Fashion Weeks and Sustainability
The spring time calls for fashion weeks, London, Paris, New York, and beyond. Each of these fashion weeks wastes an abundance of resources, from electricity, to food and water, to left over textiles. Sustainable fashion can be discussed in many different ways and there are many different ways the fashion industry can tackle sustainability. One of the ways is on a production level, making sustainability changes to the fashion shows themselves. A fashion show typically lasts twenty to thirty minutes, but takes months to prepare for. They over prepare and waste energy ultimately affecting our environment. From wasting energy in terms of lighting, to wasting food backstage that people do not even touch, to celebrity gift baskets that go unused and thrown away.
The issue with the sustainable fashion industry is getting the entire industry to be on board with these changes. Like a ripple effect, once many brands start then others will follow. The challenge is getting those brands, typically a high-end brand, to start the sustainable measures. As discussed in an earlier blog post, sustainability has to start within the inside of a company. When planning these fashion shows, they are not just for the brand's visibility, but tourist economies and showing uniqueness. Carlo Capsa, the chairman of CNMI which hosts Milan Fashion week describes this struggle.
“Fashion weeks are a moment of high communication for the industry, creating jobs and income for cities.”
This struggle to balance sustainability feels sometimes as if it's taking away from the brand's image to produce their own style. At the end of the day, these shows are about showing individuality for the brand, which is usually correlated to spending lots of money to produce this difference. Phoebe English, a British designer described this.
“It’s nice for each brand to take ownership of how they show their work, you don’t want to limit free expression but we have to grapple with the role of designers and the relevance of fashion shows now, especially as the climate crisis gets worse.”
A big factor in helping with sustainability measures have been fashion councils and accountability acts. New York has been the first where lawmakers are proposing the first New York's Fashion Sustainability and Social accountability Act, the Fashion Act. The Act would reference global apparel and footwear companies, from high end to lower end fast fashion brands. The Act will force brands to be held accountable for their stability measures and would be widespread. This avoids certain brands taking advantage of not being sustainable, if it is wide spread to all brands. For Copenhagen Fashion week there was an Action Plan created to make brands required to participate in 19 sustainability criteria for the upcoming 2023 year. The requirements stem from design, materiality, and show production. Changes like these are slowly going to push and change the industry because without certain rules, brands will not listen and continue in their old fashioned ways.
Ive always questioned fashion weeks. Where do the clothes go after the show? Are people really going to wear these on a daily basis (as most of the pieces seem more like art than wearable clothing)? Etc. I love your take on it and I look forward to sustainable fashion shows that are to come.
I think the part of fashion that people want to share or "show off" what they are wearing makes fashion capable of being extremely wasteful, and just like in runway shows, one way to see this is through social media. Social media has definitely contributed to mass consumption. Trends are always changing, and companies perpetually strive to market their products to a wider audience of people. It has created this idea that fashion isn't about personal style, it's about wearing what everyone else is, which is extremely wasteful.
That is really interesting; you bring up a great point about how sustainability in fashion goes far beyond just textiles being wasted. While that is a huge issue in itself, I see how the issue is probably a lot larger. What comes to mind for me is PR packages that get sent to social media influencers--they get so much stuff and most of it definitely gets wasted. If higher-end fashion were to take a stand on sustainability they could make a huge impact and many would follow.
The concept of sustainable fashion inspires new regulations in the industry. The regulations can be harsh considering the quality depicted in fashion weeks, but they are necessary. The sustainable fashion concept will reduce the wasting of energy and foods and can ensure that the brands do not take advantage of not being sustainable.
You bring up a great point about how it is not just the direct-to-consumer fashion industry or fast fashion industry that is contributing to the sustainability crisis in the fashion industry. It is definitely difficult to get the entire industry on the same page as many will likely value the production of each show over the sustainability of the event. Hopefully, the industry can come to a compromise on this issue in the near future!