Happy May Everyone!
Officially another month down in quarantine and life has never been more uneventful. Day in and day out holds the same set of bare minimum expectations, but I have been able to use this time to catch up on all of the new things happening in fashion. Obviously the pandemic has heavily impacted the current state of the fashion industry, but even before that, the shift in importance of sustainability in the fashion industry has grown astronomically. There are a lot of reasons why the value and concept of sustainability has come to the forefront of the fashion industry and a lot of ways retailers and brands have reacted to this shift.
To set the stage I first wanted to talk about the damage of the industry. It is no surprise that the fashion industry is one of the most wasteful professional industries in the world. Starting with the basics, the harvesting of cotton and other plants damages the earth's topsoil, which affects the health of the entire planet. The depleted soil cant draw down as much carbon and could lead to food shortages in the future. Even the dyes used are toxic and the materials used in some of the fast changing trends make it hard to reuse or create something new. One of the biggest reason behind the damage and lack of sustainability is because of the fast fashion aspect of the industry and the constant need to look like a highlight reel. People are looking to consume as much as humanly possible and then some. Fashion has always been a very emotional and nostalgic connection to one's life, but with the rising pattern of fast fashion replica, the time and value is slightly removed from the original intention. Time is one of the new luxuries in fashion. It is how we measure success of a sell through for our inventories, how we prioritize importance of tasks to get done, and how we track trends for the future. Ironically enough though, in result of the human activity slowing down due to COVID-19, we are seeing cleaner air, less consumption which means less waster. This means that the fashion industry can no longer turn a blind eye to the damages made.
This blog post is not only to bash an industry I love so much. There are a lot of steps to improvement that are currently being made and a lot of brands adopting this newfound mindset. Retailers such as GAP Inc. has been globally ranked for their use of organic cotton, the non-toxic dyes they use in their clothes, and even the decrease in water waste when creating their denim. Luxury designer, Stella McCartney is one of the first designers to incorporate a sustainable attitude in her business model and production process. Their mission statement is clear and simple: " We are committed to operating a modern and responsible business". At the end of the day, fashion is fashion. People will continue to buy things that that they want, but these designers and brands are starting to step up and use their platform in an environmentally beneficial way.
I have also seen my perspective on sustainability in the fashion change over the past couple of years. During my time in college, I was able to take a class specifically talking about the sustainability in retail and fashion. I was able to learn about the different materials used, the value of social media in the outreach aspect of sustainability, and the designs used to make items easier to be reused in the future. Sustainability has become a huge interest and passions of mine and trying to purchase new clothes from thrift stores and online consignment platforms such as Posh-mark, or even saving up money and buying things directly from designers rather than buying items from fashion fashion distributors. With all of the uncertainty in the world, finding reliable information about things that impact us is valued higher now more than ever. I believe that if we all try to make conscious efforts by doing things as simple as taking a closer look at what actually is going into the clothes that we wear, we can really be the change and jump start the good and natural beauty the fashion industry has been originally known for.
Stay UNIQUE,
Sara Anne
Related Articles
https://www.vogue.com/https://www.harpersbazaar.com/
https://www.forbes.com/
https://fabrikbrands.com/
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