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Five Essential Questions for Navigating the Fashion Industry with Integrity

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A journey through false promises, fleeting trends, and mental health


Today, we share five essential questions that serve as a compass for navigating the complexities of the fashion industry. 

As we confront the ever-evolving landscape of the fashion industry, we recognize the need for a guiding light amidst its complexities. Indeed, these questions not only serve as a compass but also as a shield against the misleading currents of mainstream trends and shallow promises.  

Fashion industry: five essential questions

  1. How can we cultivate trust in an industry built on smoke and mirrors?
  2. Can you thrive in the fashion industry without aligning with mainstream top brands?
  3. How to do it without being part of the (100% fake) sustainability facade? 
  4. Is there a community that values good design and rejects pointless consumption?
  5. Is there a way to maintain mental clarity and well-being while navigating the contemporary fashion landscape?

While we navigate the fashion industry’s labyrinth of misleading messages and surface-level promises, one truth emerges: trust is hard to come by. In fact, it’s a challenge to decipher genuine intentions from mere marketing tactics, and even harder to find like-minded individuals who see beyond the allure of a logo. More in detail, the pervasive influence and control exerted by widely accepted or popular trends, styles, or ideologies within the fashion industry totally overshadow alternative or less conventional approaches.

These five essential questions serve as beacons of introspection and guidance as we seek to forge a path in the fashion industry. Specifically, a journey that honours our values and preserves our mental health amidst the noise of false promises, fleeting trends and mainstream dominance.

However, in the end, it’s not just about us. It’s an extended conversation we would like to pass on to you because exchanging ideas is vital. Would you share your perspective?

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Why Fashion Fails to Embrace Body Shape Balance

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Analysing the link between fashion, body image and inclusivity


While advertising featuring young women with ultra-curvy silhouettes is mushrooming, revealing a seeming shift towards inclusivity, it prompts us to question why fashion fails to embrace body shape balance. 

Delving into the historical narrative of the fashion industry since the 70s, ultra-slim female body shapes have been deeply entrenched. But lately, the discussion on inclusion and diversity prompted the fashion industry to widen the representation of different body shapes. Despite recent conversations surrounding inclusion and diversity, exemplified by plus-sized models, this transition remains fraught with contradictions.

Fashion and body shape: inclusivity or marketing?


For a while, plus-size women seemed to be everywhere. Despite the disappearance of plus-size models from fashion shows, many TV advertisements now prioritise promoting what they perceive as an inclusive body image.

Therefore, the question arises: are these representations truly promoting a healthy body image?
In the past, skinny silhouettes have been criticised for fostering unrealistic ideals, often leading to harmful behaviours like anorexia. But the opposite extreme is no less concerning. By featuring heavily overweight body shapes, especially to impressionable young girls, both the fashion and beauty industries may inadvertently convey the message that it’s acceptable to be significantly overweight. From a health perspective, this is far from the truth.

For the fashion industry, as well as the beauty industry, it boils down to following trends. So, they shift from one trend to another, expressing themselves through misleading marketing messages. In fact, their sole purpose is selling more clothes, shoes or beauty products, uncaring of the damage they can bring to women.

Body positivity and well-being


In conclusion, the fashion industry swings between extremes, from thin silhouettes to plus-size models, but still fails to embrace body shape balance. Indeed, it overlooks the importance of promoting a healthy body image, which is essential for overall well-being.

Furthermore, it is unsettling to observe that women are always the primary focus of marketing. And it’s concerning that we often don’t know how to respond. In the name of (fake) freedom, we become victims of the latest gimmick.

Of course, being unique involves accepting our imperfections; let’s embrace body positivity. But this acceptance should not come at the expense of our health. Balance is the key.

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Shiny Objects Syndrome: Unveiling Psychology Behind Consumer Behaviour

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Exploring the paradox: why people forget reality and support exploitation in fashion


Shiny Object Syndrome is the psychological idea where a person moves from one subject or object to the next, creating a constant distraction and a constant need for something new and exciting. This syndrome is present in the fashion industry with fashion trends, technology, news, social media, etc. 

Shiny Object Syndrome: encouraging overproduction from brands


In terms of the fashion industry, the control of Shiny Object Syndrome over society is what encourages fashion corporations to overproduce and contribute towards the abundance of textile waste and exploitation of labour. But our need for something shiny and new is costing the planet purchase by purchase. 

Unbreakable reputations despite concerning news
In April 2024, the Italian police exposed Giorgio Armani operations for using Chinese workers under an unauthorized subcontractor to make handbags and accessories. These workers were subject to unsafe working conditions and exploitation. Armani can also be traced to major water pollution scandals in China. Despite these concerning allegations, Armani maintains their reputation of being the pride of Italy and a loved brand worldwide. This contradiction is evident in other brands as well. 

The result: a vicious cycle
News and trends circulate so much that we forget the significance of events. Thus, when Armani releases their new collection we are too fascinated by the new fabrics, styles, and costs to remember how exactly these novelties were made. Thus, the Shiny Object Syndrome. Ultimately, we are showing brands that they can exploit human rights and the planet and get away with it. This must stop. 

Stopping the shiny object syndrome


Shiny Object Syndrome can reflect in many aspects of our life from relationships to our purchasing habits. If we are always searching for the next exciting thing, we will never be satisfied with what we have. 

To avoid shiny object syndrome you can:

1. Set achievable short-term goals
Setting short-term goals can divert our focus towards positivity and improvement during the week and help us work towards a greater goal. Personal motivation is key.

2. Focus on experience rather than substance and find meaning in smaller things
Spend money on experiences like dinner with friends and plan these experiences for something to look forward to. Also, find meaning in smaller things by reviewing your day and asking yourself what made you smile and how you can make someone smile tomorrow. 
When you do buy, buy thoughtfully. Invest in items where you can read about the story of the designer and feel the craftsmanship. Items that are unique to you and not just a trend.

3. Practice Gratitude
Gratitude always. Gratitude can be as simple as being grateful for a sunny day or the flowers blooming. Once we see what we appreciate, we can appreciate even more and accept a beautiful life.

Gratitude turns what you have into abundance.
Gratitude is so much more than saying thank you.
Gratitude changes your perspective of your world.

What really matters


In conclusion, brands are constantly feeding off our bad habits, not only exploiting their workers but they’re also exploiting their customers. Shiny Object Syndrome increases the profit of brands while decreasing your overall well-being and satisfaction with life. It is better for your health and for our social and economic environments to disengage from Shiny Object Syndrome and focus on what really matters to you.

✍ Credit: Post written by Joelle Elliott, an American scholar pursuing studies in Fashion at Cattolica University in Milan; currently interning with suite123.

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Reaffirming the Cultural Narrative of Fashion

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Exploring the threads of identity, style, and societal evolution


Reaffirming the cultural narrative of fashion helps in understanding its true essence and value, which goes way beyond the social media-generated fluff. In fact, that is not the style we like.

Fashion is culture, the culture of our times.
In other words, fashion serves as a reflection of culture – contemporary culture or any given one – offering insights into societal norms, values, and behaviours. From the style people wear, we can perceive women’s freedom or to what degree patriarchy rules. 

Identity, style, and societal evolution: the cultural narrative beyond fashion


The way we dress speaks volumes about us. From the brands we buy – which, by doing so, we endorse, championing their values; to our consumption habits and preferences. It encompasses our quest for specific fabrics, our discernment of quality and materials. And even extends to the lifespan of our purchases; the amount of waste we discard;  our regard for both the labour of others and the well-being of our planet. So, through the style people wear, it is possible to read their identities and values. 

The work of a designer, creating and putting out more stuff in our contemporary context, is particularly challenging. Their task is not talking sustainability but creating an exceptional design, beautiful pieces made to last and worth buying. Good design #formodernhumans intrinsically means for brands to make garments in respect of people and the planet. Less noise, more facts. And the proof of their intentions is that they are willing to make clothes in small batches. Quality, not quantity.

Reaffirming the cultural narrative of fashion aims to highlight that fashion is not merely about clothing but also about the deeper cultural currents shaping our world. 

All these details and information can tell us who we are and where we are heading as a society.
Fashion is culture, the culture of our times.

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Workers’ Rights in the Fashion Industry

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A reflection on the International Workers’ Day


As today we commemorate International Workers’ Day once again, it prompts us to pause and reflect on the state of workers’ rights within the fashion industry. International Workers’ Day is synonymous with Labour Day, annual holidays to celebrate the achievements of workers.

Some facts about workers’ rights in the fashion industry:


1. “Luxury brands show poor efforts to reduce forced labour.” (source KnowTheChain). Specifically, KnowTheChain evaluated fashion companies’ adherence to International Labour Organization standards in their supply chain, establishment of internal responsibilities to address forced labour risks, support for worker empowerment, and implementation of programs to address forced labour allegations. So, companies received scores ranging from zero to 100, with the average fashion company scoring 21. Luxury companies rank second lowest in average score among all sub-sectors, making them particularly flagrant offenders.
In short, among the luxury companies assessed:
LVMH: 6 out of 100
Prada: 9 out of 100
Kering: 23 out of 100
Only seven out of 20 disclosed the complete first tier of their suppliers, including names and addresses.

2. Alviero Martini: under investigation for starving wages.

3. Giorgio Armani Operations: put into receivership for labour exploitation.  Workers in Chinese-run workshops paid 2-3 euros/hour, judges say. Probe finds migrant workers eating, and sleeping in factories.

4. Zara and H&M‘s cotton suppliers: involved in land grabbing, illegal deforestation and human rights violations (source Earthsight). Also, this revelation is particularly alarming as it implicates Better Cotton, a certified sustainable cotton label.

5. Low wages made Bangladesh the second largest clothing exporter after China, developing a huge industry for the country. There are about four million garment workers, mostly women, whose wages are the lowest in the world. In addition, the inflation and the devaluation of the taka against the US dollar (30% from the beginning of 2023) created unsustainable conditions for workers. Specifically, garment workers in Bangladesh make clothes for large groups such as H&M, Zara, Gap, Levi’s, Next, Asos, and New Look.

6. After the Jaba Garmindo factory bankruptcy in Indonesia, 2,000 Indonesian garment workers have fought for the $5.5 million legally owed in severance pay since 2015. The workers made clothes for Uniqlo and German fashion brand s.Oliver, among others. (source cleanclothes.org)

7. China is the biggest exporter of ready-made clothes, monopolising nearly 40% of the global garment industry. Driving China’s $187 billion garment trade are over 10 million garment workers. People who toil under oppressive and exploitative working conditions, mostly for high street brands. …While foreign brands’ business is booming, China bans the fundamental human right of workers to form and join independent trade unions. Driving a race to the bottom on wages and working conditions, brands expect low production prices and a compliant workforce and governments allow this along with factory owners out of fear of losing foreign business. Exploiting this arrangement is the Asian retail giant, UNIQLO. (source waronwant.org).

Conclusion: what about consumers’ role?


While we commemorate International Workers’ Day, we’re compelled to confront a shameful truth about workers’ rights in the fashion industry. In fact, workers are often regarded as nothing more than commodities that brands can exploit for their own profit. 

The absence of moral fabric within the industry is evident, as is the disregard shown by consumers who choose to ignore this issue despite the wealth of available information.

But why do people ignore human rights and still support these brands through their consumption choices?

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