7 Sustainable Fashion Brands - Navigating Ethical Clothing Choices
You have been working in sustainable fashion for several years, curating collections for one of the most sustainable resorts on the planet, do you feel there has been progress in sustainable fabrics and design?
Yes, actually. When the organic movement first started, it was very much centered on organic cotton and hemp. Today, we are seeing the ability to create fabrics from materials which were unthinkable 10 years ago. Nettles, ghost fishing nets, recycled plastic bottles, and regenerated nylon, for example. The plastic used in water and soda bottles, PET - is being recycled into fabrics for swimwear. Econyl®, regenerated nylon from fishing nets, is trending. Sustainable resources have developed to a level where there is more opportunity to develop new fabrics and create new products by reinventing old materials to be sustainable.
With the influx of creativity in innovative material sourcing, has come an influx of sustainable collections. For example, Vin + Omi were invited by Prince Charles to harvest 3,000 nettles from Highgrove Estate to create fabric for their Spring Summer 2020 runway collection that showed during London Fashion Week at The Savoy Hotel.
Techniques for reducing waste in the design and sampling process are evolving as well. For example, digital software allows designers to skip the traditional cotton toile step to test the sample design, reducing waste in the sampling process. In some cases, we are seeing digital printing replacing screen printing to reduce water as well. Typical water usage for screen printing is in the region of 50-60 litres of water per metre, whereas, digital printing, with its minute quantities of colour and its requirement for fixation only when finishing, uses less than 10 litres of water per metre.
Do you think consumers know about sustainable fashion or care?
There is a certain consumer market that does care - the millenials care a lot. Millennials align with brands that share their core values. But generally, if you look at the world as a whole, we live in a fast moving world of online consumers who want instant gratification. Amazon delivers within two hours. The general consumer is not thinking about sustainability when shopping. They are thinking, “When will my purchase arrive?”
You mention millennials, do you think the luxury consumer cares as well?
I think it’s perceived as fashionable to talk about it. It’s a conversation that's happening which, over time, will recondition people to the way they think about their choices. Right now, the luxury consumer is slowly seeing their brands take on sustainable practices. Prada is now using recycled nylon for the Prada Re-Nylon collection. The loyal Prada customer will have a very chic sustainable Prada bag and feel good. Gucci was the first to stop using fur, to be followed by Armani and Versace. Fur is now unfashionable to be seen in. Last year, fake furs were trending. The luxury brands, over time will recondition consumer buying habits, educate the consumer and set sustainable practices for mass market brands to follow.
How do you see your role in the sustainability conversation?
The mission of Soneva as a whole is sustainability. The resort boutique, or any retail environment really, has a responsibility to explain why the merchandise is there. Every guest that walks in is engaged in storytelling on why the collection is here, and what is it about. We are educating the consumer. In front of every clothing collection, we have created a hand written piece on recycled paper, “Talia Collins, sustainable collection made with ECONYL®, yarn ethically produced from discarded fishing nets and discarded plastic”. We have a responsibility as buyers and retailers to help educate customers about sustainable fashion and ultimately change customer behavior. It’s not just up to the designers, media, activist groups, and institutions, like the British Fashion Council, CFDA, and the voices of the likes of Eco-Age. I believe that the existing network at the retail level has an opportunity to make a tremendous impact.
Where have you seen in your life some of the quickest sustainable changes?
When governments and heads of state take a personal interest. Queen Elizabeth 11 went to war on plastic straws and bottles on royal estates and parks, banning them after Sir David Attenborough’s documentary Blue Planet 11. This was the tipping point on how single use plastic items is impacting the planet. The EU plans to make all plastic packaging across the continent recyclable or reusable by 2030.
The ethics extends to fair trade as well. I'm curious about how you manage that from a retail perspective.
Well first a bit of history, it wasn’t until the Rana Plaza Garment Factory collapse in Bangladesh, with a death toll of 1,134 people, many of which were women and children, that anyone even cared what the working conditions were and how much workers were paid. The factory was built really quickly with no due diligence. The workers were paid a pittance to produce merchandise at the lowest cost possible making a large profit margin for the brand. It was a wake-up call for the industry. Sadly, most consumers have no idea about Rana Plaza. Unless you are in the industry, you don’t know.
It’s the brands responsibility to be transparent with consumers about their ethical practices. What are the working conditions? How much is the factory worker being paid to make the merchandise. I believe it’s now the responsibility of the buyer or the retailer to question the merchandise. I'll give you an example. I found an amazing collection, it had a lot of hand stitching on it, but the math did not work out. It was wholesaling for 40 euros, so it’s costing them 20 euros, you backed that down, to a production cost of 10 - 5 euros, so how much is the brand paying the workers? So on that principle, I won’t by the collection.
Okay, we’ve mentioned a few, but who some of are your favorite sustainable fashion brands you’d love for people to know.
Mara Hoffman, https://www.marahoffman.com/
Sustainable business mover and shaker, Mara consciously “contracted” her business several years ago to be completely sustainable at a point where she could have grown her business. That’s commitment to sustainable fashion!Lem Lem, https://www.lemlem.com/
Sustainable Maker, Liya Kebede, former model, created opportunities for women and artisans using natural fabrics techniques to empower lives and improve health in Africa.Stella McCartney, https://www.stellamccartney.com/
Joan of Arc of Sustainable Fashion, Stella has been the world’s leading sustainable designer since she launched her collection. Stella McCartney’s call to action in 2018, along with the UN’s, launched the fashion industry charter for climate action.FISCH, https://fischswim.com/
Emerging sustainable designer, Agnes Fischer. Being Swedish, sustainability is in her DNA. When creating her sexy chic swimwear collection in St. Barths, she chose to work with Econyl, regenerated fishing nets at a time when recycled fabrics weren’t sexy.Zero Maria Cornejo, https://www.zeromariacornejo.com/
Vanguard of Sustainable Fashion, Maria, having built her sustainable brand manufacturing locally in New York, at the same time creating opportunities to support female artisans around the world. Maria is a founding member of the CFDA’s Sustainability Committee.Talia Collins, https://taliacollins.co.uk/
Talia, former Vogue Paris stylist, combined her love of fashion and the ocean. She creates sustainable swimwear aimed at in her words, “Women who care about their clothes, where they come from and their after life." The idea of clothes having an after life is really lovely.Everlane, https://www.everlane.com/
Transparency pioneers. Launched in 2010 under the premise that ethical clothing practices are so important that consumers have a right to know, including a digital hashtag to #KnowYourFactories, and glimpses into their factories on their own site.
Thank you for that. What do you hope to see in the near future in the industry to facilitate change?
There’s a lot the industry can do, here’s a few-
Change consumer shopping patterns by reducing the number of retail collections launched per year from 6 back to 3: Spring/Summer, Autumn/Winter, Resort.
Reducing the number of sales per year. This will retrain the consumer to give a longer life to their purchases and not dispose of it for something new within two months.
A growth of responsible brands like Everlane, who is educating the consumer with its transparency practices.
Along with production to order to reduce wastage and being sincerely sustainable.
Power Brands to use more sustainable fabrics which will increase demand and reduce the costs - making sustainable fabrics affordable to mass market brands.
Fashion Shows dropping the expensive one time sets. This Spring Summer 2020 fashion season saw fashion shows in settings that needed no props or design.
New York: Tom Ford, New York Subway Station,
London: Roskanda, Serpentine Gallery, Simon Rocha, Alexandra Palace, Victoria Beckham Somerset House, Erdem in a London Square.
More than three is a trend. Sustainability is trending!