This is many times, the first question I get asked upon introductions. It’s also one of the most debated questions in the industry because there is no ONE set in stone answer; which means when it comes down to it, there’s no ONE organization, entity, company, person, or government that inspects each and every piece of clothing created and declares: “This piece of clothing is sustainable!” And slaps a label on it.
Or, “this does not pass the sustainability test! Denied!”
Ha! What a world that would be.
(BTW, anyone who's a fan of Scandal might be picturing Olivia Pope as the judge ;)
So because there is no absolute YES or NO, RIGHT or WRONG, definitive answer on whether a piece of clothing is indeed “sustainable,” some chalk it up to being entirely subjective. (Subject to interpretation, viewpoint and opinion by the individual).
For that approach, a person would need to define for themselves what makes a garment sustainable, in turn addressing their value and belief systems within the context of this subject.
However, if we look at the factors that currently make up the general parameters of what people currently refer to as “sustainable fashion,” the entire idea could be objective after all. To start with this approach, let's take what the industry has marketed at face value; what the industry has collectively decided over the past couple of decades.
If a piece of clothing is “sustainable,” it has…..at least.......A few of these boxes checked.
Made in a factory with better working conditions
Made with better or eco-conscious fibers
Created with the end in mind
Typically more expensive than other similar products (leaving more margin for labor)
If no new products are made- products are recreated through recycling, upcycling, or diverted from landfills
What’s the problem with this list?
It’s vague!
Many people ask:
“Better working conditions….better than what?”
“Created with the end in mind; what does that mean?”
“What are eco-conscious fibers?”
“So if a garment is cheap or less expensive, does that mean the person who made it didn’t make a living wage? What’s a living wage?”
“If the clothing is expensive, how do I as the consumer know that that “extra money” went to the person making it?”
“Where are all these horrible landfills? I don’t see them.”
Do you see how you could go on and on?
This is the biggest problem with the phrase “sustainable fashion.” And why I always put it in quotations. It’s a double edge sword because most people know vaguely what you’re talking about so it’s gaining attention but on the other hand, it’s too vague. And some say an unhelpful, useless term.
“The word sustainable is like a dinosaur now,” Aras Baskauskas, the CEO of Los Angeles label Christy Dawn, tells me on a recent call. “What are we trying to sustain—the fires, the tornadoes, the mass extinction? We don’t need to be sustainable, we need to be regenerative.”
From Emily Farra’s Vogue May 2020 article:
I tend to agree with Baskauskas; I believe the trending phrase needs to shift from “sustainable” to “conscious, ethical, responsible, or regenerative.”
If you think about the word sustainable outside of the context of fashion, it simply means: to be able to be maintained at a certain level or rate. So if we are trying to sustain fashion the way it operates now, we wouldn’t be doing anyone any favors. The fashion industry is historically quite…..well……broken. From the cheap labor wages and wasted material to the unfathomable amounts of carbon emissions emitted and the lack of proper end-of-life disposal options……it’s all very…..unglamorous. And harmful.
And if you live here in the United States or most places in the global north for that matter, you don’t see the landfills because most of the excess clothing gets shipped back to Ghana, a small country on the western coast of Africa, where local communities suffer health problems from all the burning clothing because there is literally nowhere to put it.
The negative effects of this industry are clear. They are harmful, excessive, and.…. unsustainable. See how the phrase “sustainable fashion” got its mark?
To answer the original question- What is "sustainable fashion?"
It is clothing that is manufactured in less harmful or less impactful ways than the traditional operations, in regards to the global environment, local communities and garment workers.
I commend those who’ve pioneered this phrase, as it wouldn’t have risen to the attention it deserves without them. But because of the buzzword it’s become and the endless greenwashing, it’s time to shift to a more accurate phrase that depicts the future we want to see.
It may not be helpful to ask whether a garment is or isn’t sustainable anymore. It is probably more helpful to ask if a garment was made responsibly, ethically, or with regenerative practices. Or better yet- if a garment is made with circular practices and an end-of-life plan.
I personally use the phrase “conscious fashion,” as I feel it covers quite a bit of territory; from the design stage and costing to post-consumer / end-of-life practices.
In my next post, we’ll explore what regenerative and circular fashion is :)
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