Looking at the sales figures of luxury brands a single conclusion can be drawn: The luxury sector is doing well.
The structure of its customers, and the brands' efforts to maintain expert craftsmanship suggests that the luxury sector is where ethical brands really can start changing the world.
'Make it British', or the equivalent: French, Italian, German, Spanish ..., is often talked of as the ultimate panacea to address the lack of sustainability in the fashion industry. A few reasons why it all is slightly more complicated than it sounds.
Australia is a little bit like a big blank spot of knowledge as far as many of us here in Europe (and the US) are concerned.
The recently launched ‘Australian Fashion Report‘ is the first piece of work that looks very specifically at the sustainability and ethical trade practises of brands that are retailed in Australia, both local Australian as well as global brands.
Where and how was 'ethical fashion' invented? Who played key roles in the past? And where are we at and where are we going? A retrospective analysis that also looks into the future.
Historically, fair trade has pitch to and sold thanks to consumers' guilt. A grave mistake as the currently ongoing consumption trends show. Quality, exclusivity is what has survived the economic downturn best.
In a recent trip to Italy, I encountered many a beautiful leather product.
Yet - all of them seemed to too cheap. Cheaper than sustainable - or not?
Uniqlo's novel hiring system, and it's impact on Japan.
Second of an article series that analyses Uniqlo and why it joint forced with Bangladesh's Grameen Bank.
6 cherry-picked myths, that are often led into the field of discussion against sustainable fashion, and will examine them close up and outside in.
The fashion industry needs to change. Why? A simple T-shirt needs 2000 litres of water 150 grams of pesticide to grow the cotton. And that's only the start!
True Cost Accounting is – while far from sufficient – a step forward in the sustainability discussion, beyond the fashion industry. Let's look hence a bit close into what the three large apparel industry initiatives in this area are really about.
How expensive is fair labour really? This article summarises research data to answer these questions. In short: fair labour could be had for cheap.
How can environmental sustainability benefit from small and micro units? And, how can it be ensured that the associated skills sets are unique, yet valuable to the global fashion industry as a whole? Through 3 case studies from South-East Asia we show how different potential solutions could look like.
Scientists, engineers, designers and creators. 3 'species' of people that neither in academia, nor in industry collaborate well. Yet, precisely the fashion and textiles industry is so trans-disciplinary that collaboration is a must.
Resting the case for innovation.
“Globalization presumes sustained economic growth. Otherwise, the process loses its economic benefits and political support.” (P. Samuelson). There is an evident illogic, impossibility, of the traditional 'economic growth' lemma.
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.
With Grameen, Uniqlo has found the perfect partner to do business with the BOP.
Last of an article series that analyses Uniqlo and why it joint forced with Bangladesh's Grameen Bank.
When looking underneath the surface of the Japanese fashion industry, a fundamental shift is taking place: Production is shifted back to the Japanese home land.
How can environmental sustainability benefit from small and micro units? And, how can it be ensured that the associated skills sets are unique, yet valuable to the global fashion industry as a whole? Through 2 designer case studies from the UK, and a co-operative in India, we show how different potential solutions could look like.
There exist basic assumptions that are commonly, but wrongly, accepted as universal truths. Shirahime has cherry-picked 6 myths and will examine them close up and outside in over the course of 3 article instalments. Part 2.
Part I of III. The jewelry industry is in many ways a messy one, marked by ecological degradation, disruption of social and economic order, child labour, even slavery and murder.