June 2023: Participating in the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Though action is still slow, I’m encouraged by the normalized conversations around supply chain transformation and solutions.
Read time: 10-15 minutes
When people hear work in sustainable fashion, they often assume that my work is all about turning recycled plastic bottles into clothes. While this is a commendable effort, sustainable fashion is far more complex than that. The work of sustainable fashion is bigger than making eco-conscious products: it’s in fact, about transforming the ENTIRE system of how our clothes are mass produced, and disrupting the current system of ‘take, make and waste’. It’s not the most glamorous side of fashion, but definitely the most important.
The biggest opportunities for sustainable fashion exist in the supply chain.
Inside the fashion supply chain, we see how incredibly resource extracting fashion is:
from the natural resources/raw materials (ie. cotton, etc. ) that is used,
to the amount of water, chemicals, and dyes it takes to turn a raw material into a textile,
the amount of human labor (mostly women!) that is exploited in the factories with low wages and unsafe working conditions to turn textiles into wearable clothes,
The carbon footprint it takes to ship the clothes into retail destinations,
And finally, what happens to the garment once we consumers are done with it (hint: it normally goes to landfills, and we have an enormous textile waste problem).
That said, the good news is, the industry has recognized that transforming the supply chain is a priority.
June 2023: Emceeing the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Planet Textiles Event, where addressing dynamics in the supply chain was a topic of conversation.
As I participated in the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Planet Textiles event in Milan and the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen this past June, much of the discourse revolved around possible solutions to help facilitate a just and equitable transition of the supply chain so everyone is on track to their sustainability goals. The key message I was getting in both events is that collaboration is necessary, but it must be globally inclusive so everyone can be set up for success.
But what exactly does a ‘just and equitable’ transition mean? Before exploring a few critical topics in the industry, it’s important to have proper context and to understand that the unequal power dynamics between brands and manufacturers is one of the major roadblocks that could make or break fashion’s sustainability goals.
The relationship between brands (who come from the Global North) and manufacturers (many who come from the Global South aka. formerly colonized countries) often have a relationship inherited from a colonial legacy, leading to the imbalance in power and wealth.
The transactional nature of this relationship must be transformed into healthier, safer, partnerships in order for everyone to win. Furthermore, the sustainable fashion conversation has largely been brand led, so manufacturer voices, alongside the voices of farmers, garment workers, and those on the ground need a platform too (something to pay attention to!).
The goal of this piece is not to paint one or the other as the ‘good guy’ or ‘bad guy’, (because I’ve met some truly sincere folks working on the brand level who are serious about making positive change) but rather to represent a critical point of view that has been missing from the sustainability conversation.
With that, let’s break this down a little more and unpack how this manifests in today’s most critical industry topics:
Decarbonization
These days, everyone is talking about decarbonizing the supply chain- meaning that in order for greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint to be significantly lessened, factories must undergo critical changes. But for clothes to be made more responsibly, manufacturers need to be set up for success.
This means that factories need billions of dollars in investments in order to shift from coal to alternative sources (coal is the biggest source of global warming), shifting to renewable energy (ie. solar panels), and installing water filtration systems, and more. But who will fund this?
Manufacturers alone can’t be left with this enormous burden, so healthy collaboration, capacity-building partnerships, and investment is needed from major companies/brands in order to make it a win-win situation for all.
Responsible Purchasing Practices and Long Term Relationships
Responsible Purchasing Practices (RPP) are policies that consider the needs of both the brand and the supplier/manufacturer to have a fair, win-win partnership. Examples include:
Ethical payment and fair terms
Clearly defined order quantities
Providing the manufacturer fair lead time and technical details to create the product
Taking on the shared duty of environmental & social responsibility
According to Patagonia, “Ethical purchasing is at the heart of social responsibility and any worker well-being or environmental impact programs brands may have.”
However, as it stands now, RPPs are not always, well…responsible. They can be exploitative and rather promiscuous in nature. Essentially, when some brands (who have the money to spend) find they can’t cut a corner with a manufacturer, they threaten to move on to another one quickly, which makes the original manufacturer lose business despite working hard to please them. This is a prime example of the power dynamics that exist.
But by transitioning from a transactional relationship into one that is transformational, healthy, equal, and long-term, brands can provide manufacturers with the safety needed to be able to invest in the supply chain together, and work together to create a safer, more ethical workplace for garment workers.
POLICY
A big topic in all the fashion conferences this year is upcoming regulation. There are new policies coming from Europe and the USA that will regulate the fashion sector and demand that companies show proof that they are operating responsibly and are able to back up their sustainability claims with credible data.
This is good news, BUT a lot of the burden will fall on the manufacturers. In order to make clothes more responsibly, factories need to be transformed for decarbonization, and data will need to be provided in order to meet regulatory needs.
The problem is, a lot of the policies are being decided in the Global North, which doesn’t always consider the realities of the Global South (ie. lack of infrastructure, funding, and government support). Not to mention, all of the policy language is written in other languages (ie. English) and to be honest, the language is hard to understand even as a native speaker!
Regulation is a step in the right direction, but again, without equal and healthy partnerships between brands and suppliers, neither will be set up for success to deliver.
STORYTELLING TO SHIFT CONSUMPTION CULTURE
The current fashion story is one based on consumption, and not having enough. The fashion narrative of retail therapy says, you will only be enough if you buy x, y, z. But this mentality is fueling overconsumption, and thus, creating more waste.
As Denica Riadini-Flesch (founder of SukkhaCitta) stated in a recent webinar, fashion’s storytellers must reinforce a new story: one that centers our enough-ness. Instead of taking and making waste, we must take on a new paradigm: one that inspires us to align our values with every aspect of our lives, including what we choose to invest in. By knowing who we are and what we stand for, we can align our life choices with those values.
So instead of merely buying clothes, we are investing in them. We buy only what we love and need, and because of that, we are proud to rewear, reuse, and repair them because we truly value them. Clothes are no longer disposable, but valued parts of ourselves.
As I like to say, the easiest thing for everyday people to participate in this movement is to go against the grain of social media pressures for ‘next and new’ and REWEAR REWEAR REWEAR your clothes until we make it a normal fashion statement.
Want to work in Sustainable Fashion? Here are some resources to help you on your next steps:
If you’ve made it to the end of this VERY serious and long article, yay! You must be invested in your sustainable fashion career. =)
In sum, it’s important to understand the supply chain as you enter this sector, and the sooner you start, the better you’ll be set up for opportunities to lend your skill sets as solutions to existing problems. It might not be the ‘glossy, glamorous’ work that you see on the fashion runways, but if you choose to dive in, it can provide one of the most impactful opportunities to contribute the planet and the people in it.
So what’s next?
If you’re a fashion communicator, check out the new Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook developed by the United Nations Environmental Program to re-up your knowledge.
Check out Kim Van Der Weerd’s Manufactured podcast to get a better understanding of the supply chain dynamics between brands and manufacturers, and get inspired about how and where you can participate in the supply chain transition.
Sure, fashion brands are also great places to work, but there are industry associations focused on policy, financing, industry collaboration, and more that could use your expertise. Get started by checking out the work of the Apparel Alliance.
Looking for work? Some of my favorite sustainable job sites include Reconsidered, Sustainable Fashion Forum, and Green Jobs Board.
Transforming the fashion supply chain will take ALL actors- businesses, governments, scientists, fashion designers, consumers, and everywhere in between. But the good news is, the science and the solutions exist to scale up. Fired up and ready to go?
Let’s get to work,
Ruby