It’s no secret that the fashion industry’s carbon footprint needs to be reduced.

If public relations and the outcries of activists can’t do it, the legal system will. Introduced this past January by New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi and Assemblywoman Anna R. Kelles, The Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act (The Fashion Act) looks to expose fashion labels who are egregious in everything from environmental harms to human rights violations and financially punish them. 

This ground-breaking bill may be the first step in real regulations that will hold fashion labels accountable. “The Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act would require all fashion companies that do business (sell their products) in New York and generate more than $100 million in revenues to map at least 50 percent of their supply chains and disclose impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions, water footprint and chemical use. The bill does not specify which 50 percent, but calls on brands to focus on areas with the greatest social and environmental risks” (Nast, 2022).

Many socially and environmentally conscious brands are applauding the introduction of the bill, which is backed by New Standard Institute, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. Big-name designer and well-known advocate for sustainability Stella Mccartney is backing it. The law would apply to global apparel companies that do more than $100 million in revenues and do business in New York. This includes all the major names from U.S. brands like Ralph Lauren to the Gap. It would also include international brands from mass market and fast fashion to luxury, including SHEIN and Prada.

The law would require brands to disclose the total volumes of materials they produce. While this seems like something that should already be transparent, it is actually a place where brands hide and play a public relations game. They promote the idea that they are reducing the impact of individual materials yet at the same time, they are increasing their production and their carbon footprint with it. Under this law, labels would be required to set and meet Science-Based Targets for their greenhouse gas emissions. “Specifically, it would require such companies to map a minimum of 50 percent of their supply chain, starting with the farms where the raw materials originate through factories and shipping. They would then be required to disclose where in that chain they have the greatest social and environmental impact when it comes to fair wages, energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water and chemical management, and make concrete plans to reduce those numbers (when it comes to carbon emissions, specifically in accordance with the targets set by the Paris Climate Accords)” (Friedman, 2022).

This bill is a step in the right direction and is already being copied by other states. Fines collected would be redistributed in funds to the places feeling the environmental harms the most. “Unlike other heavy polluting industries, such as the auto sector, fashion retailers and manufacturers operate in a regulatory-free vacuum,” the New Standards Institute stated in a release on Friday. “This has led to a global race to the bottom, where the companies that have the least regard for the environment and for workers have the greatest competitive edge” (As New York Lawmakers Unveil the Fashion Act, is Larger Reform on The Way?, 2022).

This cycle has been a vicious one, with the brands with the least regard for human rights and the environment reaping the biggest profits. The Fashion Act is a step in the right direction to break the cycle.