India, May 20 -- Fast fashion retailers move faster than their traditional counterparts. They compress production cycles and turn out up-to-the-minute designs. And shoppers love a new look. With fast fashion, they get it quickly and cheaply. Consumers treat the lowest-price garments as nearly disposable, discarding them after only seven wears. For every five garments manufactured, three end up in a landfill or are incinerated each year. The environmental cost is significant. The total greenhouse gas emissions from the production of textiles is 1.2 billion tons a year-that's more emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.

Which brings us to the question: How can the fast fashion industry give itself a sustain...