By Jaadi Fonseca
For as long as I can remember, fashion has always intrigued me for its capability to reinvent itself. Nowadays, fashion seems to be taking an innovative approach that expands beyond seasonal trends. I began writing this piece as a response to an event that I attended at the beginning of 2020 called Fashion Innovation. During this event educators, entrepreneurs, journalists, designers, and activists discussed the future of the fashion industry. The honest conversation around topics such as innovation and sustainability created space for both speakers and the audience to debunk consumption myths surrounding sustainable choices.
In the midst of writing this piece, the global production and consumption system was profoundly disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, I decided to merge both topics in an attempt to understand how the current scenario might shape our consumption habits, while taking a stab at imagining positive outcomes from the imminent changes that we and the industry are facing.
Several thought leaders in the fashion industry, like Imran Amed, Tim Blanks, and Li Edelkoort, are now rethinking the role of fashion. They are questioning the necessity of what is being produced, the pace of its production and how the “quarantine of consumption”, as Li Edelkoort puts it, could change this industry. With the disruption of the global supply chain, we should soon experience a big change in the seasonal newness of nonessential industries, such as fashion. This setback has the potential to frighten participants in the rapid cycle of consumption. But it can also propel us to reassess the value of what we make and how we make it.
For more than ten years data has been showing that the fashion industry is unsustainable and unfair to many of its contributors. Companies like Adidas, Nike, Patagonia and Stella McCartney have been responding to the unsustainable nature of fashion by investing in new materials, technology, circularity, and social/environmental strategies. The large majority of companies are still relying on surface-level solutions like greenwashing that treat sustainability like just another trend. But how will they react when they fall behind on their production schedules, and consumers pay less attention to unnecessary purchases?
Well, some companies such as LVMH and Kering are responding to the COVID-19 crisis by repurposing their factories to help produce essential items such as masks, gowns and hand sanitizer. Others, such as PVH, Inditex and H&M are making public commitments to pay for their order to support their workers. But those who are most dependent on the jobs the industry creates will be the ones that are most harmed with the consequences of the current crisis. However, some still choose to rely on superficial marketing strategies to raise the awareness of consumers, without taking concrete actions.
Just like what we have been experiencing with COVID-19, awareness and information are crucial to creating widespread behavioral change. From people volunteering to help the most vulnerable, to consumers supporting their local businesses, we can now see that the community of conscious consumers is growing. And those consumers are negatively responding to fluffed up marketing campaigns, while looking for factual information to decide which companies they will trust. As more vigilant consumers we can facilitate how we transition to alternative consumption habits.
We are faced with some big questions. How will we prompt innovation to thrive? How will we coax the global economy to move forward, while addressing sustainability and social issues? The consumption of fashion items was growing exponentially before this crisis. But it seems that many factors could now influence us to set new standards of consumption. From the growing mass of conscious consumers influencing the market, to the current fragile production system, we can set new values, innovative production methods and better consumption and production habits.
For instance, Simon Collins, Founder & CEO of WeDesign.org, a speaker at Fashion Innovation, articulated interesting thoughts on our current and future shopping models. Collins argued that we are entangled in a vicious circle of consumption. As companies have relied on a system of planned obsolescence, and designers have been trained to create disposable goods. So, what should we do to avoid reaching exhaustion? The saying “less is more” is not a convincing strategy, so Collins advised us to think in a new way. To not simply reduce production, but produce smarter, as not create unnecessary products.
And in fact, there has been a surge in thrifting, repurposing and recycling across various industries, but this surge is still far from becoming the norm. Can the current times accelerate the jump from awareness to action? And if so, will it be inclusive enough to create a positive impact on those most dependent on the jobs the industry creates? Although these are unprecedented times, people are banding together to showcase the best of humanity. It seems that people are becoming aware of the fact that, to change these unsustainable systems that seem bigger than us, we need everyone’s discipline and support.
Interestingly, there was a conversation around the same idea at Fashion Innovation with Tanya Taylor, the CEO of Anne Taylor CEO and Tyler McCall, editor-in-chief of Fashionista.com. One of the key points made was that, to create innovations that solve issues, we need to open the conversation to everyone, especially those who are normally left aside. Hopefully, this sentiment of inclusivity will continue to grow, and we will continue to learn how unexpected voices can
participate in positive change. Furthermore, we should be able to support the voices and livelihood of those that COVID-19 will impact the most. I believe that this spirit of growing reciprocity will continue to unearth genuine voices. We can use this time to push for better solutions and greater vocalization of the existing issues. In the end, we can decide what the future will be and do our best to work towards it.
It seems that the current scenario can create a better sentiment of a global community, a shift from awareness to action, a reevaluation of priorities and necessities and seriousness when it comes to transparency backed by data. To me, the clearest way forward is to promote innovations that address real issues. These ideas can thrive if we invest in supporting the unheard voices of the fashion system, shift our mindset and adapt to alternative and more sustainable ways of production and consumption.
This is a small part of the thoughts I have been having, and I would love for this to spark the curiosity of some of you, to think about how we can create positive responses in these uneasy times. If you are willing to support the fashion workers, you can go to the Fashion Revolution website to learn how to join the movement.
