Fashion Forward: The Rise of Sustainable Clothing
As cries for environmental change grow ever louder and concerns surrounding unethical labour rise, society is becoming increasingly conscious about its consumption, particularly regarding clothing. With price and quantity no longer the only considerations of consumption, the public’s concerns regarding the corporate values behind an article of clothing continue to increase. As a result, consumers’ sartorial gaze has shifted from the allure of new, fast fashion, to more sustainable options.
The Dhaka garment factory building collapse that killed over 1,000 workers served as a catalyst for a change in consumer values. The incident forced the world to confront the results of its mass consumption. No longer merely the number written on a price tag, the tragic event demonstrated that product costs include environmental and ethical consequences. The 2015 film,“ The True Cost,” further explores this issue by connecting consumerism and capitalism to environmental destruction and structural poverty. The film blames fast fashion, a business model that aims to produce clothing as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible, for driving up consumer demand with disregard to the externalities of such a rate of production. At the time, it appeared as though economic profit, derived from low costs of labour, and ethical sustainability were bound to remain at odds.
Since the release of “The True Cost,” data surrounding the environmental and social impact of mass textile production has strengthened the argument against fast fashion. The statistics are damning. The apparel sector generates 5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, and textile production creates 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year. These facts, coupled with the U.N.’s warning that we only have until 2030 to limit the effects of climate change, undoubtedly diminish the allure of a $10 H&M sweater.
This reality does not fall upon deaf ears. Data illustrates that consumers, particularly Millennials, willingly make an effort to support ethically and environmentally conscious brands. Google web searches for “sustainable fashion” increased over 200% from 2014 to 2019.
According to the Computer Generated Solutions’ (CGS) 2019 U.S. Consumer Sustainability Survey, almost 70% of US Millennials actively consider company values when making a purchase. Additionally, nearly 70% of survey participants rate sustainability as at least “somewhat important” to them when making a purchase, and 47% would pay more for a sustainable product. Shoppers produce change by voting with their wallets.
Value-driven consumers control the market now more than ever. Profit and sustainability are beginning to converge; brands that are transparent about the sources of their garments, the wages they pay their workers, and the environmental impact of their clothing, benefit from their positive public images. Lyst, a fashion searching platform, released a report illustrating that since the beginning of 2018, searches related to sustainable fashion have increased over 66%. Companies such as Patagonia and Reformation, who both release yearly sustainability reports and promote the use of ethically sourced fabrics, dominate the market. Notably, Lyst named Reformation the second most wanted Instagram brand and its sustainably produced “Gavin” and “Rue” dresses drove hordes of traffic to the brand’s Lyst page in the last for months of 2018.
On the opposite end of the sustainability spectrum, fast fashion brands feel the strain of their inability to adapt to changing consumer values. In September 2019, Forbes revealed that Forever 21 was filing for bankruptcy after experiencing a 20%+ drop in sales over the previous year. While its fast fashion model fueled the company’s initial success and allowed it to provide teens with trendy clothing at a low cost, the endless churning of hundreds of pieces per season played a role in its downfall. In a Reuters interview, Gabriella Santaniello, founder of retail research firm A-Line Partners, argues that “customers have become more conscious of where they spend their dollars. They want sustainability, they want to feel represented and...Forever 21 [hasn’t] particularly stood for any of this.” Its business model, which relied heavily upon unethical and underpaid labour, failed to keep up with consumers now more interested in social and environmental responsibility than in an ever-revolving wardrobe.
The verdict is clear: it is time to trade in conspicuous consumption for sustainable fashion.