Amidst the growing urgency to address the global climate crisis, many fashion retailers are seeking to lessen their environmental footprints. This comes as a strategic response to address the trend of conscious consumers who are incorporating sustainability in guiding their purchases. According to the statistics published the Pulse of the Fashion Industry’s 2019 update, around one-third of surveyed consumers have left their preferred brands to seek others that are more sustainable while 50% will be willing to make this switch in the future. These forms of consumer activism will continue to impose greater pressure on the fashion industry in making environmentally responsible choices. At the same time, there remain many questions on what makes a clothing brand sustainable and how sustainability can be relevant beyond production process. 

Given the high complexity within the production cycle, individuals outside the clothing industry may struggle to understand how sustainability is incorporated during the various stages of manufacture. In order to make their effort more interpretable to customers, retailers have attempted to focus on innovations in clothing material itself. In the recent “carbon-neutral” runway shows, designers have incorporated recycled fabrics and bottles into their fashion articles. The idea of creating new fashion from reused material is a highly visible commitment to promoting sustainability. 

While the responsible sourcing of materials is a meaningful step towards sustainability, the production of new clothing produced will still consume energy. This is a key point consumers often miss when engaging with the fast-fashion trend, where “retailers became giants by quickly churning out fresh, low-priced styles”. This means that when retailers compete to satisfy our desire for the latest style, this process will generate excess merchandise. While many stores will apply discounts to clear their unsold inventory, luxury fashion retailers like Burberry had to incinerate some $38 million of goods in a year in order to preserve the brand’s prestige. Truly, any sustainable efforts in the production process will be discounted when more is produced than demanded.
Thus, consumer activism cannot be limited to short term decisions such as buying clothing with the eco-friendly sticker. According to Green Strategy, a sustainability consultant within the textile and fashion industry, we may also adjust our taste to experimenting with second hand or vintage clothing. With the rising popularity of online platforms such as Poshmark, where individuals can sell their unwanted clothing and accessories, there seems to be a greater acceptance of purchasing in the second hand market. Furthermore, used clothing can offer greater variety in style and is more budget friendly. This disproves the hesitation consumers have when assuming that sustainable purchases need to be more expensive. 

During her generation in China, my grandmother told me how families frequently mended their clothing because newer garments were reserved for days of festivals. Although the mass production technologies has made clothing overall more accessible, we must also take greater diligence in valuing them. Thus, sustainability in fashion relies not only on sourcing responsibly or reducing pollution from manufacturing, but also in reassessing our fundamental attitude towards clothing itself. 

Thumbnail image: Forbes