Write 13 pages thesis on the topic challenges, opportunities, and threats of sustainability fashion designers. It has been often referred to as a rag trade, demonstrating the level of unsustainability exhibited in its traditional practices, prompting the need for change in business to guarantee its existence beyond today. As expected, such change must start with design, despite that this only constitutes a small part of the general industrial processes, but affects the entire supply chain.

The design change is meant to show that the barriers faced by the fashion design industry can be overcome through creative cost reduction, which can be done through the reuse of resources, reduction of waste, and recycling of materials in all steps of design processes.

Slowly but steadily, the fashion industry is progressing well to catch on with corporate sustainability and social responsibility. Initially, there were the 1980s and 1990s anti-fur campaigns.2 As a result, the majority of retailers have moved to eliminate the use of fur for their products, or generally taken measures of ensuring that good conditions for animal welfare are maintained in the fur supply chain. Similarly, the past years have seen the fashion industry face increasing criticism in regard to the environmental footprint, and there has been another reaction on a brand level, where many designers have established their individual sustainability strategies and commitments, together with commitments made on an industry-wide scale, which have included initiatives like Natural Resources Defense Council’s Clean by Design, and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition campaign.

According to Rider, the sustainability incorporated in business and design concepts should not be considered as mere eco friendly but should be implemented to constitute standards for the general supply chain and ensure it has a trickle-down impact on the entire market. It simply implies that sustainable designing and fashion is not just environmentally friendly, but also exhibits economic viability over a long period.4 Walker demonstrates that the fashion industry has been fully incorporated into the global economy.