Defining Makes A Difference
How understanding new vocabulary can revolutionize for a more sustainable future
The modern landscape of fashion is ever-evolving and so is the language we use to describe it. Terms such as “fast fashion” and “sustainability” have entered the commonplace vocabulary of the clothing industry. The first step towards progress through activism is to create shared definitions in order to foster productive conversations. I have chosen four of the most prevalent terms to define in order to provide you with a foundational understanding of the issues at hand.
“Fast Fashion”
“The term ‘fast fashion’ is often defined as ‘an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers.’”
A lot of popular brands thrive on maximizing production and churning out designs based off of runway designs. As these companies find ways to produce higher volumes of clothing they are more likely to have cut corners in quality and production. For example, companies like Zara, H&M, Urban Outfitters, Rowme, Zaful, and Shein have become increasingly successful over the last ten years as people look for cheaper alternatives for dupes of high-end runway styles and brands.
The fast fashion industry produces ~1 billion garments annually and these companies are only growing in production. Net profits of the fast fashion industry currently sit around 2 trillion dollars per year. While incredibly lucrative the short-sighted financial gains do not diminish the long-term damage to our environment.
The fast fashion industry itself is responsible for high carbon emissions, wastewater production, and large amounts of landfill waste.
“Sustainable/Sustainability”
https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/09/what-we-know-and-need-know-about-sustainable-fashion
Dictionary.com
“The ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed.
Environmental Science. “The quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.”
By dictionary definition, “sustainability” is rather loosely defined as the practice of not actively contributing to the depletion of natural resources in efforts to cultivate a healthy and prosperous ecosystem. In application “sustainability” can be rather vague when it comes to the clothing industry. We are increasingly aware of the negative impacts of fast fashion and overproduction but consumers and brands alike have trouble determining how to make positive change. Some companies have begun to use technological innovation to “go green.” But even the idea of “going green” can be quite vague, especially to consumers.
One of the largest issues surrounding sustainability is our collective inability to narrowly define the idea itself. There are no designated systems to measure the long term impact of current sustainability models. Furthermore, there is a lack of global cooperation in regard to sustainability. “The cohort of “sustainable” brands and business models are simply not significant enough to solve all of the industry-wide issues with sustainability.”
Currently, there are few ways to measure a company’s environmental and social impact
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition
The Higg Index
“The Higg Index is a suite of tools that enables brands, retailers, and facilities of all sizes - at every stage in their sustainability journey - to accurately measure and score a company or product’s sustainability performance. The Higg Index delivers a holistic overview that empowers businesses to make meaningful improvements that protect the well-being of factory workers, local communities, and the environment.”
The Higg Index is the most developed measure of sustainability that the industry currently has but due to its mass scale and complexity, it can be inaccessible to consumers themselves.
The most common question surrounding sustainability is how does one define/measure it? Especially when so many brands label themselves as “sustainable” or “ethical” it can be hard to know what that means when every brand defines “sustainability” in a different way.
Right now as consumers we need to demand transparency and honesty when it comes to how brands conduct themselves in regard to ecological and humanitarian issues.
Furthermore, we need to demand legislation and regulation on both domestic and global levels to ensure that companies are held accountable for their means of production and distribution.
“Ethical”
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/w/what-is-ethical-fashion/
“Ethical Fashion is an umbrella term to describe ethical fashion design, production, retail, and purchasing. It covers a range of issues such as working conditions, exploitation, fair trade, sustainable production, the environment, and animal welfare.”
The globalization of production means that materials and labor can be outsourced to different countries of the world where costs are low, allowing for larger margins of revenue and sometimes higher savings for customers.
“Ethical Fashionistas would argue that all this has a cost that we are not able to see on the price tag.”
Due to a lack of common understanding and universal legislation, a complete overhaul of the fashion industry seems impossible. Right now we see a lot of companies outsourcing labor and production to other countries, primarily China. When companies do so they often engage in unethical practices in hopes of maximizing production and revenue.
A company cannot truly be sustainable if it is not ethical and a company cannot be ethical if it is not sustainable. The two must coexist in both practice and conversation. Fast fashion companies often exploit both the land and laborers in order to produce high volumes at low costs, maximizing revenue. While the price tag may be attractive and hard to resist, I urge consumers to think about the true cost behind the garment.
At the current success rate of fast fashion brands, there is no sign of their decline any time soon. In the past year, plastic straws have practically become an abomination in most of Gen Z’s eyes and legislation banning plastic straws in San Francisco has reflected the eco-friendly movement. But that did not happen because companies simply felt bad about the waste and unnecessary use of plastic straws, it was because consumers and citizens demanded change.
The power of the dollar and our voices is far greater than individuals realize. There will be no shift within the fashion industry until consumers demand otherwise. Furthermore, companies must see that a shift towards sustainability is more profitable for their brand and long-term growth. We must be conscientious of the purchases we make and companies we support, especially when we have the socioeconomic privilege to do so.
“Greenwashing”
“Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound. Greenwashing is considered an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly.”
A marketing attempt to capitalize on the growing demand for environmentally sound products.
Acts of greenwashing can convey a false impression that a company or its products are environmentally sound.
Products that are ethically and sustainably produced will be supported by facts and transparency. Greenwashed items/brands are intentionally vague and misleading, often failing to substantiate claims of sustainability.
Many contemporary sustainable brands have found great success in the evolving landscape of fashion. As is common practice in business marketing other brands have seen the success of these sustainable brands and have made moves to rebrand as sustainable, even when their practices don’t match up. In order for consumers to hold brands accountable we must demand transparency and honesty when it comes to their practices. Your dollar has more power than you realize.