New report: One-Earth Fashion

The fashion system clearly needs a radical overhaul. Textiles, clothing, leather, and footwear are among the most polluting and unjust industries, built on widespread exploitation of cheap labour and the planet’s resources. Public Eye has been reporting on this for years. With this major report, we aim to take a look at what the future could be and advance the international debate on socio-ecological transformation by proposing 33 concrete targets for a just fashion system.

The report aims to open a global discussion that will also be lead online in a special discussion series “One-Earth Fashion: how do we get there?”, from January to April 2025.

Fashion needs to change its operating system. 

Less resource and energy use, slower production and consumption, decent work with purpoise and fairer distribution of economic value must become the new fashion trends for a liveable climate and a just future on Earth. This is not merely about a few tweaks here and there – it’s about making a transition to a new, just operating system for a fashion which respects planetary boundaries.

While there seems to be a broad consensus on the general directions in which industry should ideally move (less GHG emitting, more circular, more regenerative, fairer, less polluting), there is no agreement on the scale of the changes required to achieve a just fashion system within planetary boundaries.

We are addressing all those who believe that a better, more just and ecologically sound fashion system is possible: social activists and campaigners, organized workers and trade unions, discerning consumers and principled policymakers, responsible entrepreneurs and business leaders, designers and researchers with a sense of purpose, and the many others who are already spinning the threads of this transformation, or who want to contribute to this overhaul.

This “One Earth fashion” report provides food for thought and action. Throughout the report, readers will find notes with concrete ideas for effective regulation and the first steps that businesses could and should take. It puts forward a positive vision for a transition to a system for fashion that respects planetary boundaries.

Structure of the report

It sets out 33 concrete transformation targets for 2030 in 12 key areas. For each area, we first outline an overall transformation aim: a vision of what a fair fashion system – within planetary boundaries – should look like in each priority area. ​The proposed targets are specific and time-bound milestones intended to enable the vision. ​They set benchmarks for the scale of change we envisage for 2030. 

Here is a glimpse of the targets : 

One Earth fashion report

The report «One Earth fashion : Transformation targets for a just fashion system within planetary boundaries» (2024) is available in English. The Executive summary is also available in French and German.