Fashion Council Germany publishes the study on the German Fashion Footprint about the global impact of the German fashion industry: 38 million tons of CO₂e were released worldwide for the production of clothing and shoes – only 2 million tons of CO₂e within Germany.

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Following the publication of the study "Status of German Fashion" in January 2021, the Fashion Council Germany has released its second study, "German Fashion Footprint," on the global impact of the German fashion industry. Like the study published last year, this one was conducted by Oxford Economics and funded by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) . The Berlin-based strategy consultancy for innovation and sustainability , studio MM04, advised the Fashion Council Germany throughout the study's development process and is jointly responsible for selecting the case studies included in the report.

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As demonstrated in the 2021 report on the "Status of German Fashion," Germany is one of the world's largest fashion markets and home to many internationally renowned fashion brands such as Adidas, Puma, and Hugo Boss . Therefore, trends and practices originating in Germany have a significant global environmental impact. The German Fashion Footprint study examines the industry's environmental performance based on five key factors: greenhouse gas emissions , energy consumption , air pollution, water consumption , and agricultural land use . The study is based on 2019 data, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a massive decline in production across many sectors of the global economy.

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The report on the environmental impact now available considers the effects of the activities of fashion brands and retailers within Germany, as well as the global impact of clothing and shoes sold in Germany but produced abroad. According to the report, the greenhouse gas emissions of the German fashion industry in 2019 exceeded 38 million tons (CO₂e). This is equivalent to the average annual emissions of 1.9 million German households or 8.7 million trips around the world in a family car. Furthermore, this figure is roughly equivalent to the total direct emissions of Slovakia in 2019 (42 million tons CO₂e) or the direct emissions of industry and government in Sweden (47 million tons CO₂e).

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These figures and many more facts and figures can be found in the report. It includes case studies from Magnus Dorsch (About You), Amira Jehia (Drip by Drip eV), Melissa O de Leon and Larissa Roviezzo (Regenerate Fashion), Jana Neumark (Hessnatur) and Nora Milena Vehling (Fashion Revolution Germany).

You can download the complete report via the following link .

For further questions, please contact:

Henriikka Bierwirth

henriikka.bierwirth@fashion-council-germany.org

Tel.: +49 30 994 0489 - 61

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