Measuring Fashion: Insights from the Environmental Impact of the Global Apparel and Footwear Industries

In the face of climate change, resource depletion and shifting consumer expectations, fashion brands are increasingly coming under pressure to drive meaningful change and to back up their sustainability stories with facts. To encourage a more resilient future for fashion, Quantis performed a study looking at the entire value chain of apparel and footwear. The results are out in our new report, Measuring Fashion: Insights from the Environmental Impact of the Global Apparel and Footwear Industries study.

Fill-in the form on this page to access the 7-page report Measuring Fashion: Insights from the Environmental Impact of the Global Apparel and Footwear Industries study. For more details on the study and methodological considerations, access the full study. You can also access the Measuring Fashion Report FAQ.

The report highlights the key findings of the first in-depth, science-based study investigating the environmental impacts of the global apparel and footwear industries, and delivers guidance and insights for brands and businesses committed to making changes to reduce their impacts.

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“We knew fashion’s impact was major, but we didn’t have the exact science-based metric view of what this really meant. This study enables us to answer some of these outstanding questions, bust some of our collective assumptions, and to provide guidance to those committed to act.”

Annabelle Stamm, Senior Sustainability Consultant, Quantis

"What we know is only valuable when it rubs up against what other people know. This report is an invaluable resource for making change."

Debera Johnson, Executive Director, Brooklyn Fashion + Design accelerator, Pratt Center for Sustainable Design Strategies

"You have to have good information to make sound decisions. This report provides a great perspective on ways that we, as a textile community, can take action. We can’t allow ourselves to be overwhelmed to paralysis; every small decision and individual action adds up. This will require new business thinking and engagement. Let’s make the wisest choices!"

La Rhea Pepper, Managing Director, Textile Exchange

In-depth look at 5 key indicators

This groundbreaking study aims to put brands on the right path by providing a credible and current snapshot of the industries’ environmental hotspots across the value chain. These metrics will help guide decision-making at companies committed to setting truly sustainable goals, to making science-driven decisions, helping implement effective and meaningful actions. Understanding environmental impacts, particularly on climate, is also necessary for fashion brands committing to the Science-Based Targets initiative to get their business aligned with the global objective to limit warming to 2°C.

The Measuring Fashion study is the first-of-its-kind for three reasons:

1+ Based on industry specific impact data from the World Apparel & Footwear Lifecycle Assessment Database, which makes it comprehensive, robust, and up-to-date;

2+ Uses a multi-indicator approach to assess 5 different impact areas – Climate Change, Resources, Freshwater Withdrawal, Ecosystem Quality and Human Health – to ensure a balanced assessment on multiple fronts; and,

3+ Provides an outlook of the evolution of impacts across time (both past and future) and connects this with specific levers for change across the value chain.