While traditional brands and retailers are struggling to manage
inventory, overstock and decreasing consumer spending, there are those that
are thriving in the current corona crisis: sustainable designs and resale
fashion for example. Brand collaborations are also still going strong. If
you have missed our sustainability round-up in April (and we hope you did!)
then this was not because of a dearth of material but on the contrary, we
were so busy covering sustainable initiatives accelerated by Covid-19 that
the month was over before we knew it. After all, there was Earth Day,
Fashion Revolution Week, the seventh anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse
and calls to rewire and slow down the fashion industry gaining momentum.
Hence, here’s a longer list with 33 sustainability efforts announced in
April and May 2020 alone.
Online fashion retailer Zalando, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC)
and technology company Higg Co have announced their new collaboration, a
new global sustainability standard for fashion brands and retailers, meant
to accelerate sustainability industry wide. With SAC’s updated version of
the Higg Brand & Retail Module (Higg BRM), Zalando - the first retailer to
use this tool - will make sustainability assessment mandatory for brands
selling on its platform.
The spread of the novel coronavirus is presenting fashion companies with
unprecedented problems. Therefore, a movement is now forming among the
sustainable players, one of whose founders is German fashion label Lanius,
to slow down the fashion industry. Fashion brands and clothing retailers
have to find solutions to jointly overcome sales slumps and how to continue
after stores open again. In addition to calls for government support,
voices are also growing louder that call for a departure from ever earlier
seasonal patterns.
Using the hashtag #fairfashionsolidarity, the sustainable fashion
industry is gathering and calling on labels, stores and consumers to work
together. Since the end of March, the website fair-fashion-solidarity.de
has been offering a manifesto for signatures and recommendations for action
on how sustainable labels and retailers can get through the coronavirus
crisis together. More than 250 European fair fashion brands and retailers
have since joined, among them Fair Couture, The Good Apparel, Givn Berlin,
Wunderwerk and green fashion fair Innatex.
Adidas and sustainable shoe brand Allbirds have announced their
collaborative effort to create a sports performance shoe with the “lowest
carbon footprint ever recorded”. According to a Quantis International study
from 2018, the footwear industry annually emits 700 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide. Not only do the two companies want to accelerate solutions
to solve this, but their partnership aims to innovate manufacturing and
supply chain processes, as well as explore renewable material resources.
Seventeen new participants have joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s
Jeans Redesign project. Intended to change the industry standard for jeans
production to reduce waste and pollution, Jeans Redesign is composed of
denim experts and companies committed to the cause. Banana Republic,
Wrangler, Balzac Paris, Icicle, Organic Basics, Seventy + Mochi, Triarchy
and Unspun have just signed onto the project, along with nine fabric mills,
laundries and garment manufacturers. These new signatories join more than
50 other organizations that have already committed to the cause.
DJ Steve Aoki’s fashion brand Dim Mak has teamed up with Candiani denim
to launch its first collaborative pair of jeans that have been crafted with
sustainable fabrics and manufacturing methods. The Dim Mak x Candiani EC-01
is a limited edition pair of jeans completely made in Los Angeles, using
sustainable techniques with fabric created by Candiani Denim Mill and
hand-painted by Aoki and his Dim Mak artisans that have been designed to
“showcase the future of denim”.
Zalora, Asia's online fashion brand part of the Global Fashion Group,
has announced a partnership with pre-owned fashion platform, Vestiaire
Collective to offer a sustainable fashion ecosystem in Asia. The
partnership will allow Zalora’s Hong Kong customers to access over 5,000 of
Vestiaire Collective’s authenticated pre-loved items across its women’s and
men’s categories directly on Zalora’s website and apps.
Just in time for the 50th celebration of Earth Day and seen in a whole
different light in view of the current coronavirus pandemic, non-profit
Fashion Revolution has published the fifth edition of its Fashion
Transparency Index that looks at 250 of the world’s biggest fashion brands
and retailers, ranked according to how much they disclose about their
social and environmental policies, practices and impacts. This year, H&M,
C&A and Adidas/Reebok made it to the top three slots scoring 73, 70 and 69
percent, respectively, out of 250 possible points, followed by Esprit with
64 percent and Marks & Spencer and Patagonia at 60 percent each.
Trendy, expensive, wasteful - this is how one could sum up the current
worldwide sneaker boom. Unfortunately, the environment is often a secondary
consideration when producing the most popular models, and at the end of
their lives, sneakers end up in the hazardous waste bin. German sneaker
brand Ethletic proves that fashion and environmental and social awareness
do not have to be mutually exclusive: It manufactures vegan sneakers from
Fairtrade-certified organic cotton and natural rubber (FSC) and donates 1
US dollar per pair sold to workers' welfare associations. Those who are
particularly happy with their sneakers can also send a tip to the workers
in Pakistan.
Burberry is launching a SS20 sustainable capsule collection, called
‘ReBurberry Edit’, and has started a global roll-out of new sustainability
labeling to mark Earth Day. ReBurberry Edit comprises 26 styles crafted
from sustainable materials used across the British luxury label’s entire
product range. The edit features trench coats, parkas, capes and
accessories created from Econyl - a recycled nylon made from regenerated
fishing nets, fabric scraps and industrial plastic - as well as a range of
eyewear crafted from bio-based acetate.
Spanish retailer Mango has released its first-ever sustainable capsule
collection made from recycled fibres of garments collected through its
‘Second Chances’ project. The collection for both men and women features a
pair of jeans and a denim jacket made of 20 percent recycled fibres and 80
percent sustainable cotton. Additionally, the process used for dyeing the
fabrics saved 85 percent of water.
Canadian brand Canada Goose has outlined its goal to go carbon neutral
by 2025 in its first-ever sustainability report. The Toronto-based brand,
best known for its winter clothing, has released its sustainable impact
strategy, which outlines the company’s commitment to sustainability and
includes four of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development
Goals.
The H&M Group has published an update on its sustainability efforts,
announcing that it has almost reached its goal of using 100 percent
recycled or sustainably sourced cotton. According to the Swedish retail
giant’s 2019 Sustainability Performance Report, 97 percent of the group's
cotton is now either recycled or “sustainably sourced.” It also said it
will no longer source conventional cotton for its 2020 collections onwards.
Of its overall materials used, 57 percent are now recycled or “sourced in a
more sustainable way.” The group aims for this number to reach 100 percent
by 2030.
The clothing resale market is thriving, despite the economic shift
caused by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to popular resale
platform ThredUp. Spokesperson Natalie Tomlin confirmed when speaking to
FashionUnited that, “while resale isn’t immune to these downturns, we’ve
seen before that when times are tough, resale tends to thrive.”
She explained that consumers are now turning to secondhand “as a
responsible choice during a time when many are looking to stretch their
dollars further,” which in some ways gives resale retailers an upper hand.
As the economy takes a dip, value becomes a higher priority for the
majority of shoppers. Tomlin also noted that resale platforms such as
ThredUp have another advantage to traditional retailers: an independent
supply chain.
Across the globe, stores are being affected by country-wide lockdowns
due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the situation presenting fashion stores
with several challenges, including the dilemma of what to do with unsold
stock. While the issue has been particularly significant in the fast
fashion sector, small businesses have also been impacted, however, in a
slightly different way. Retailers which sell inter-seasonal products
should, it seems, be impacted less, as supply can be sold later in the
season, explained the founder of French fashion brand Prêt Pour Partir,
Xavier Aujard, to FashionUnited.
International e-commerce group, Global Fashion Group, has launched 100
percent recycled “delivery satchels” for its Australian multibrand
e-tailer, The Iconic. The new packaging is made from 100 percent recycled
plastic and feature’s Iconic’s updated white aesthetic. The new delivery
satchels have been certified under the GECA’s (Good Environmental Choice
Australia) Recycled Products Standard. The move marks the first major
retailer in Australia and New Zealand to make a commitment of this scale.
Imagine it is the height of summer and all you have to wear is polyester
clothing. Or other synthetic fibres. No natural, breathable materials. And
you have to dress up for work every day. Soon, because your skin is
irritated, red and blotchy, so are you, making you a nightmare to be
around. So far, so bad. Now imagine you are pregnant, your body temperature
is naturally a bit higher and your skin a bit more sensitive. But all you
have to wear is uncomfortable, non-breathable materials. Sounds bad? It is.
So bad that entrepreneur Elle Wang decided to found Emilia George, the
first ever 100 percent sustainable maternity and nursing wear line.
Redress, the leading non-government organisation working to reduce
fashion’s waste, has named its ten Redress Design Award 2020 finalists
hailing from nine countries, including graduates from Central Saint
Martins, London College of Fashion and Northumbria University. The
competition, which challenges fashion designers to showcase sustainable,
innovative and textile waste-reducing designs, has named finalists from The
Netherlands, Albania, Hong Kong, China, Sri Lanka, Canada, Italy, South
Korea, and Vietnam, who were all praised for using a combination of
zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction design techniques, as well as
sourcing waste materials generated from all parts of the fashion supply
chain and consumers in their submitted designs.
