EXCHANGE Volume 01, No. 1, 2023, pp. 75-80

Ruolin LIAO

Changes Must Happen in the Clothing Industry-the Transition Towards Carbon Neutral in Europe

Abstract: Nowadays, the clothing industry is found to make big contributions to climate change, stepping the way towards carbon neutrality in Europe. Leading fashion companies are driven by the desire to make more money and tend to accelerate their product cycle to produce more unnecessary clothes, sell more clothes and make more profits. These strategies perfectly correspond to the nature of capital, which is to chase more money in endless time, being the easiest and the cheapest way to satisfy the growing profiting desire of these companies. Even if these companies have already made some efforts to be more sustainable, the effects remain unknown in the uncertain future. Those strategies that brought false prosperity to the clothing markets impacted the environment largely. From the perspective of consumers, they tend to buy new clothes instead of using old ones or buying second-hand products. Though more consumers started to buy products made from recycled materials, vintage or second-hand products, these consumption ways are still not mainstream. The reasons behind those options are comprehensive. It is believed that chasing profits, which is rooted in the depth of human nature accounts for part of it. Consumers tend to be attracted to cheaper products. However, regardless of the hard work, it is necessary to change the strategies of those leading clothing companies and consumers’ thoughts towards buying clothes. So, thoughts of carbon neutrality can permeate into people’s lives and thus gradually impact all kinds of lives. To tackle this problem, consumers should take the role of educating companies, and leading clothing companies should be clearer about the current situation and take real action.

Keywords: Carbon neutral; Europe; clothing industry; changes.