France wants brands to stop destroying unsold clothes and luxury goods. Legislation would be enacted to that end. Kering-- the parent company of luxury brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga – has been asked to lead a global movement in order to reduce the environmental footprint that the fashion industry produces. Many fashion companies burn items that don’t sell after discounts or they bury them in landfills.

Canada is making similar efforts. In 2014, Canada was the waste champion per capita among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, with the equivalent of nearly a ton of waste produced per capita. With only 0.5 per cent of the world’s population, Canada produces two per cent of the volume of waste generated worldwide.

It takes 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton T-shirt – the same amount a human drinks in 2.5 years. The water used every year in the world to make textile dyes is enough to fill 1.6 million Olympic swimming pools. More than $500 billion is lost globally every year due to clothing underutilisation and the lack of recycling. The overall benefit to the world economy could be about $192 billion in 2030 if the fashion industry were to implement more sustainable measures.