Can A Buzz Around Sustainability Produce the Opposite Effect?

2020 launched us into a new decade, and with that, into the emergence of fresh fads that will come to determine our future progress. But like many times before, it is important to analyze motives, and see whether actions are genuine, or merely for marketing purposes that can sway our thinking and distract from the real purpose at hand. For those who lived through the turbulence, 2020 will always be a year that stands out. One that will reflect remarkable milestones that led to long-awaited and necessary reforms. Though difficult in the moment, the pandemic ironically served as the elixir for exposing our harsh underlying realities. Nearly a year since it began, the transformations are beginning to take root within our social operating system. The moment consequently offers the opportunity to zoom out and reassess the changes, ensuring we are implementing them accordingly for future growth.   Among the chaos, the fashion and textile industries were the first to be denounced for their systemic ways. When the unforeseen cancellation of production orders by well-established brands led to a global garment workers’ crisis, the industry was called out on its behavior. Racism within upper and lower management positions; carbon footprints created by the never-ending production of fast fashion; outsourcing with the result of unfair wages. Those involved were forced to rethink their positions and hand in the matter. With consumer spending has dropped 79 percent (the lowest ever reported to date) it was clear that things had to change. Fast. And they did. Instantly, brands began marketing overarching terms like circular and upcycling. For a second, as they made their rounds from one collection drop to the next, we believed them. But if 2020 taught us anything, it’s been to hold those with influence, as well as ourselves, accountable. With sustainability already having been greenwashed through the years, it became imperative, as we implemented changes, to make sure these brands were doing as they said instead of just saying as they do.  As the year progressed, other words like vintage, secondhand, and resale too emerged, again enticing fashion labels to revamp their marketing campaigns. The words seemed contradictory nestled within a business that sustained itself on the idea of ever-changing trends. But according to Lyst’s annual Year In Fashion report, which carefully tracks a year’s worth of data pertaining to fashion’s most influential brands, people, pop culture, and more, vintage was in. In September, Lyst declared 35,000 new searches for “vintage fashion” and a 104 percent increase in searches related to “secondhand”. Our globalized world only further supports the vintage and second-hand markets. With Etsy, DePop, RealReal, and other small e-commerce retailers on the rise, we truly can shop anytime and anywhere we want. But the opportunity also opens up an abundance of options, which can at times feel overwhelming. Gem, a new search engine dedicated to discovering solely vintage and second-hand items, helps take the burden off the consumer. Born in Helsinki and a lifelong lover of secondhand fashion, Liisa Jokinen launched the site after she had felt crushed by the challenge in coming across the specific vintage pieces she was looking for. “We believe vintage and secondhand is not just a trend, but here to stay,” Jokinen states in her recent interview with Emily Farra for Vogue. “The demand will continue to grow, and more people will start selling and consuming [vintage and secondhand]… It is going to be the new normal for more and more people.”  But if this is the case, and vintage and secondhand are to become staples within the fashion market, then it is crucial we ensure these practices are being executed sustainably. The New Standard Institute, a think tank aimed towards reconstructing “the global apparel industry into a force for good...”, asks us to consider: Is circular fashion a moral hazard? Their claim centers around the consideration that when a brand markets such overarching terms, it fails to mention to the consumer that half the responsibility falls on them. Circularity is synonymous with regeneration, meaning that which was taken from the earth must equally be put back in. The item you bought may be biodegradable, but it also must be discarded properly to ensure its intent. Therefore, simply buying something labeled as circular, does not automatically make it so. Unfortunately, as the NSI points out, the textile industry has failed to conceptualize scalable solutions to tackle the industry’s major recycling problems.  So how does all this play into morality? As ThredUp disclosed in its recent 2020 Resale Report, the resale market is projected to hit $64 billion in sales by 2024, and the online secondhand market to grow 69 percent by 2021. Such incredible calculations will undoubtedly tempt established brands to join in on the action, in effect producing more (even if it is being done with recycled fabrics). Ultimately, this goes against the goals brands are projecting with regards to becoming sustainable. Rather than producing more, as had been done for years with fast fashion, the industry should be focused on how to sustain itself by producing less. Consumers too should reassess their own habits and aim to buy less.  But, as the NSI forecasts, using favorable words like circular actually prompts a consumer to buy more. The essential guiding force behind such behaviors is that if we believe the purchase comes without consequence, then we become more comfortable with leaning in and buying more of it. And so, as we have had to do in the past, we must pause and reconsider. Brands will naturally continue to revamp their image as a result of the changing times. But as systemic revision within the textile industry becomes crucial, it is up to us to hold brands and ourselves accountable. If we really care about a regenerative future for the textile industry, then we must go beyond the attempt of doing things with only a capitalist agenda. The industry was granted a fresh start last year. How they choose to move forward with that chance is ultimately up to them.