Sustainable and Transparent - An Explanation

Sand Black's The Sustainable Fashion Handbook 

For many of us the word sustainable may not mean very much when it comes to fashion. Perhaps this is due to a lack of understanding or ignorance. So what does sustainable really mean?

The definition from the dictionary is:

Sustainable; Adjective
1. able to be maintained at a certain rate or level
2. conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources: our fundamental commitment to sustainable development.

Sandy Black author of The Sustainable Fashion Handbook asks the question, "can fashion ever really be sustainable, or is the very term sustainable fashion an oxymoron"? This is part of the problem, sustainable fashion is complicated by a number of factors which in the main makes it very difficult to be fully sustainable and poses a contradictory set of questions for the consumer.

Today's blog is not a fast read, it's a slow one!  In part and explanation of how I see sustainable fashion today, how I have changed the way I buy and work to accommodate being sustainable and a brief explanation as to why it is so challenging for fashion and the supply chain to be transparent and sustainable.

So Why Is It Complicated? 
Barriers often go up when people in and around fashion talk about sustainable design and production. Even now with stronger awareness there is perhaps a certain apathy to being sustainable. In part this is due to perception of what sustainable or Eco fashion stands for. Peoples poor perception may be due to the lack of trend led fabrics, trend led product, prohibitive pricing, and the question can sustainable fashion turn a profit?  I imagine large corporations do not see where they can make money in this area perhaps because they see it as a separate business rather than part of the usual fashion supply chain?  Large businesses may deem it challenging to change entirely to a sustainable fashion producer because the entire supply chain may need to be developed afresh to accommodate the more transparent working practices.  Large investment throughout the supply chain would be needed and loss of existing factory/supply relationships may be a potential fall out.

Why then should we bother to try and change?
Because I believe there are large parts of the fashion industry acting irresponsibly and we have no way of knowing what the implications will be long term. The shere volume of clothes produced for one cannot be sustainable.  Cotton production using harmful pesticides to increase the yield is another Excessive water consumption can attribute to many areas of the fabric and garment production process, including water required for gigantic cotton fields.  Factory working conditions, safety and renumeration, the Rana Plaza one of the latest horror stories to hit the media.

Fast Fashion Dilemma
So is fast fashion, which is the term used to describe high street fashion retail to blame? Fast fashion retailers fuelled by a demand they created, have new drops every week, with key seasonal drops once every 6 to 8 weeks. This gives the consumer instant new looks.
The question is do we need more stuff?
Is it sustainable to keep buying?
Where does all the stuff go once people stop wearing it, landfill?
Is it excessive consumption without conscience?
Or is it keeping up with the trends?
If you work in a style conscious business you may want or need to turn up in a new outfit daily? So I guess one may need a large wardrobe to sustain this look?  During my years as a fast fashion supplier and retail consultant I designed, sourced and sold fashion to the high street so it was absolutely the justification for many of my purchases. It was a must that I looked up to date. I committed myself to many a trend that I barely wore, a crime when I think back. In the last five years fashion bloggers have fuelled and promoted the wearing of new outfits with daily posts and become famous for doing so. Some are savvy and re-work daily looks, repeat wearing some items to create a new look, which I admire. Fashion media regularly talk about the next it thing and must have item. That's fashion, it evolves, it is supposed too. Which brings me to conceding there is no clear answer, it's as Sandy Black says, an Oxymoron.

We Can Change
However I am not prepared to leave it there because I think we can change. I have adapted by setting a sustainable criteria and have tried to stick to it. (listed below) We are not at the tipping point of that so called change yet but we could be if we work as a collective and begin understanding where our clothes come from, who has made them, what type of conditions they are made in, and what implications the conditions, and volume produced have on health, safety and the environment. A certain degree of transparency from retailers and brands is needed in order that we see sustainable practices rolled out. This is perhaps a sticking point for many fashion businesses.

Why Is Transparency Tricky ? 
In fashion transparency would mean retailers/brands sharing information about their supply chain. This so called "sharing" may be an issue for many retail brands and businesses because suppliers hold the intellectual property (IP) of many businesses in the form of design/fabric/trims and actual product and cost prices.  The supplier/factory make product according to a retail/brands request, however very often the product is created as a meeting of minds between the supplier and retailer. Retailers are very protective of the products they create with suppliers and do not like sharing their suppliers with retail competitors for fear of being copied. Ironic given that artistic licence is regular abused and the high street is awash with influences from leading designers. That said I am certain this is the main factor for why transparency is tricky.  For instance if we ran our own business would we openly give away our sources and IP? I doubt it would be an easy choice, especially if you ran a large scale corporation knowing you had market share and profits to keep up and jobs to keep secure. For a smaller business or a start up it is easier to be transparent because coming from a standing start competition may not be a threat. I believe there are ways of being transparent without jeopardising IP and perhaps this is an area large corporations need to address. Perhaps retailers/brands will have best practices set up with factories/suppliers to ensure good working conditions and will not see this as a major factor to communicate to the consumer because the retailer feels it is a given to be socially responsible. The bad press comes when disasters like the Rana Plaza occur which makes us globally question where our stuff is made and rightly so.  Certainly there will be sources left unchecked and we must all push for better practices, which perhaps should include moving away from producing the volumes of stock we see in stores and a slower approach considered?

It's Not That Simple
I like to make things simple and I don't enjoy a contradiction, because of this I have battled with understanding how to be sustainable in fashion for many years. And it really is not that simple. I have played my part in contributing to the fast fashion movement, having worked in it for 15 years so three years ago I decided to take my first baby steps to become more sustainable in the way I work, dress, buy and talk about trend and fashion. Style Industries London was born, a trend, design, sourcing and training consultancy. I sacrificed a regular salary to do this and started to think about buying better not more of. The reality and challenge is I earn a lot less but I am so much more aligned with what I stand for and believe in.

The Challenges
The gap in the market as I see it, is lack of trend driven sustainable product. I hope I can continue to plug that gap somewhat by working with more sustainable brands helping them to develop a trend led design business, one that is not about flash in the pan trend but trends that have longevity that are desirable to the consumer and that make money for the brand by achieving strong sales and repeats. The second biggest challenge is price. Price cannot be kinder on the wallet until the economies of scale kick in. For example one element of a garment cost is fabric. Currently sustainable fabric whether it be organic, recycled, or fair trade is expensive. Until producers of such fabrics start selling larger quantities to bigger retailers which will in turn help smaller businesses reduce costs, the growth of sustainable fashion will falter.  This is the tip of the iceberg, their are numerous factors that come into play and could be debated further. As I say it is not that simple and it would be naive to think it were.

So what can we do right now?
If you love fashion like I do there are brands offering trend led product right now and things you can do to begin your journey of sustainability.

Check out:
www.greenthisseason.com - an excellent on line etailer that is supporting sustainable trend driven brands that are exciting and affordable. I featured one of their brands a few weeks ago called ULTRA TEE - gorgeous printed tee-shirts and sweats. Anne Gorke and Elise Ballegeer are championing stylish fashion soft separates.

ULTRA TEE 

ww.asos.com - The Green Room section on the Asos website is their platform to support sustainable brands.  One of my favourites is their Africa collection, an affordable product that is distinctive in design and attention to detail. White Tent a trend driven brand featuring smart separates with a utility clean edge.

ASOS Africa collection from The Green Room

www.kami-organic.com - a brand with a luxurious smart clean aesthetic, and a clear stylish trend driven focus.

Kami Organic

www.hm.com - H&M produce regular conscious collections and have a strong corporate social responsibility policy, for more details view their website.

www.peopletree.co.uk - Fairtrade and ethical fashion.

People Tree Tee-shirt 

My Sustainable Criteria

• Where has the product been produced?  If the product is produced in the country it is sold in, this ticks one of my sustainable boxes. I try to buy British if I can or look for fair trade fashion producers who work with a variety of different communities in Africa, India and Cambodia. 
• Look closer at retail/brands information. Fully sustainable brands shout about it. Other brands  have it hidden in their about them part of a website.
• Think long-term investment- wear for more than one season. Most trends last at least 2 to 3 seasons. Get clever at identifying which ones last.
• Buy better not more of. Look at your wardrobe and be responsible. Identify key areas that you can update to match a new trend.
• Make do, mend and recycle old clothes. 
• Shop vintage
• Stop buying really cheap clothes and save up to buy responsibly 
• Check my blog out for sustainable trend advice.
• Have faith and trust in a certain brands ethics and practices, they may not promote sustainability but they may be working ethically with key suppliers providing permanent employment and decent working conditions behind the scenes. 

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I promote sustainable brands in conjunction with trends from fast fashion and designers. The focus is on trend longevity, an attempt to share fashion that has a sustainable life and not a seasonal flash in the pan life. Some sustainable advocates may disagree with my approach, but I am a realist and believe we have to start somewhere and where better than with a mindset change. Buying better not more of.  Eventually it would be fantastic if sustainable working practices were a given across the fashion industry. In the meantime if I can help fashion consumers understand a buy better not more of approach it is a start in the right direction.

www.styleindustrieslondon.com Style Industries London trend board SS14

My Day Job
Above is a S/S14 trend board I produced for one of our clients earlier this year. Our fascination with animal prints is not going away any time soon. Neither is the bomber jacket. Neon animal prints update and sit alongside traditional animal skin colours. We choose to promote trends that are ahead of the curve to give brands maximum sales impact in conjunction with running trends that ebb and flow never really going away but simply adapting.

In Summary
If we want to see transparency and sustainability improve then as a consumer we need to educate ourselves and push retailers and brands to act with conscience. Naivety and misunderstanding does not help our quest, reading Sand Black's book "The Sustainable Fashion Handbook"  is a great start.
We can't change over night but we can take small steps, and that's what I am doing. I have identified where I can make changes and adapting. If brands consider sustainability as a non sexy image, then they should think deeper about the implications of their practices, look beyond marketing. Sustainability should not be a marketing angle, it's a way of life, our generation have a responsibility to act. Andrew Morgan is a film maker, he has received funding via Kickstarter to make the full version of  his film 'The True Cost'. I backed it because it resonates with me and I firmly believe the true impact of the way we purchase and produce fashion is not yet realised. I hope this film will go some way to explain and persuade people to change habits, be responsible and act. May the force be with us!