The apparel and footwear consumption is projected to rise by 63 per cent, to 102 million tons in 2030, increasing the need for fashion industry to address its environmental and social footprint, says a recent report. The fashion industry has a clear opportunity to act differently, pursuing profit and growth while also creating new value for  world economy.

In the first Pulse of the Fashion Industry report (May 2017), The Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), has made an in-depth assessment of the industry’s environmental and social performance. Drawing on the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index and a survey of more than 90 senior managers responsible for sustainability issues and a variety of other sources, it offers the first comprehensive common fact base on the health of the industry – with a 'Pulse Score' by type of company, size, region and stage in the value chain.

As of today, the sustainability 'pulse' of the industry is weak – scoring only 32 out of 100, according to the report. GFA and BCG developed the 'Pulse Score' to assess the industry’s performance on environmental and social issues across fashion companies and stages of the value chain and conducted the 'Pulse' survey to confirm and refine the findings.

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In the past decade, the global fashion industry has been an engine for global development and made progress on sustainability. Awareness is growing and individually, companies are optimising business practices to limit their negative impact. But with current trajectories of production and consumption, pressures on natural resources and social conditions will intensify by 2030 to the point of threatening industry growth itself.

The industry can move beyond fragmented individual actions with incremental results. Through collective efforts the industry can unite around an agenda for change, drive the needed systemic change and work jointly on disruptive innovation.