashion being a significant contributor to global emissions and waste, the industry has a massive journey ahead and Nicky says that an effective transformation journey will require different skillsets coming together to achieve innovative outcomes.
“Individually Mindful Fashion members can’t necessarily effect a great deal of change however, this is a group of clever, creative people who are passionate about changing the footprint of their industry.”
Jacinta FitzGerald, Programme Director at Mindful Fashion says the industry has enormous potential to achieve positive social and environmental outcomes by working together, and its members are actively working to tackle a broad range of sustainability challenges collectively, from climate action to responsible procurement and waste.
“We thank PwC for their support and look forward to growing the relationship over time.”
Annabell Chartres, Partner, Sustainability & Climate Change Leader, says Mindful Fashion is an excellent example of industry responding to the rapidly-changing environmental, social and governance (ESG) environment.
“This sort of collaboration benefits all participants, particularly in the current landscape which has different frameworks and standards, making it difficult for individual businesses to land on an approach.”
Annabell says that, like most industries, the fashion industry can’t overlook the environmental and social impact it’s having on the planet. The global apparel market is projected to grow in value from $US1.5 trillion in 2020 to $US2.25 trillion by 2025, however its negative impacts include toxic chemicals, textile waste, carbon, water and labour.
“There is huge opportunity for transformation across all aspects of the industry and a transition to circular fashion. This would see products designed to be used more, made to be made again, and made from safe, recycled or renewable inputs. ”
The fashion footprint
The average person buys 60% more items of clothing today than they did 15 years ago and keeps them for half as long.
Textile production generates more emissions than international aviation and shipping combined, according to a UK Parliamentary report. Textile treatments and dyeing are responsible for 20% of all industrial water pollution.
Washing clothes releases half a million tonnes of plastic microfibres into the ocean every year, equivalent to more than 50 billion plastic bottles. Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
If no changes are made, by 2050, 25% of the world’s carbon budgets will be taken up by the fashion industry alone. Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
In 2015, 92 million tonnes of clothing were sent to landfill. At current growth rates this number could increase 50% by 2030. Source: Global Fashion Agenda
Of the 73% of garments sent to landfill or incinerated each year, 95% could be reused or recycled. Source: thredUP
McKinsey has reported that circular business models, including fashion rentals, resale and repair could help the fashion industry cut 143 million tonnes of GHG emissions in 2030.
An estimated 30-40% of online sales are returned.
According to PwC’s Global Consumer Insights Survey, an increasing number of consumers are keen to understand the environmental impact of their fashion purchases, with 55% of respondents globally actively choosing products with a traceable and sustainable origin. That’s higher in the US, with the PwC Outlook report showing 75% of consumers have sustainability in mind when shopping.
Conscious fashion consumers are turning towards a more convenient shopping experience that’s more affordable and offers greater variety. This has seen the rise of “new to you”, a resale market that has grown 21 times faster than the retail market since 2016.
Many companies have already shifted from thinking of product sales as a one-time transaction to adopting models based on rental, reuse, and monthly subscriptions. In a sometimes struggling retail industry, embracing these new markets offers companies, particularly legacy brands and brick-and-mortar retailers, an opportunity to reinvent themselves and breathe new life into their business model. Retailers such as Ruby, Juliette Hogan and Kate Sylvester have incorporated pre-loved stock into their offerings to customers.
Contact us
Partner, Sustainability, Climate & Nature Leader, PwC New Zealand
Tel: +64 21 799 927
