Both Patagonia and Levi’s have been able to maintain competitive shares of their respective marketplaces while making important contributions to sustainable fashion. The reduction in waste could be monumental if other retailers would follow their examples. Legally, there is no framework in place to compel retailers to examine the sustainability of their clothing. However, it may be in everyone’s best interest if more companies performed life cycle analysis and attempted to implement small changes. In the United Kingdom there are laws in place that require companies to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions, and the United States has numerous laws regarding public companies financial reporting. A sustainability reporting law could be enacted in the United States, and could require apparel companies to release information about the sustainability of their products. Much like Levi’s lifecycle analysis these reports could describe the amount of resources used to produce clothing and provide an examination of clothing lifespan. However, currently any sustainability reporting law is a long way off and would have to overcome several hurdles.[7]
While better industry regulation and reporting may be the long-term key to reducing apparel waste, movement in this area has been slow. Instead, it may be up to the consumer to shift the marketplace. The consumer can incentivize other apparel retailers to follow the examples set by Patagonia and Levi’s. If the consumer supports the companies producing sustainable products and the companies selling used clothing, while avoiding retailers known for fast fashion, companies may choose to become more sustainable to keep their share of the market. As consumers become more aware, it will be more possible to pass legislation regulating apparel manufacturing.
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[7] For example, even among financial reporting laws closely held businesses often have entirely different regulations. So any blanket law about apparel companies would have to take into account the varying business types. Patagonia is currently not a pubic company and it exempt from many types of financial reporting.
