To Fashion or Not to Fashion?
Closets packed full, stores draped with new apparel, factories worked to capacity, and designers pushed to be more creative. Excess. We live in a world where we constantly want the “new hot thing” to look our best. I am not saying this is a bad thing, but it has provided for a mindset of endless hunger. Our fashion appetites will never be satisfied, and our apparel stomachs will always make room for more.
Like many have said, the United States lives in a state of privilege and excess. As a first world country, we have access to more than most people do. The sad part is, we are never satisfied. We don’t have just one mall in our city, we have a multitude. We don’t have a single burger joint, but a mass amount of them ranging from Carl’s Jr. to In-n-out burger to McDonalds to Burger King to the Habit Burger Grill to Five Guys, etc. The list goes on. This is not just in the food or fashion industry, it delves into every industry: car businesses, grocery stores, gyms, salons, legal firms, hospitals, tech companies, etc. I am not pushing for monopolies to force every other business out but am just referencing how we need so much of one thing that billions of businesses pile into a single industry to feed the hungry hands of our nation. For example, Starbucks coffee comes in sizes from tall all the way to trenta! Who needs a trenta cup of coffee (equates to 917 ml of coffee)? No one. In addition to Starbucks having oversized servings, they also are located on almost every corner of a city. There is even a joke that Starbucks is right across the street from another Starbucks! I am all for franchisees owning Starbucks, and maybe different people own different stores in the same city and compete for business. However, they are doing an injustice to our society. In the context of fashion, we have a basic fashion calendar where collections are dropped twice a year: Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer. This doesn’t seem too excessive; however, brands desire more and create extra mini seasons in between these to gain more profits. These include Resort and Pre-Fall seasons [1]. We plan a year in advance, manufacture overseas for low costs, and order a mass amount of apparel. Fast fashion is getting old, and consumers are demanding more from brands, ranging from sustainability to social responsibility.
Sustainability is a huge topic in our society today. Many people don’t know that fashion plays a huge part in environmental waste. Three out of five fast fashion garments end up in landfills [2]. Around 17 million tons of textile waste cover landfills every year and 84% of clothing goes to landfills [3]. This is largely due to consumers purchasing more frequently. The more collections designers drop, the more consumers shop. Within a 20-year timeframe (between 1992 and 2002), consumers have lessened the time our clothes remain with us by 50% [7]. This means it is in the hands of both brands and customers to put a stop to textile waste. What happens post-consumption to a garment isn’t the only problem. The production process also needs to alter its core functions to prevent waste. For example, 1800 gallons of fresh water are used to make just ONE pair of jeans [4]! Cotton is a natural fiber and may appear to be better for the planet, but it requires around 20,000 liters of water to grow only 2.2 pounds of cotton [7]. Brands need to start using sustainable materials as well as sustainable practices. Lee denim is a great example of this. Lee utilizes Zero Waste Distribution Centers to prevent wasted materials from ending up in landfills. 95% of their facilities’ waste is recycled, composted, and reused. In addition, Lee works hard to conserve water in the manufacturing process by eliminating water in the dyeing process of denim. The company has saved one billion liters of water in 2019 by being conscious of their denim finishing and dyeing processes [5]. On the other hand, we have brands doing the exact opposite. H&M has a Conscious collection known for being environmentally friendly; however, at one point, the wise consumer will notice that the only sustainable piece is the hang tag. This is outright ridiculous that a brand can get away with ultimately deceiving the customer, and H&M is not the only one who has done this. Thankfully, the company decided to actually include real sustainable pieces soon after this. In 2020, H&M released a Conscious collection called “Wear the Waste A/W 20” and it sold out within hours [6]. The collection featured couture-styled pieces that were made of recycled polyester, plastic bags, carpets, and agricultural waste. Most pieces were well over $100 which may seem like an outrageous price tag for something sold at a fast fashion brand; however, it should actually be seen as a win. A shirt should never be sold at the $4.99 or $9.99 price tag we often see hanging in H&M stores. The materials, labor costs, and mark-up should never add up to this amount. If they did, someone is getting cheated out of fair pay. Everlane is a great example of showing the transparency in price determination. On the website at the bottom of the page of each item, a chart shows a breakdown of costs including materials, hardware, labor, duties, transport, mark-up, and the difference between Everlane pricing and traditional retailers. This is something all brands should include to be held accountable. H&M should look at their collection of sustainable wear and realize its customers are willing and ready to pay a higher price for ethically made and environmentally friendly pieces. Why not make more of these pieces instead of 1,000 different $6 floral tops made of 100% polyester? Synthetic fibers like polyester are damaging to the environment because they are made of plastics that do not break down and are left polluting the planet. Polyester is made of water, coal, and 70 million barrels of oil [8]. So, now we have clothes staying in closets less and ending up in landfills, a poor fashion calendar system, natural fibers and dyeing processes consuming mass amounts of water, and synthetic fibers that do not biodegrade. Unfortunately, that is not all. When producing around one billion apparel pieces each year, our industry is also emitting 5% of global greenhouses gases. This is due to the creation of carbon dioxide in the production process, with around 1.2 billion tons created each year [7]. More needs to be done with the manufacturing of garments. During the pandemic in 2020, China’s big manufacturing business was shut down amid the lockdowns. This led to a decrease in pollution levels by 30% [9]. This is a huge eye opener for production plants around the world and something needs to change, fast.
What should companies do to fix these overbearing problems? Gucci no longer participates in the normal fashion calendar seasons and is cutting its shows from five to two a year. The creative director, Alessandro Michele, believes there exists, “So much outrageous greed…” that has made us, “lose the harmony and the care, the connection and the belonging [11].” He plans to create two seasonless drops each year, arguing the Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer are old words and clothing should last longer. In May 2020, a group of designers pledged to change the industry by transforming the calendar and reducing sales. Saint Laurent also plans to follow its own pace in the industry, and other big brands are expected to follow [11]. Business models are already changing with more and more brands emerging that release small drops of clothing every few months or weeks. Telfar is one example of this. The brand consists of shopping bags, beanies, belts, and apparel. It constantly collaborates with other companies to create unique apparel every few weeks. Telfar has the shopping bag known to many as the Bushwick Birkin, as it is high in status, that drops in a new color randomly and sells out immediately. It ranges from size small to medium to large and costs between $150 and $257. It really is the affordable Birkin bag as it is rare in getting one and high in status. Is this business model successful? Of course, but is it sustainable? It is a good business strategy that prevents excess wasted inventory for the store itself. The issue comes with its desire to provide new items toofrequently. Do people really need the Telfar bag in a new color every month? No. If Telfar utilized the same strategy but extended the time in between launches of new colors, it could be successful as well as sustainable in preventing large excess. I understand businesses need new products to make money but selling out immediately should provide a great deal of profits for the brand. They could even redrop the same color in between launches to excite customers with the chance of scoring a sold-out bag. Another option is creating a sustainable, environmentally friendly collection that will help balance out the continuous dropping of new collections. Patagonia takes a different approach; it repairs worn clothing from its customers to increase the life cycle of the garment and prevent clothing from ending up in landfills. The brand offers DIY Repair and Care Guides, Ironclad Guarantee allowing for a return or repair, and Worn Wear allowing customers to bring in old clothing for store credit [10]. Brands need not be perfect, but they should at least try to provide well-made, sustainable pieces for their customers, and I challenge them to do so.
In addition to these concerns for our environment, we must also be weary of the treatment of workers in the manufacturing business. Overseas, brands do not heavily regulate production plants to ensure safe working environments and reasonable pay for employees. In the U.S., the pay is regulated better, but what about the working conditions? Why aren’t more things made in the U.S.? This is a topic for another day and will be discussed in great detail in my next post.
So, I am sure this has left you thinking you will no longer purchase new clothes and you will not throw any out either. This is exactly how I felt when I first heard of these issues with our industry. This is not my intention for you. I want consumers to demand more and follow through with that demand. Shop at stores that: promote sustainability, make garments that last, treat workers right, prevent excess, and are transparent about it. Yes, you will end up paying more, but it will be worth it. Be conscious about your buying habits and look before you buy. Do your favorite brands offer repairs, cost breakdowns, or an inside look at the sustainable steps they take to be better?
REFERENCES
[1] https://www.leaf.tv/articles/when-do-fashion-seasons-start/
[2] FIDM Lecture Series The Future of Fast Fashion, March 16, 2021
[3] https://www.roadrunnerwm.com/blog/textile-waste-environmental-crisis
[4] https://www.thefashionlaw.com/how-many-gallons-of-water-does-it-take-to-make-a-single-pair-of-jeans/
[5] https://www.lee.com/about/sustainability.html
[6] https://www2.hm.com/en_us/hm-sustainability/lets-change.html/archive/conscious-exclusive
[9] https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/global-shutdown-becomes-environmental-experiment
[10] https://www.patagonia.com/returns.html
[11] https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a32665938/gucci-leaves-fashion-week-calendar/