How Do We Continue?
The uncontrollable growth, and the constant, devastating damage our Instagram trends create, begs the question, “How do we continue?” As we take steps forward, bearing the knowledge of our impact, this piece is an exploration into our fashion industry’s most powerful tools, and how they might be used for good.
©ARR, Stella McCartney SS24 Collection
Throughout my study and career in fashion, my heart has always been in two places, one half with the latest couture shown at fashion week and the other being the stories in fashion that most tend to ignore. I understand the feeling of wanting to look away, wanting the glossy sustainability statement to be real, be enough to let me continue mindlessly enjoying the gorgeous clothes and people I meet. But the longer I have had my head in this game, the harder that notion has become because a 100-word phrase about mindfulness cannot be enough to get us all to look away, not acknowledge the biggest challenges our industry faces: climate change, compromised human rights, environmental deterioration.
In 2023, in New Zealand, we had terrible floods that destroyed homes, changed landscapes, and killed people. I was working in a high-end fashion store at the time, and when the water started to seep under our door, I thought about the irony: fashion has ruined the environment, and now the environment is ruining us. This was the first dramatic reminder of climate change for me in 2023. Three months later, long after the Auckland airport had been cleared and reopened, I boarded a plane to Italy, and the floods seemed to follow me; days after landing in Tuscany, there they were again. Being in Florence surrounded by beautiful art, beautiful clothes, polished shops with perfume wafting onto the streets, I wondered if I could forget about my fixation on sustainable progress for a while and work with the simplicity of this beauty. But in Rome, a month later, attempting to exist in the 43-degree heatwave, I realized just how real and absolutely unavoidable climate change has become. Now, in Sicily, swimming in this gorgeous ocean, plastic brushing past my toes and charred landscape surrounding me, I can see it everywhere. What a dream it would be to simply enjoy fashion in its beauty and creativity, but one, quite unobtainable. I fell in love with the impossible creativity of fashion; in the pages of coffee table books and the words of Diana Vreeland, fashion was a lavish, glorious, mysterious future for me. Now I wonder, how can we possibly continue?
©AFP/Getty Images, New Zealand Cyclone Gabrielle
A key ingredient to sustainable progress within fashion is understanding the industry and how we can adjust our systems and communication for sustainable development. Undoubtedly, the most influential change that has occurred within fashion in recent years is the birth of the internet. As our lives have moved online, fashion has followed, becoming hyper-accessible, with a large part of this new reality still being discovered. I think of this as both an instigator of great environmental damage and an incredible opportunity to build a more sustainable future for the fashion industry.
Social media is one of fashion's fastest-growing online tools, and unlike traditional marketing practices, the "consumers own the space and they decide what information is of interest to them" (Palton, 2015). This power of the consumer's voice has been demonstrated with the rise of the influencer. Influencer marketing has become so effective because they often create content about themselves and can show intimate parts of their lives; this openness encourages trust. Their position within the fashion market is strong, and their social impact depends entirely on their point of view. Influencers have been responsible for beginning harmful trends like the try-on haul, which has "not only led to the lifespan of trends shortening but also resulted in an increase in production and waste" (Cooper, 2023). But they have also helped build sustainably focused groups like Fashion Revolution into a global organization with a presence in over 100 countries. With these voices reflecting public sentiment, I think there is an exciting possibility to use their power to communicate and educate mass markets on the importance of mindful consumption and sustainability.
The internet has also changed how we consume and interact with fashion media. To use myself as an example, my entire career, I have learned about sustainable development within fashion online. Whether it be reading an article or contacting an activist with a question, the internet has enabled my curiosity and desire for connection. The global, public forum the internet has created has also allowed our industry to include people from all over the world, which has introduced diversity to the conversation we have been missing. An example of this diverse dialogue was a comment made on an episode of the Business of Fashion podcast, including the founder of the hair care brand Mielle Organics, Monique Rodriguez, “When you build a brand in the Black community, it’s not my brand, it’s their brand.” Learning about this culture of hair care and community made me think about the power of connectivity. Rodriguez's journey to growing her business was greatly enabled by her deep understanding of her customers and their ability to have direct, meaningful conversations. Our industry touches the lives of so many people, and I think these conversations and levels of connection can be a place to find inspiration for a way forward.
Another important challenge that fashion faces is managing responsible marketing, communication, and the risk of greenwashing. This issue is relatively new in fashion dialogue and, often, sits in a grey area. A brand's sustainable communication can hold a piece of truth, however small, and be convincing enough to get people to nod in approval and swipe their credit card. But in reality, they rarely reflect the brand's true environmental impact. Sustainability statements aren't designed to make us ask questions, which is essential to sustainable decision-making. They are designed to do quite the opposite: ease our anxiety about making a wrong choice and tell us that by purchasing, we are a "sustainable consumer". The use of buzzwords like "sustainable" or "organic" has become an incredibly effective marketing tool that has the potential to capitalize on our industry's negative impact. This is when authenticity and transparency become important to sustainable brand development. The truth behind our industry is less glamorous than it may seem. Often, the most important information for the consumer is something a brand does not want to highlight and can actually be trying to hide. But transparency is inevitably a part of our progress and something I think has the possibility to be celebrated.
By being transparent, brands have the opportunity to form a more authentic relationship with their consumer, communicate responsibly about their impact, and encourage mindful consumption. While transparency is vital to change, it is more complex than simply telling the truth. Its disruption can bring significant brand challenges and risks and is impossible for everyone to achieve. I understand what a privilege it is to produce and consume in a sustainably minded way and how much we still have to learn. But I feel it is so important to hold honesty at our core, and I am excited to see how this space can grow.
©Fashion Revolution
“We have yet to figure out how to overcome this systemic societal need to consume.”
The shift toward more transparent marketing practices greatly depends on the consumer. Is an honest conversation about fashion's environmental impact what we want? Is it what we demand from our brands? Because we, as consumers, are in charge. This leads me to the final challenge: how do we get people to care? Sometimes, I wonder if this may be the hardest and most important. Our world makes it impossible to be unaware of climate change, and many people in my life care about it, which is an excellent start, but caring and changing are two different things. It's a bigger challenge than selling something. Buying a beautiful pair of shoes is fun; although your bank account has diminished, you wear them out to dinner that night, get lots of compliments and feel like something has been added to your life. Talking about the harmful effects of climate change isn't quite so alluring; people's minds don't want to linger in that sad place, and many of us don't want to admit how we contribute. But despite the complicated nature of this challenge, I see so much potential. We have yet to figure out how to overcome this systemic societal need to consume. Still, our industry is filled with intelligent minds and tools that understand the fashion market on a remarkable level. More than just selling clothes, we can tell stories, create experiences, and encourage emotional connections, which has become my absolute favourite aspect of modern fashion.
To succeed in today's fashion industry, "you need to understand what relationship marketing trends are emerging in 2023 and invest in technologies that help you build stronger connections with customers." (Phillips, 2023). While we often measure success as an industry by sales, I hope that is changing as our conversation is increasingly positioned in an environmental context. Understanding and connecting with customers more intimately comes with a great responsibility for brands to recognize their impact, purpose, and bottom line. Although immediate change isn't always viable, awareness is the first step to looking for solutions with optimism.
Climate change is scary, and impactful change can feel impossible. While I have discussed some of our industry's challenges, there are many more. But despite all to answer my question of “how we continue” with optimism. As I have discussed, there are many ways to look at our changing industry, and it is with optimism that this, I choose we can feel empowered to move forward.
