Since beginning research for this project, there has been a need to address whether fast fashion could ever be sustainable. Would big retailers such as H&M, Zara or Primark have to completely change their business model to achieve sustainability or is it just a case of sourcing easily recyclable materials and reconsidering how we deal with waste? It also, of course, comes down to whether the responsibility is on the companies or the consumer. I think with my project I would like to target the consumer as successfully targetting big business would be far harder and less measurable. The below article from https://www.commonobjective.co/article/fast-fashion-can-it-be-sustainable goes through whether fast fashion can ever be sustainable.
Fast Fashion: Can It Be Sustainable?
For ten years prior to launching Common Objective (CO) Tamsin Lejeune was the founder and director of the Ethical Fashion Forum. This is an edited version of a piece which first appeared on the Ethical Fashion Forum SOURCE in October 2016.
In the last 50 years, the way we produce and consume fashion has dramatically changed. Fast fashion retailers have made the case that they have democratised the fashion experience – no longer reserved for the elite, fashion is available and accessible to all. Everyone can afford to wear the latest trends, and to regularly experience the short-lived high of a new fashion purchase, and the pleasure of wearing something new.
For large fashion retailers “fashion democracy” has happily coincided with burgeoning sales, revenues, and profits. This has become the model that dominates high streets. On the surface it seems to suit everyone – certainly those who have buying power and thus influence in a market-driven business model.
A divided industry
In my ten years of growing the Ethical Fashion Forum and now CO, I have seen a movement gather pace against fast fashion as the status quo. This has coincided, particularly in the last five years, with several of the most established high street retailers outwardly and publicly committing to sustainability targets and goals, and investing in innovation to solve sustainability challenges.
Especially for those independent brands for whom sustainability is part of their DNA, this development is an uneasy one. Competition with the high street, and consumer perceptions of what fashion “should” cost, are already probably the biggest challenges they face. Now they face competition on their sustainability values too – from companies with the ability to allocate larger budgets towards the communication of their sustainability commitments.
In many ways, we have reached a stand-off between these two fashion industry camps – a stand-off that drives heated debate in every fashion industry forum, and much frustration. Yet, the challenges of sustainability are common to all of us, to every fashion consumer and to every business owner. Fast fashion is not going any where fast, so how can we unite the most creative minds of this industry, the pioneering thinkers and actors, towards positive solutions that unite rather than divide us?
What is “fast fashion”?
Initially “fast fashion” was about increasing the speed of production, reducing the time it takes to go from fashion design to final product on shelves. Rather than two collections annually, this made it possible to have new product in store in multiple drops throughout the year. The ultimate goal being to sell more product and decrease the trend cycle – and to have something new that consumers need to get in their wardrobes every few weeks in order to be in line with latest trends.
This went hand in hand with reduced prices; it is psychologically easier to make a purchase at a lower price point. There is evidence that consumers will spend more over a year with regular low cost “fashion fixes” than on more exclusive pieces that they fall in love with and will treasure. With a higher cost item, it is so much easier to see what is going out of the bank. In addition, there is that trait many of us have of feeling guilty about indulging – spending on ourselves (or at least, admitting to it). As a result, we’ve developed a “bargain boast” culture – where we boast about how great a bargain we got, and how little we paid.
Now fast fashion is less about fast production – regular drops, rather than seasonal collections have become the standard on the high street – and more about sales – how much product can be shifted, and how quickly. Shifting product quickly means producing a lot of stuff at as low a price as possible, which puts pressure on suppliers to make huge volumes at a low price to tight deadlines.
Can fast fashion be sustainable? At CO we define sustainable fashion as an approach to fashion that maximises benefits to people, and minimises impact on the environment as well as being commercially successful.Sustainable fast fashion?
We believe that the social and environmentalaspects of sustainability are inherently linked; one does not come without the other.
Let’s start with the environment. The single most effective thing we could do tomorrow to reduce the impact of the fashion industry on the environment would be to buy a lot less. Every garment has an environmental footprint at every stage in its production. That is why there is an inherent contradiction between the fast fashion business model – a model driven by selling lots of stuff fast – and the concept of environmental sustainability.
I’ve seen as much passion and dedication from individuals working within fast fashion retailers, championing more sustainable practices, as amongst smaller business pioneers. The difference being that the fast fashion insiders have, in many ways, a tougher challenge because the commercial drivers of the businesses they work within are in conflict with reducing environmental impact.
For me, this conflict represents the heart of the problem we need to address as an industry – it is the “elephant in the room”. It cannot be resolved by any business working alone, and it will not be resolved through stand-off. If all parties truly acknowledge this elephant in the room, here lies an opportunity for constructive debate.
When it comes to benefits to people, the case for fast fashion may have a defence. Take Bangladesh as an example – a primary production hub for fast fashion retailers globally. In the last 30 years we have seen huge gains, especially for women in Bangladesh, who have been able to exit a cycle of poverty for themselves and their families, largely through the mass manufacture of clothing. By 2013 about 4 million people, mostly women, worked in Bangladesh’s $19 billion-a-year, export-oriented, ready-made garment (RMG) industry. Several pioneering fast fashion retailers have developed exemplary initiatives in their supply chains to improve working conditions, support communities, and empower their workers, in Bangladesh and beyond.
Despite this, from the observer standpoint, we see more column inches and campaign focus from large retailers on the environmental message, even though there is an inherent contradiction in it. I see great value in more promotional space being given by large retailers to the benefits to peoplethrough more sustainable and conscious fashion.
I see four ways in which meaningful impact can be achieved:
1. Acknowledging the elephant in the room
I have been a part of too many industry forums where percentage reduction in water or energy use are discussed in the same breath as expansion plans to open three new stores during the same period – and increase production and sales to match. A combined strategy which results in a considerably increased environmental footprint overall, rendering the percentage reductions almost pointless. For me, doing fast fashion better means sharing the full picture – evaluating sustainability proposals, and planning and reporting on impact in the context of a growth model. It’s time to stop ignoring the elephant.
2. Operating in three dimensions
Too often, professionals within fashion businesses are incentivised against improving social or environmental standards. Their commercial Key Performance Indicators are in opposition to the recommendations of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) department and CSR does not have representation at board level.
Wherever we see sustainability targets being taken seriously in high street fashion, sustainability management sits alongside financial management and this approach filters across the business so that each department is empowered rather than being frustrated by its impact targets. I would like to see this leadership and commitment strengthened through more fashion businesses following the leadership of Patagonia and registering as B Corporations.
3. Following circular fashion principles
4. Sharing and building social impact
From an observer’s perspective, we hear more about the environmental initiatives of large fashion retailers, even though this doesn’t sit easily within a fast fashion model. I would like to see and hear much more from leading retailers on what fashion, made well, can do for people behind the product. I would like to see more real commitment to paying living wages and empowering workers.
I would like to see advertising budgets raising awareness about the value of skills and craftsmanship, and how consumers can positively influence the well-being of the people behind fashion by buying well.
I think one of the most important things that this article highlights is the conflict between capitalism and sustainability. If we produce and consume mindlessly with solely cost effectiveness in mind then we can never achieve environmental conscious. As consumers, there is a responsibility to put greater consideration into the processes behind the production of our clothing and think of garments as physical pieces of material that have been manufactured at some environmental and social cost, instead of purely a disposable look. Especially with the rise of online retail, people no longer really have the opportunity to try on clothing as they have to send it back if it doesn't fit, this allows the potential for the low-value clothing to just go straight in the bin after 0 wears!!!
I think one of the most important things that this article highlights is the conflict between capitalism and sustainability. If we produce and consume mindlessly with solely cost effectiveness in mind then we can never achieve environmental conscious. As consumers, there is a responsibility to put greater consideration into the processes behind the production of our clothing and think of garments as physical pieces of material that have been manufactured at some environmental and social cost, instead of purely a disposable look. Especially with the rise of online retail, people no longer really have the opportunity to try on clothing as they have to send it back if it doesn't fit, this allows the potential for the low-value clothing to just go straight in the bin after 0 wears!!!
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