The True Cost Calculator is a freely accessible, self-assessment tool to enable fashion professionals efficiently measure, compare, and minimise the ecological, environmental, and social impact of clothing throughout its entire lifecycle. Anse Smeets, Researcher and Project Manager Circular Economy, at Vito NV, one of the organisations behind the tool, talks nitty-gritties.
Long Story, Cut Short
- The TCC is an outcome of the need to bring some clarity in the complexity of sustainable design choices and trade-offs by making the positive and negative impacts of a garment more transparent, comprehensive, and more tangible.
- Lack of recent, complete and validated data (e.g. on finishing processes) is perceived as one of the major challenges in the development of this model. Opportunities for future collaboration to extend the datasets are being explored.
- Sustainability consultants or CSR departments could monitor the true cost of the company’s product portfolio and set targets to reduce the true cost gap by a given date, thereby empowering designers and purchasers.
