greenwashing

Community: understanding the true meaning

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Valuable insight from Simon Sinek

Now everything revolves around the concept of community. But can you understand the true meaning of it? Simon Sinek had the perfect response.

“A community is
a group of people
who agree to grow together.”
Simon Sinek

Community & growth

According to Simon Sinek, the purpose of a community is not just about having something in common, sharing a culture, heritage or a specific interest. It’s deeper than that. In fact, there’s an element of growth which comes from a journey you enrol in with a group of people. Specifically, growth is the product of a reciprocal process of shared interactions.

Community: making a change together

Fashion to celebrate the value of research and to tell the story of our times: this is a mission we share with people who want to make a change. And it’s a growth process, indeed. Because through our activity, we do more than just fashion. We use our blog and connections to discuss fashion and lifestyle as key to analysing society and promoting climate change awareness. And sustainability against greenwashing.

We started by ordering small productions of international brands and independent designers. An exclusive selection of timeless fashion and meaningful garments without gender barriers. While we are studying how to implement a practice of circular fashion, we shed light on what we consume and how we throw away, bringing about critical discussions.

What we learned

Our planet is an open-air landfill, and we must stop expecting our litter to disappear magically. Furthermore, we cannot move from capitalism to green capitalism just to keep consuming as we did before. We need something different to fight the climate emergency.

Buy less (far less), buy better is how we lead to thoughtful consumption.

Telling stories about fashion, lifestyle and climate change, inspiring and being inspired, we have a positive impact on each other. As a tiny community, we try to change for the better. And so we grow together, open to possibilities.

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Corporate change & sustainability: this is greenwashing!

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The era of branded change: how corporations deceive people

We are facing a new wind called corporate change: an intersection of sustainability and change. Specifically, corporations do it by advertising, sponsoring, hosting panels, summits, and so on. Which, in other words, sounds like branded change. 
Either sustainability needed marketing to reach a wider audience. Or, we can clearly say this is greenwashing! Smoke in the eye to make money.

The conversations on sustainability encounter the favour of corporations. Indeed, the more the discussions multiply, the more they need to get involved. Fingers in the pie! But since our planet has reached the point of no return, the narrative turns out as dangerous. And even if facades are beautiful, questions should arise.

Every day a new greenwashing candy!

Eco-conscious movements sponsored by big conglomerates.
Corporations like Coca Cola sponsoring COP27. 
Fashion Group Inditex (Zara) partnering with WWF. 

It sounds weird. Don’t you think so?

And what about the fresh new one: UAE names oil chief to lead COP28 talks! Yes, an oil boss will lead the climate summit! 

Does it make any sense? Can we trust them? 

They make millions exploiting the planet, but they promote a conference to address climate change. It seems like one single institution sells the poison and the cure. All at the same time! 
There’s a name to call these practices, a definition understood internationally: conflict of interest. Perhaps corporations or top managers aren’t familiar with it!

How can we trust those who created the environmental destruction we ended up in? And still, they make money out of it! In order to prioritise profit and growth, corporations have taken deliberate decisions ignoring the side effects on the planet and on the people. 

Now they can even lead summits on the climate emergency, but they aren’t the ones who will ever bring effective solutions. 

Corporate change? This is greenwashing!

However, you might think what counts is spreading the conversation on sustainability, no matter who puts the money in to support it. Well, no! Those who say that have other purposes than change.  

We quote cobsinsights.com – “Can we trust corporate sustainability reporting?”:

“corporate or business sustainability is simply NOT planetary sustainability.”

And so, firms can invent stories to make the narrative engaging, but that doesn’t mean those stories are real. There’s a gap between talks and practice. All these people can do is keep an outdated system going.

Eventually, we can easily explain, in a few words, this new wind of corporate change & sustainability: this is greenwashing!

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2022: a year in fashion

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Looking back at 2022, it seems that this year in fashion went by without any tangible sign of change. Indeed, retracing the events and analysing how brands run their businesses, everyone went happily back to normal.

Fashion advertising

Advertising released catchy stories creating a bubble which depicted a universe disconnected from reality. Over the 80s and 90s, the context promoted superstars, but now the ostentation is pointless and not appealing.
As regards marketing, forget sustainability, it’s all about greenwashing.

2022 in fashion design

From a design viewpoint, less but better was supposed to be the guiding principle to help the industry move forward. A clean and more focused fresh restart after the pandemic. But it seems that message has not been taken seriously by fashion brands. Perhaps it was something nice to say during a tiring moment, a way to move with the flow. Indeed, we witnessed a setback during the last fashion shows.

Furthermore, now that celebrations and parties are back, sequins and cheap fabrics are everywhere, again. Just looking at the pictures on social media or advertising on tv, the poor quality of the materials is the first thing you notice!

There’s no escape! The imperative of cheap clothing, accessible products that give the illusion of richness, is still very strong.

Fashion industry in 2022

Likewise, fashion companies have set up no measures to reduce the impact on the environment. Also, considering working conditions, we are far from giving workers decent wages.

From luxury brands to fast fashion, the rules are almost the same. And the difference between one or the other segment is just a matter of spending power. By the way, fashion is in the hands of finance, big groups pursuing perpetual growth. Therefore, overproduction which in turn fosters overconsumption. And, this toxic practice is always at the heart of the fashion business.
The industry is immersed in a consumerist culture exploiting people and the planet without no understanding of the scale of destruction it carries around. And no will to change.

2022, has been another tough year in fashion.
Throughout the year, we wrote a lot about the need for a different way of operating the fashion business, but perhaps it was naive to expect it for real.

However, we’ll keep working in fashion, searching for quality, good design and uniqueness. Only what really counts, and in limited quantities.

#formodernhumans

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Sustainable Christmas, the news says!

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Festive season greenwashing is on

While people hunt for cheap gifts, TV is awash with stories about sustainable Christmas. And the narrative is getting awkward.

You must have heard the news describing millions of led lights that decorate towns or giant Christmas trees. Recyclable but enormous. Of course, in the spirit of a sustainable Christmas.

Millions. Giant. Any doubts? Are you ok with this version of the story?

Sustainable Christmas?

“Millions” and “sustainable” in the same sentence don’t make sense. But also, giant and sustainable sounds weird. However, in the middle of an energy crisis, with people invited to save electricity consumption, we expected something different than lights everywhere!
Even the idea: “Look, we change decorations every year, but we are sustainable!” is meaningless.

Greenwashing news is the practice of reporting nonsense to manipulate people. In the end, they talk about trillions of eco-friendly decorations to promote overconsumption and disposable gifts.

Overconsumption and cheap gifts

As the Christmas season approaches, disposable product supply grows enormously. Indeed, people want more, and retailers satisfy the request, triggering a vicious cycle that leaves no hope. During the festive season, all the resolutions about mindful consumption disappear.

Christmas is about finding cheap gifts, little presents that will end up soon in the trash bin. Unfortunately, our waste will not disappear.

Low-impact Christmas

This Christmas, purchase your gifts with a purpose: buy only items that will not end up in the landfill. Check materials: are they made to last? Don’t go for fast fashion or disposable items, but choose quality. For instance, a book is always a great gift.

Also, limit the packaging. Since metallic paper isn’t recyclable, use magazines, brown paper or newspapers to make your creative wrappings. And reuse your Christmas decorations, no one will be offended! Most importantly, don’t waste food.

Sustainable Christmas does not exist unless we are ready to change our habits completely. Choose meaningful gifts and inspire the others around you to see things differently.

Change the narrative and your actions to make Christmas sustainable for real!

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The Sustainability Basics

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Sustainability or greenwashing? Download the checklist to know more!

Sustainability is a vague concept, overused and confusing. When we are lucky, it’s an inspirational reference. But, in general, more than an effective change of paradigm that brands implement in their policy, it is a buzzword hiding a misleading intent. In other words, it’s greenwashing.

You happen to read about sustainable fashion, sustainable brands, and eco-conscious clothing and accessories. Indeed, sustainable labelled products are a good business. But brands label their products by claiming something that goes under zero control.

So, is there a lack of ethics? Or a lack of common sense? The discussion is open. And the business too.

Sustainability basics & how to promote a conscious shift

We understand that it is very difficult to say which garment or brand is sustainable and which is not. And it’s tricky even for those who work in the fashion industry. Imagine for a consumer!

So we thought of providing a list to help you develop critical behaviour towards your fashion purchases. Some points to help you become aware of the fashion industry’s practice and make better choices.

We made this checklist for you, and it’s free.

Download “The Sustainability Basics” list

The sustainability basics
the-sustainability-basics-suite123Download

We encourage you to download “The Sustainability Basics”, read and share it with your friends. Also, start conversations. Most importantly, don’t wait for brands to become sustainable. Educating yourself to become a conscious consumer is what you can actively do to enhance your lifestyle and change for the better.

Less stuff, more meaning is the evolved ethos #formodernhumans

By the way, we just opened the comments section on this blog. So we invite you to hit the “leave a comment” button and let us know your viewpoint. Only registered accounts can leave a comment.

Small communities can make change possible!

One last note: thank you, Leyla Jackson for your collaboration on this project!

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