London – Once seen as a niche part of the fashion industry, being
eco-conscious has rapidly become one of the hottest ‘topics’ of our time.
From luxury fashion houses to fast-fashion retailers, and everything in
between – more and more fashion companies are responding to mounting
consumer interest and ‘going green.’ However, in spite of all the efforts
being made the fact remains that the global fashion and textile industry is
the second most polluting and damaging industry in the world after oil.
“The fashion business model is broken and we urgently need to find
alternatives,” proclaimed Safia Minney MBE, founder and CEO of eco-fashion
brand People Tree in the documentary ‘The True Cost’. So we ask, what does
it mean to be sustainable within the fashion industry? How can fashion
companies become In the second episode of a new
series looking at sustainability and the fashion industry, FashionUnited
takes a closer look at sustainable business models and their potential
issues and benefits.
One of the most discussed sustainable business models is the circular
economy. A circular economy is one which produces no waste pollution by
design or intention in which the materials used follow two types:
biological nutrients and technical nutrients. The biological nutrients are
materials which can reenter the earth’s biosphere safely while the
technical nutrients are materials designated to be used in a circular
production lifecycle, without entering the biosphere. Examples of
biological nutrients used within the fashion industry include linen,
tencel, wool and hemp and examples of technical nutrients include synthetic
polymers, such as PET and metals like copper, steel and aluminium. “We have
to work in all areas of sustainability, from design to manufacturing to
business and look at the lifecycle of a product,” said Professor Shahin
Rahimifar, founder and director of the centre for Sustainable Manufacturing
and Recycling Technologies,(SMART) at a recent seminar. A number of high
street fashion retailers have already begun to take steps towards
establishing a circular economy, including Filippa K, G-Star Raw and H&M.
In particular, H&M’s commitment to becoming a 100 percent circular company
and closing the loop within the fashion is quite noticeable, as the fashion
retailer is known for its fast-fashion business practices, much like
Spanish high street giant Zara, which revolves around getting large volumes
of fashionable items to store are quickly as possible. The Swedish fashion
retailer has acknowledged that it will no longer be possible to continue to
make and use fashion the way is does now and states that sustainability is
a “prerequisite to securing the future of its business success and growth.”
Although only 20 percent of it total material use is currently sustainably
sourced, according to its latest sustainability report, H&M aims to 100
percent sustainable materials in the future, starting with using 100
percent organic cotton by 2020. The high street retailer has increased its
share of renewable electricity to 78 percent of its total global
electricity usage in 2015, whilst reducing its emission by 56 percent,
which suggest H&M is moving in the right direction toward a circular
economy.
In addition, its global recycling scheme has helped the retailer produce
closed loop products – new clothing pieces made from recycled fibres taken
from old clothing. “H&M sees recycling old garments as a way to minimise
the impact on the environment,” explained Cecilia Brännsten, H&M’s
Sustainability Expert, during its collection launch. “We want to raise consumer
awareness so they see all clothing as a resource and requisition .” Encouraging consumers to
recycle unwanted clothing rather than just discarding them is an important
step towards embracing a circular economy, alongside of repairing and
reusing what consumers own and repairing and reusing clothing already
owned. However, some industry experts wonder if H&M and other fashion
companies alike are merely using tactics to draw attention away from
their fast fashion business practices. “It is very easy to get dupe by the
‘greenwashing’ tactics some companies use, so we do need to be a little
more conscious and more savvy when it comes to that,” warned Safia Minney
MBE to FashionUnited. Sanne Dungen, consultant at Mesh-works, RTB and
FB-Basics, also raised a few issues with the recycled garments made by the
likes of G-Star RAW and H&M.
“At the moment there are 7 times more particles of fine plastic than
plankton in the ocean which is causing a big problem,” she pointed out in a
recent talk. Although G-Star Raw has developed several collections
containing made from waste gathered
from the oceans, “each wash of a single garment can release up to 1900
fibres,” noted Dungen. Which means that each time these garment are washed
they release the recycled plastic particles back into the ocean – not a
very circular system which “still cause harm to the oceans. Fleece, another
synthetic material which can be made from recycled PET bottle, is worse
still, releasing up to 1.9 million particles with each wash. Although
G-Star Raw has stepped forward and acknowledged this issue, and is working
on developing with other companies, the technology
to either stop the release of plastic particles or capture them has yet to
be invented. “We need to rethink the way we make things…if we can produce
items with a positive impact than consumption can be a good thing.”
Another issue faced by companies using a circular economy is securing the
products lifecycle. “The first and second life of a product is easy enough
to do, but what about the third, fourth and so on?,” questioned Professor
Rahimifar in his talk. “Waste is always there, so why not find a way to use
it and take a proactive approach to recycling by selecting and using
materials which support a circular economy?” Although H&M has developed
several collection under its Conscious label which contain recycled
materials such as cotton and wool, at the moment is not possible to recycle
items made from blended materials or synthetic ones. This means that once
the recycled garment is made, it is nearly impossible to give it a third
life afterwards. The Swedish retailer has also acknowledged the limitations
surrounding recycling unwanted garments and textiles, stating they are
investing in innovation in many ways, including its newly launched
“We need to come together and work together and to realise that this is a
problem that needs to be addressed now,” stressed Professor Rahimifar. In
order to overcome some of the limitations currently faced in the recycling
processes of clothing and shoes he suggests designers should invest in
creating patterns for product designs which are easily constructed and
deconstructed. This is a challenge which Swedish fashion label has taken on and incorporated into its
goals for 2030. “We challenge ourselves to think in new ways, such as
making clothing patterns in such a way that the garment is easily
deconstructed for recycling,” said Elin Larsson, sustainability director at
Filippa K. As brand, Filippa K realised early on that producing cheap
clothing in the search of profits was not what fashion is about and that
they needed to think differently. “We just started on our sustainability
journey and these are small initiatives, but we need to dare and to try.”
So why should fashion companies adopt a more sustainable business model,
what are the potential benefits? Other than safeguarding the future of the
company success and growth, whilst becoming less dependent on dwindling
limited resources, customer loyalty is one. “Increased customer loyalty is
benefit, which is very important in this day and age,” said Minney MBE to
FashionUnited, who has experienced this first hand through her fair-wear
fashion brand People Tree. “I think they will enjoy much more customer
satisfaction as well as a higher motivation within the company itself as
employees will know that their company is doing the right thing. Staff are
likely to work much, much harder and check Facebook much less. You will see
all these benefits coming through in terms of the long-term sustainability
efforts of the brand.” She adds that it is also important to convey
sustainable initiatives to the consumers in a way they can understand.
“Storytelling is extremely powerful and I think people are also expecting
it from fashion companies they buy as they did with fair trade foods, so
that is important tool in conveying their sustainability efforts.”
Other fashion companies outside of the high street are also acknowledging
the need to rethink the current state of fashion and its increasing
turnover rate. One of the most surprising instances which occurred within
the industry took place when Raf Simons and Alber Elbaz both left their
respective roles as creative directors at fashion houses Dior and Lanvin.
Both designers have spoken on the increasing, tenacious pace the fashion
industry is taken on and how they felt they needed more time. “Actually
everything is done in three weeks, maximum five,” said Simons in an
interview with Cathy Horyn for System magazine. “And when I think back to
the first couture show for Dior, in July 2012, I was concerned because we
only had eight weeks. And now we never have time like that.” Elbaz echoed
his thoughts during an acceptance speech he made during the Fashion Group
International Night of Stars event: ’“I need more time.’ And I think
everybody in fashion these days – needs just a little more time.”
With designers and brands alike feeling more and more pressure to churn out
as many collections as possible, many are rethinking the business models in
place, which tend to revolve around profits rather than the products,
designers or workers. Consumers around the world are also starting to
question the need for fast fashion. More and more often people are choosing
to spend more on personal services and experiences, such as holidays or
dining out than clothing. “People are starting to think about their
physiological and physical health and what’s needed to sustain that,” said
Minney MBE. “If we were a bit happier would we need to consume that much?
What is this an outlet for? There are some philosophical and spiritual
issues here as well that we need to deal with.”
Photos: H&M, G-Star Raw, Filippa K, Bionic Yarn: Facebook.
Stay tuned for part III of the series, out May 25th