Chapter 3 — full chapter
3.4.2 Material Sustainability Topics in Fashion
Not every sustainability issue has the same relevance for every fashion business. In sustainability practice, material topics are the environmental, social or business issues that are significant enough to require attention because of the impacts a company causes, contributes to or is connected with, and/or because they may affect the organisation’s performance and resilience.
For the fashion sector, Global Fashion Agenda’s Fashion CEO Agenda groups some of the industry’s most pressing socio-environmental priorities around five areas: respectful and secure work environments, better wage systems, resource stewardship, smart material choices and circular systems. These provide a useful sector-level starting point, but the relative importance of each issue will differ according to a company’s products, materials, supply chain, geography, business model and stakeholders.
The following environmental, social and economic dimensions therefore represent potentially material topics, rather than a universal checklist. Section 3.6.1 will show how organisations can identify and prioritise the issues that are most material in their own context.