Vol 10: What can a sustainable consumer model look like?
Virtual Fashion Weeks, Recycling Clothes
This newsletter is about the fashion world needing to embrace the challenge of transforming into a more sustainable industry.
Trying to tie together themes and trends across the articles we curate is always an inviting challenge. This week’s selection centered around the question of what can a sustainable consumer model look like?
A consumer culture has been created that conditions us to wanting (needing!) new items at a high frequency (the Independent UK piece) =>
This demands inexpensive production which results in devastating tragedies like we just learned about in Boohoo’s supply chain (the Vogue Business piece) =>
This leads to lower quality goods which makes the recycling of clothing even more difficult (The BBC Future piece).
It’s a vicious environmental circle, but this newsletter is about a brighter future, and we are heartened by newly created cycles:
Consumers respecting brands that walk the walk when it comes (Vogue Business) =>
We start to see brands taking concrete steps like increasing their transparency efforts (Footwear News) =>
We see entirely new fields like “sustainability logistics” (WWD) =>
New business models are built like the boom of resale (Retail Dive).
Happy reading!
The Embrace Team
After Boohoo: Tackling fashion’s systemic problems (Vogue Business)
"We need regulations that address the supply chain. The most important step is to move away from focusing on specific factories and specific brands." - Christie Miedama of the Clean Clothes Campaign
The Rana Plaza disaster in 2013 has signaled a change is needed in the fashion industry and its reliance on unethical and unsustainable labor practices. Following the recent fallout of British fast-fashion group Boohoo, Vogue Business takes a look at human rights violations across the fashion supply chain and where policymakers and consumers have a role.
How expensive should fashion be? (Independent)
"The uncomfortable truth is that the group of people who genuinely can’t afford to spend more on their clothes is much, much smaller than the group who feel like they can’t, because we’ve been socially conditioned to believe we need a wardrobe refresh every couple of weeks to be happy."
We all need to learn to value our clothes more. Fashion is big business, and companies make an enormous amount of money off the “more is more” trend. Do we really need a new T-shirt every season? This article questions whether the "democratic fashion" doesn't necessarily equal to "cheap fashion". Perhaps, the most sustainable option of all is "not shopping at all".
Why clothes are so hard to recycle (BBC Future)
Which brings us to our next point:
"We are buying more clothes than ever – the average consumer now buys 60% more clothing than they did 15 years ago. [...] Globally, around 56 million tonnes of clothing are bought each year, and this is expected to rise to 93 million tonnes by 2030 and 160 million tonnes by 2050."
In the last years, fashion trends were accelerated with the rise of social media and the constant demand for newness. The lifespan of clothing was artificially shortened to drive more revenue. While shopping for new clothes benefits fashion companies, it is extremely bad for our environment:
"Currently just 13.6% of clothes and shoes thrown away in the US end up being recycled – while the average American throws away 37kg of clothes every year. Globally just 12% of the material used for clothing ends up being recycled."
As reported by BBC, one of the major problems with recycling is that today's garments are of such poor quality that they can't be reused for clothing.
Why used clothing can survive the global health crisis (Retail Dive)
The resale market boomed despite some concerns with buying secondhand items amid the pandemic. Retail Dive suggests that retailers facing large quantities of unsold inventory can use resale and rental platforms to their benefit.
Goodwill Hunting
Some interesting statistics here on second-hand women's tops by brand, material, and location in the US, answering such questions as "Have thrift stores always been this pricy?" and "What can used clothes suggest about fashion trends?".
Consumers think the brands they like are the most sustainable (Vogue Business)
According to Vogue Business Index survey, "brands that scored particularly highly on the consumer sentiment metrics, like Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Chanel, were also among those rated as the best performers on ESG measures". However, this ranking is biased in favor of consumer personal preferences rather than the brand's sustainability results.
Consumers Still Value Sustainability, But Want More Brand Transparency (Footwear News)
The second annual Retail & Sustainability Survey by CGS found that half of U.S. consumers believe that apparel and footwear brands do not provide sufficient transparency into their sustainability practices. Moreover, consumers are willing to pay for sustainable fashion:
"A majority of consumers still care about the sustainability of the brands and retailers they support, with 56% of U.S. consumers saying they would pay more for a sustainable option. A quarter of all respondents said they would pay up to 25% more for sustainable products[…]. This suggests there is room for companies to increase brand loyalty and raise their prices to accommodate the higher costs associated with environmentally friendly materials and ethical employment practices."
Sustainability Logistics’ Mark ‘Different Kind of Sustainability’ (WWD)
Another data point from CGS survey suggests that consumers also consider a retailer’s shipping and packaging when shopping online, thus reflecting greater importance of sustainability in logistics.
The law that could make climate change illegal (BBC Future)
In this article, BBC addresses the issue of whether a government can be held accountable if it fails to act on climate change and features Denmark's new climate law:
“The short-term cycles of government can be a real problem for climate change. Even if climate goals are laid down in law, there can often be few concrete measures to stop a succession of governments from taking decisions that collectively end up with them being missed.
But a new and ambitious climate law recently passed in Denmark tries to find a way around this problem, and some of the other common pitfalls of climate laws. It makes Denmark one of a small number of countries beginning to provide new blueprints of how government can genuinely tackle climate change. Its law could turn out to be one of the closest things yet to a law that would make climate change – or at least the lack of effort to stop it – genuinely illegal.”
With some strong elements in its climate legislation, Denmark could potentially become an example to follow and a glimmer of hope for the world's action on climate change.
Around the news
Happy Returns Reusable Containers Make Reverse Logistics Eco-Friendly - a “box-free” returns service using reusable totes that can be employed up to 100 times - a step towards a more eco-friendly supply chain.
Richemont Sets Goals to Become Cleaner, Greener Machine in New Report - in its latest Sustainability Report, the Swiss luxury group keeps a close eye on Gen Z and its needs, while committing to responsible business practices, including a reduction in environmental impact, use of renewable energy and supply chain traceability.
ThredUp x Zero Waste Daniel Launch ReFashion Sustainable Collection - the resale platform has partnered with Daniel Silverstein, the designer behind Zero Waste Daniel, on "ReFashion" collection derived from secondhand garments and fabric scraps.
Major Fashion Week Heads to Convene in VR This October - this year The Circular Fashion Summit is joining forces with AltSpace VR from Microsoft and Oculus to host the first ever Virtual Reality fashion event.
Sustainable brand 'fails sustainability test' - footwear brand Allbirds failed the transparency, traceability, and maker well-being criteria of the Eco-Stylist online marketplace. Sustainability is not just about the environment. To be a truly sustainable brand, you have to think about people too.
Uniqlo Said to Be Banning the Sale of Alpaca Items at PETA’s Request - Japanese apparel retailer joins Marks & Spencer, the H&M Group and other companies after a PETA exposé highlighted instances of gross misconduct at the world’s largest privately owned alpaca farm, situated in Peru.
David Jones has launched a platform to help you find sustainable brands - Australian department store introduced a new sustainability portal dubbed Mindfully Made, which allows consumers to shop via five sustainability attributes related to human, animal and environmental welfare.
18 Sustainability efforts of the fashion industry in June 2020 - a June round up of green initiatives from fashion brands to industry-related companies.
CLIMATE CHANGE - a long-term shift in climate patterns caused by either natural causes or human activities.