Sharon Lam Forbes Staff

A customer looks at clothes displayed for sale at a Uniqlo store, operated by Fast Retailing Co., in the Ginza district of Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, April 11, 2017. Fast Retailing is scheduled to release its second-quarter earnings results on April 13. Photographer: Shiho Fukada/Bloomberg

Consumers these days are no longer strangers to the dark underbelly of the $3 trillion fashion industry. The textile and garment industry, second only to oil in its polluting effects, has been criticized for its labor standards, hazardous chemicals, and greenhouse gas and waste production.

Fast fashion in particular has received the brunt of criticism, and for good reason. According to a 2016 McKinsey report, “across every apparel category, consumers [globally] keep clothing items about half as long as they did 15 years ago,” choosing instead to discard outfits after only seven or eight wears. To meet this demand, “the number of garments produced annually has doubled since 2000 and exceeded 100 billion for the first time in 2014.” Large retailers further fuel consumer thirst for fast fashion by livestreaming fashion shows and accelerating the pace at which runway outfits hit store floors.

There’s no denying that the landscape is bleak. But will it be the world’s emerging market economies, places like India and China, who lead the world out of this global waste crisis?

Demystifying the Emerging Market Consumer

Though “eco fashion” or “sustainable fashion” has typically been associated with developed markets due to their higher price point, research indicates that emerging market economies actually seem to care more about ethical fashion than their developed market counterparts.

The State of Fashion 2017 report, citing Global Lifestyle Monitor, reveals that65% of consumers in emerging markets actively seek out sustainable fashion versus 32% or less in mature markets , a finding backed up by Mastercard’s 2015 Ethical Shopping Survey. Coming in at 78% of respondents for India and 65% for China, sustainability is by and large a key consideration for consumers in these two hotspots.

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Cotton Council International and Cotton Incorporated’s Global Lifestyle Monitor Survey, a biennial consumer research study. In the 2016 survey, approximately 10,000 consumers (i.e. 1,000 consumers in 10 countries) were surveyed. External source: Euromonitor International

Divya Hira, an entrepreneur who sources ethical and fair-trade products from designers around the world, has a theory about the gap in conscientiousness between markets. Hira previously worked at a denim manufacturing factory which took her on trips to suppliers in Bangladesh and India.

“The consumers from emerging markets have been brought up with local vendors, suppliers, designers, and makers rather than big brands, like those consumers in commercialized/mature markets. The people in emerging markets may be more inclined to wear products from their local or national shop rather than a multi-national brand because they seem to 'trust' it more - they know the person who has made it, where it comes from, et cetera,” she tells FORBES.

Christina Dean, who runs Redress, an NGO targeting the reduction of textile waste, offers another explanation.

“If you look at the emerging market consumer, they typically live near manufacturing sites. For me, it is an awakening, and a realization and representation of the fact that they live it, breathe it, and understand it. The global hypocrisy over who’s generating pollution and creating carbon is very disgraceful. I don’t think Chinese consumers are more irresponsible than Western ones,” she says.

That garment supply chains start in these emerging markets may provide explanation as to why their consumers are more mindful of what they buy.

Spotlight on India and China

Attitudes unlock valuable insights into consumer beliefs, but what about actual consumer spending habits?

Even where sales grew eight times faster (in developing countries like Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Russia) consumers are still more reserved in their spending than their developed market counterparts. “Even after this increase, the average developing-country resident purchases a fraction of the clothing that his or her developed-world counterpart buys each year,”McKinsey reports.

But tides are quickly changing. Consider how by 2030, China will be the world’s largest apparel market, and its consumer attitudes to what makes a brand attractive hold greater significance. With the increased purchasing power of its emerging middle class, “China will remain central to fashion with 28% of growth in the upper middle and upper class households until 2025,” according to McKinsey.