by The fashion industry, with its £1 bikinis and £0 boots, can sometimes be very hard to be optimistic about. Fashion is the second largest industrial polluter in the world, accounting for 10% of carbon emissions. Microscopic fibers from synthetic clothing are now found in waterways and food chains, and piles of unwanted clothing dumped in countries such as Ghana are so large they can be seen from space. Despite all this, the cycle of freshness and shopping continues.
When an email arrived in my inbox from Fashion Revolution, the non-profit social enterprise founded after the 2013 Rana Plaza factory disaster, I was curious. The group is the largest fashion activism movement in the world. In the ten years since he started campaigning, he has sparked an international movement with his Who Made My Clothes? and launched the Fashion Transparency index to measure how open and accountable major fashion brands are regarding their human rights and environmental practices. But, for all their efforts, the greening in the wider industry is still very much – especially in April, around Earth Day. So how much has really changed?
I asked experts what to be positive about.
Aditi Mayerclimate activist
“As important as conscious consumerism is, real fashion changes will be underpinned by the trifecta of supporting worker movements, consumer awareness and corporate accountability. An example of this is support for the Fabric Act, which would support workplace protections and manufacturing incentives to cement the US as a world leader in responsible clothing production. We have recently seen the rise of support for the Fashion Act, recently endorsed by celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie, which would hold companies accountable and give fair play to those who want to do the right thing already, as a mandate companies know and disclose their supply chains.”
Hannah Rochellfounder of the sustainable style website slowette.com
“It’s encouraging that there are now so many great, responsible choices for British-made clothing. From made-to-order models such as Emiko and Roake Studio, to small-batch producers – I love Batch London and Paynter – and Patrick Grant’s Community Clothing, whose raison d’etre is to bring local skills and prosperity back to towns throughout the UK through its basic quality methods.”
Tiffanie Darke, founder of the newsletter It’s Not Sustainable
“I’m excited about new legislation. France is, as ever, at the forefront of cash back schemes for those who repair clothes and punchy proposals to tax fast fashion brands. I’m also excited about more conscious consumerism: there’s been an understanding in recent years that fashion shouldn’t be an all-you-can-eat buffet, that consumption has consequences and that there is such a thing as too much. The Rule of Five campaign [which Darke pioneered]as well as no buy and 30 spend challenges attracting a growing audience.”
Tamsin Blancharda journalist
“While there is still so much work to be done on workers’ wages and conditions, as well as the larger question of how to tackle overproduction, I am excited about the work on regenerative textile production. Brands like Ōshadi, in India, are leading the way with new supply chains that work in harmony with nature. Their latest Seed-to-Sew collection is made with cotton grown in rotation with other crops to promote biodiversity and sequester carbon into the soil. The fact that there are brands that successfully grow and rework our clothes makes me successful.”
Venetia La Mannafair fashion campaigner
“Fashion justice solutions come from the communities most affected by Big Fashion’s greed, which is why I’m so excited about the Or Foundation’s Speak Volumes campaign. It is led by the second-hand community at the Kantamanto market, in Accra, Ghana, who work tirelessly to combat overproduction. Speak Volumes is demanding industry-wide accountability for annual production numbers, and is asking all fashion brands to disclose their production numbers. In November, brands including Lucy & Yak, Finisterre and Stripe & Stare revealed their annual production numbers. This is a win for accountability as we look to develop data-driven policies that limit the amount of clothing produced by Big Fashion.”
Emma Slade Edmondson, sustainability consultant
“I’m excited about how enthusiastic and motivated young people are about conscious fashion and doing things differently to my generation. When I started in this industry I was always asked (in a quizzical way) why I focused on ‘sustainable fashion’. Now, younger people are asking me why fashion brands and organizations exist was … not to do things more consciously.”
Clare Press, author of Throw Forward: Making the Future
“The fashion media has given up on sustainability. We have a whole new generation of writers, editors, stylists and image makers who are determined to hold the industry accountable, and bring their values to work. It’s a huge change. There’s no going back – yes, we’re dealing with ultra-fast fashion and a waste colony, and we haven’t solved our supply chain issues, but the level of mainstream awareness today is unrecognizable from decades ago. The discourse has come of age. It gives me hope.”
Patrick McDougallfashion designer
“It’s amazing to see the rise of bespoke fashion. That’s the key way we can create a more sustainable industry – by buying what we know clients will buy. When a business shifts focus to this way of working, it is focusing on quality and craftsmanship over the number of units sold. It’s better for the planet and better for those wearing the pieces.”
Tansy E Hoskinauthor and journalist
“The recent creation of the Dindigul pact to end gender-based violence and harassment in India is an important step forward for the fashion industry. This agreement is the work of the Tamil Nadu Textile and People’s Union led by Dalit women and was created after the murder of garment worker Jeyasre Kathiravel. With its cross-cutting focus on ending gender and caste-based violence, the agreement is a first for Asia and one of the few legally binding pieces of legislation – not voluntary or corporately operated – in the fashion industry at all. It is a successful, working model to end the endemic gender-based violence that occurs throughout fashion supply chains.”
