fashion marketing

Dear Sustainable Brands: Are You Consistent?

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Sustainable brands VS consistency


Dear sustainable brands, let’s make a point on consistency.

Consistency is fundamental for building trust, so it should be for sustainable brands. Also because they cover themselves with an ethical patina that makes them appear better than the others. But, on the contrary, it seems that these new ethical brands have a problem with it.

Their purpose is to make a change. But if so, it’s not clear why they still follow outdated systems. Or they try to reach success by partnering with channels that have nothing to do with sustainability.

The point on consistency

Sustainable brands must be consistent with their message.
Do you agree? So, the question is: do they want to make a change for real?
If that is their goal, why do they sell their low-impact ethically-made garments through retailers that collect almost every designer on planet earth?

Isn’t it a matter of consistency?
These retailers sell huge quantities of clothing and accessories. Therefore, their business isn’t sustainable. Even if they proudly show a sustainable section, as most of them do. Which makes you understand the power of marketing and the trick behind sustainability.

If consistency was a fundamental value for them, they would find other ways to sell their products. But they all dream of being sold by the same old big groups. And so, they want to change, but not really.

Sustainability is a promise no one can keep, but still, everyone wants to sell. Ethical marketing, if not supported by proper choices and actions, is just smoke in the eyes. In other words, it is greenwashing.

Dear sustainable brands, you cannot change the world by playing the old game. Forget the status quo if you want to change for real. If you are seriously committed, you need to craft a new strategy. You’ll change the world with new patterns, new rules, and a new language.

So, if you want to be trusted, change the system, not only your marketing!

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Haute Couture, The Diversity and Inclusion Debate

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Is Haute Couture evolving to embrace all voices?


Between tradition and modernity, the latest haute couture shows have sparked a debate on diversity and inclusion.

Haute couture shows were back with physical events, and the chit-chat was all about stars and starlets attending this or that one. Well, not just being present, but also walking down the catwalk.

Therefore, the lens pointed to celebrities and not to design or style. Perhaps it is a successful strategy in terms of sales but has no significance for us. Instead of making the show more appealing, it makes us lose interest. Though it demonstrates that you can be rich and famous, it doesn’t mean you have style.

Haute couture and modernity


According to Business of Fashion, diversity and inclusion were missed in Paris. Also, “couture codes are out of sync with the times.” “Big hats, corsets, and taffeta represent a snap back to the old days” – so they say. “The only house that featured progress was Balenciaga.”

Finding Balenciaga’s vision both unsettling and nonsensical, we choose to leave modernism to the authority of its so-called experts. While the world is already distressing enough, this very reality makes it all the more meaningful to work toward something more positive.

Haute couture: art made by skilled hands

Haute couture is about beauty, top quality and perfection in execution–art made by skilled hands. Indeed the show that mastered this concept at its best was Valentino on the steps of Piazza di Spagna in Rome. “The beginning” – back to where everything started for the brand. With his stunning designs and marvellous silhouettes, Pierpaolo Piccioli’s show was an ode to beauty, colours and mastery. Furthermore, his focus on diversity and inclusion is a political message: people coming together for a better future.

We adored the maxi gowns with flat shoes or kitten heels. However, experimenting with the future while acknowledging the past is where a truly contemporary vision resides.

Haute couture, diversity and inclusion


Of course, diversity and inclusion are valuable elements, but haute couture can not be inclusive. Though we may sound boring in repeating this concept, haute couture will not be less elitist because they include plus sizes or different races in the show.

Haute couture is elitist by definition. The price makes it not accessible.

The truth is that you buy haute couture only if you can afford it, if you have a lot of money. Really a lot. Not because you feel represented.

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The Truth About Sustainability

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Green terms: no rules, just fluff!


Labelling products as sustainable is mainly a marketing trick, so let’s uncover the truth about sustainability. Although people believe that products marketed as sustainable are effectively so, the reality is much different. And when renowned experts in the field point it out clearly, we really appreciate it.

The Portas Pov is one of our favourite newsletters. The last one released was about sustainability and how tricky the topic is.
We quote it:

“But the reality is that, right here and now, there are no rules: no governance defining all those fluffy green terms. No legislation keeping businesses in check. So, all these words and phrases that the fashion world is co-opting with such success – sustainable, natural, “made from ocean plastics” – are, in large part, meaningless.”

The truth: sustainability or greenwashing?


So is it sustainability or greenwashing? A transparent message or a trick to sell more?

Indeed, there is no interruption with our previous post about a very timely and provocative show: “The end of the world.”

In fact, the story continues right on the same line where two main factors strive: first, the lack of responsibility. Whatever we do, we do not hold ourselves accountable. Like we could go on wasting, polluting, discarding, and then maybe move to another planet. Or, we just do not care about leaving an open-air landfill to our children. Enjoy life and leave them the troubles!
Second, our industrial society or an economic system known as capitalism. This, in other words, means constant growth based on unstoppable productions and rabid comption habits.

One factor is ingrained into the other: an eternal lack of responsibility coexists with a capitalistic society. And one supports the other.

Whatever the political side, governments will hardly have the capability to do something because those who move the pawns are the ones who own the money. They stay behind but will never change because they have no interest in doing it.

How to escape meaningless claims


Labelling products as sustainable will not change things. Indeed, these are just meaningless claims. If we want to be 100% sustainable, the truth is we should not produce a single new thing! Which is impossible.

Therefore, the best possibility is to change ourselves, our behaviour, our perspectives, and our lifestyle. Sticking to our values and our accountability is where our power resides.

Don’t buy into everything!

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Earth Day?

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Mass marketing, hashtags and behaviour


On April 22, while everyone proudly shared the hashtag Earth Day, the news said that in Europe, six million tons of garments end up in landfills every year. Yes, it’s not a good moment to read newspapers because whatever the field, humans are not shining for responsible behaviour.

Even if we feel very sad about that news, we are not surprised. Indeed one of our latest posts was about the lack of coherence in our society. And scrolling through our blog, you’ll find many other posts on this topic. On the one hand, people claim to care about sustainability, yet on the other, they buy fast fashion or any other cheap product. The habit is ‘consume and throw away’ quickly.

In general, sustainability sells, and if it’s greenwashing, it sells even more!

Earth Day & the culture of waste


This matter has to do with the ‘buy and toss’ culture launched, promoted and pushed by corporations. They did it intentionally by using persuasion and with the help of marketing. Yes, marketing can do magic! Furthermore, knowing they could count not only on the weakness of individuals but also on people who don’t read and don’t think at all.

This is the modern way of purchasing clothing which is also done via Instagram or TikTok. The cheapest ones are the most successful. “It’s cheap, I buy it, I’ll wear it once and throw it away!”
What if they will not wear it? They won’t feel guilty getting rid of it because it’s cheap. In fact, there are garments still with the price tag in landfills!

That is toxic behaviour that speakes volumes about the decadence of European culture. Our parents and grandparents used to buy a few quality clothes that lasted a lifetime, got repaired and passed on to the other family members. Now, people buy very cheap products made to auto destroy in the shortest time possible. And which, unfortunately, don’t disappear but instead compromise our environment.

If we do not refocus our culture, if we are not open to change, and put some effort into shifting our consumption habits, it’s better to avoid the hashtag to celebrate Earth Day.

Hashtags work for marketing but will not save the earth. Our actions will.

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The New Categorising

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A human need, or an empty extremisation?


The new trend of categorising—or the need to assign labels that define where specific groups should fit—is growing rapidly. Terms like genderless, sustainable, recycled, upcycled, and inclusive are some of the most popular labels in fashion today. Yet, while we see these pretty, or not really so, boxes clearly labelled, they often feel too artificial, fake.

Categorising: a marketing byproduct


Why are brands so obsessed with labelling their work? And, in parallel, why do people need these labels? To identify themselves? or to be represented?

Jean-Paul Gaultier created the majority of the fashion topics that are trending now. Yet, during the ’80s and ’90s, there were no labels to claim in the fashion world. It was, instead, a celebration of freedom—both from the designer’s perspective and for those who wore his creations.
Fast forward to 2022, and the obsession with labelling has exploded. Genderless and sustainable are among the most popular, with nearly every brand now claiming to be genderless. Similarly, terms like recycled and upcycled have surged to the forefront. Clearly, it’s a trend.

Coming from a family of seamstresses, disassembling a pair of trousers to make a skirt or transforming a shirt into a blouse was part of our daily routine—essentially, the essence of upcycling and recycling. Moreover, in our boutique, we always offered men’s items to women and women’s items to men, but we never felt the need to categorise them. This, in many ways, embodies the true spirit of genderless fashion, inclusion, and diversity.

Even though about five years ago, we started focusing more on genderless or recycled as valuable concepts, now brands overuse them. Indeed these leabel became so mainstream that they are abused or intentionally misleading, as in the case of sustainability.

We are not happy to be classified. So we wonder, what happened recently? What does the new categorising mean?

We believe that the less meaning we find in brands and their products, the more they rely on labels to make their offerings easier to market.

The supply far exceeds the number of people in the world who can actually purchase these products—the demand. To reach the masses, brands have lowered the bar. And the more they lower the bar, the less value they offer. This is where the need for aggressive marketing and labelling comes into play.

In conclusion, labelling is an attempt to legitimise and promote an otherwise hollow system. Rather than focusing on what truly matters—the substance—they rely on labels to create a facade of value.

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