Latest Post

Leadership for Sustainability: Same difference?

The world of sustainability in fashion has changed fundamentally in the last few years. In this article we look at qualities that leaders such as Patagonia's Yves Chouinard have, that make them the movers and shakers of the sustainability agenda in the industry at large.

Featured Post

Circular Economies: The past, the present – and the future?

The term ‘circular economy’ has recently been – again – converted into a buzz word. To some extent there are a couple of good reasons for that as both common sense as well as the Ellen McArthur foundation's most recent report prove.

Asides

• The London College of Fashion's Centre for Sustainable Fashion defines "sustainable" as: "harnessing resources ethically and responsibly without destroying social and ecological balance". Consequently, 'sustainable fashion' would be fashion that complies with the above characterisation. #
• In a recent interview published online on 'Green Living' and entitled 'What is Ethical Fashion? A Conversation with Ariel Azoff' designer Ariel Azoff of HeartSleeves gave the following definition: "A very loose definition of ethical fashion is fashion that has been produced by people who work reasonable hours in safe conditions and are paid a living wage. I actually prefer the term “sustainable fashion” which encompasses both ethical fashion and fashion that is environmentally-friendly." #
• The term sustainability is applied [...] as the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society. In this context sustainability is about the integration of social, environmental, ethical, human rights, consumer concerns and financial performance into business operations and strategy in collaboration with stakeholders, with the aim of: Identifying, preventing and mitigating any possible adverse impacts of business’ actions on the environment and society while maximizing societal benefit. (Source: Deloitte online questionnaire) #
• In the retail gazette's article 'Fashion retailers work towards green future', dating from August 19th 2011, the following was quoted (bold font added by Shirahime): ---- New Look, the high-street fashion retailer, has an Ethical Trading Initiative Director, in charge of its environmental policies and ensuring that the focus on sustainability remains paramount during the tough economic climate. Mark Bannister, Ethical and Environment Manager at the retailer, said that in spite of squeezed margins and disappointing sales figures, green solutions are critical to their strategy. "With difficult challenges in commodity cost increases being driven by rapidly increasing global demand and decreasing sales as a result of lower consumer spending, the long-term economic trend in the retail sector is inevitably towards sustainability," Bannister added. "At present, we are finding the need to prioritise greener solutions as they offer a greater overall product potential, looking beyond the traditional metric of margins. Ultimately the transition towards sustainable fashion will be a lengthy process but we are beginning to find that sustainable choices are the most cost effective choice from a holistic product perspective." #
• In the Q&A debate on March 3rd, 2010, Lord Addington summarised what the term 'ethical fashion' means in his political/industrial understanding. "When we talk about ethical fashion, we are talking about getting away from throwaway fashion; or, if we are going to throw it away, about how we recycle." #