Environmental Responsibility of Fashion Industry Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in the Context of Industry 4.0

The article is devoted to fashion industry MNCs’ environmental responsibility. In the digitalization era, sustainable development issues of concern include the entire global value chain from raw materials to the final product production, the process of consumption, and subsequent recycling. The study aims to identify the primary sources of the fashion industry MNCs’ environmental impact and ways to reduce pollution that companies implement. Based on an integrated approach to analysis, the article examines the main aspects of the environmental impact of the fashion industry: water consumption, CO2 and N2O emissions at the production stage, chemicals during bleaching and painting stages, microplastics during machine-washing, methane emissions at disposal stage and other emissions. Pollution causes impoverishment of soils, air pollution, damage to the ocean, and harm to wildlife. The severity of the damage requires companies to switch to the principles of responsible consumption. The authors identified initiatives implemented by fashion companies to reduce pollution: improving production capacity to reduce pollution, developing green strategies, creating green clothing lines, researching modern recycling methods, and other initiatives.