Funding Year: 2020-2022
The fashion industry is resource intensive and with a growing global demand for clothing, it is poised to have continued negative environmental impacts. Increasingly, in recognizing the need to mitigate these impacts, modern textile production systems are beginning to incorporate circular economy principles (e.g. restorative and regenerative approaches) in their business strategy. While these alternative modes of production may be sustainable, there is very little empirical research to support these claims. This GCRT aims to develop a tool to quantify the carbon footprint of at least two different alternate business models and compare them to the traditional, ‘take-make-use-dispose’ business model of the fashion industry. The team will identify and analyze existing data and tools available to measure carbon footprint. They will develop an online tool powered by real-time information to measure the carbon impact of alternative fashion business models and disseminate these project outcomes within academia and industry.
Principal Investigators:
- Sonali Diddi, Department of Design and Merchandising
- Zac Rogers, Department of Management
- Rich Conant, Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability
- Lumina Albert, Department of Management
- Anders Fremstad, Department of Economics