According to NHK reports in December 2020, in view of the environmental impact of the Japanese fashion industry in terms of manufacturing processes, such as textiles, dyeing, large inventories of discarded clothing, etc., the Japanese Ministry of the Environment decided to launch the first "environmental impact study" on the fashion industry. status survey". Prior to this, the Japanese fashion industry had submitted a "Recommendation for Promoting Sustainable Management of the Fashion Industry" to the Environment Agency, and invited industry celebrities to stand up and sign on to promote sustainability awareness and concrete actions in the fashion industry. The content mentioned in the proposal includes the control of carbon emissions, water consumption in production processes, plastic usage, etc., as well as the improvement of unequal pay for men and women for equal work, environmental impact, and labor conditions. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50854883486_6b2176c805_b.jpg Fashion celebrities such as Mitsuko Watanabe (second from right) submitted sustainability proposals to the Minister of Environment. Image source: Ministry of Environment Speaking of the origin of this proposal, it actually originated from the impact of the building collapse accident in Savar District, Bangladesh in 2013. According to Wikipedia, there are several independent clothing factories in this building, including Benetton Group, Walmart, Monsoon Accessories, etc., employing a total of about 5,000 workers. Even before the accident, cracks had appeared in this illegally constructed four-story building, but workers were still required to go to work. This eventually led to the disaster with the largest number of building collapses and fatalities in the world: 1,127 people died. The number of injured was about 2,500. After this tragedy, the British branch of the international civil society group "FASHION REVOLUTION" loudly called for the fashion industry to pursue sustainable management; and the Japanese branch of the group also actively promoted the same concept. In July 2020, the "Recommendation for Promoting Sustainable Management of the Fashion Industry" received strong support from fashion journalist Yoshiko Ikoma, who promotes traditional Japanese crafts; model MARIE, actor Yusuke Iseya and "VOGUE JAPAN" editor-in-chief Mitsuko Watanabe , all responded one after another. "Fashion has the power to shake people's hearts. Enjoying life's fashion is meaningless if it harms the environment and human beings. In the future, in addition to creativity, the fashion industry should also focus on sustainable management." Mitsuko Watanabe mentioned in a speech . After the Ministry of the Environment received this proposal in August, Minister of the Environment Shinjiro Koizumi started discussions and dialogues with the industry on how to accelerate the sustainable management of the fashion industry. In December, it decided to launch the first environmental impact survey on the fashion industry. In view of the fact that the fashion industry has the stigma of being "the second most environmentally polluting industry in the world", the international community has been actively promoting supply chain transparency in recent years. In 2018, well-known fashion companies such as Burberry, Stella McCartney, and Condé Nast signed the "Fashion Industry Climate Action Charter", hoping to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve virtually zero carbon emissions by 2050.
