sustainability

Sustainability is ridiculous

7 June, 2023 / Leave a Comment

Why playing this shell game should be banned


Sustainability is ridiculous. Not because the concept per se is stupid or does not make sense. But because it is too broad, too vague, and, therefore, deceptive. 

Sustainable fashion? This is greenwashing

Sometimes for ignorance or superficiality, yet in most cases, with intentionality, as those who play the sustainable game are perfectly aware of what they do. But, in the end, sustainability is just a new way to make money by showing a green facade. The industry, which goes from consultancy to fashion brand retail to NGOs, is flourishing. As a matter of fact, industry players spend time on “eco – green – conscious” labels, but it seems they are playing a shell game. The purpose is to hide and manipulate truths. 

In most cases, the effort is all about running after the latest eco-friendly label. But is it enough to achieve sustainability? It is the case of Chloé, for instance. Richemont hired Gabriela Hearst for her eco credentials, and now, three years later, the designer is exiting the company. Though they say revenue increased by 60%, their design is far away from the beauty of the past. 

Why sustainability is ridiculous

However, we have some doubts about the strategy Chloé has promoted so far. How can a luxury brand based on seasonal trends manage its business without damaging the planet? We wonder how fashion brands that shift to a purpose-driven business can be credible if they still run their activity on an overproduction pattern. Also, they attain the status of B-Corp. Most importantly, we wonder how B-Corp certification can combine with overproduction.
That seems contradictory. In fact, in this context, sustainability is ridiculous.

Specifically, we wonder if a drastic reduction of supply by offering only beautiful design garments made with “sustainable materials” and respecting the production chain would be an effective strategy.

But, of course, we understand that manipulating reality with the effect of fueling overconsumption is the most effective way to make money. So keep up promoting a green world!

Earth Day 2023

24 April, 2023 / Leave a Comment

Do we really care about the earth?

Saturday, April 22, we celebrated Earth Day 2023. Even though it may seem absurd, some brands used this day to release promotions to sell more products! Maybe the purpose of this day is not clear. Or people just don’t care.

Why do we celebrate Earth Day?

Earth Day was established in 1969 when US Senator Gaylord Nelson witnessed a natural disaster caused by the explosion of an oil well next to Santa Barbara, California.

What is the purpose?

For those involved in achieving a sustainable lifestyle, which goes beyond the empty slogan bombarding us at any one time, Earth Day doesn’t mean a celebration. In fact, there is nothing to celebrate! What’s the point of celebrating? The destruction humans bring? Or maybe give it a pause for one day? Surely not!

The purpose is to raise public awareness. Therefore, making people understand we only have one planet, and we must preserve it. Protect it. We need to give mother earth time to heal herself from the mess we massively put out on a daily basis. So the tons of waste which is the byproduct of our economic system. Of our lifestyle! The byproduct of progress: something we cannot renounce.

But if we follow people who promote sustainable growth, green growth, sustainable fashion, and sustainable tourism, we go nowhere. Indeed, as Herman E. Daly said:

We expected any day to hear about “sustainable sustainability.”

Herman E. Daly

Earth Day 2023 & marketing

We received newsletters offering promotions: shop now, and get your discount to celebrate Earth Day! Really, this is it? Another chance for promoting products? For marketing? Is selling more an effective strategy for fighting global warming? Is it the strategy to protect our planet?

Let’s be serious. It’s just marketing to sell more! There’s no such thing as sustainable growth. Likewise, there’s no such thing as sustainable fashion or sustainable tourism without a dramatic reduction in consumption!

“What is needed in the first instance are reduced levels of consumption, not just changed patterns.”

Herman E. Daly

In the end, brands can play with marketing to celebrate the Earth Day 2023. Tourism, fashion, and any other industry can make their sustainable bubbles. But we won’t solve any problem unless we are not committed – every day – to save the planet by reducing our consumption.

The language of design

19 April, 2023 / Leave a Comment

Milano Design Week 23: between fashion and design

Milano Design Week offers the opportunity to reflect on the language of design, though we hope it won’t be another chance to spread more sustainability fluff. By the way, Milano seems to be involved in design more than fashion. In fact, the town is full of events, and the atmosphere is lively and engaging.

Design: clothing & objects

Clothes and objects we use daily make up a language – the language of design. Therefore, fashion reflects contemporary culture and tells our story. In other words, fashion is culture. And so is design, of course.
But while design kept a high-level positioning, fashion has lost its allure. From top brands to fast fashion, the industry identifies with a disposable culture or transient trends that lead to compulsive consumption. Now, the image of fashion is cheap, and the industry itself has undermined it. So, the mixture with design adds that patina of class, enhancing fashion portrayal.

However, the modern language of design is all about sustainability. But, we hear catchphrases which are empty claims. Their goal is marketing, selling more. And since the topic is popular, many people jump on the bandwagon in order to have the possibility to reach a wider audience.

Back to the core: the language of design

Now back to the core: the language of design.
What matters to us? Good design with an ethical approach. Certainly, people should be active thinkers and not just consumers. But designers must do their job. Creating original pieces, artisanal rather than standardised mass products. Good design means caring about the materials, workings, production chain, and people – understanding the impact on the planet. It means caring about the whole creative and productive process.

Sustainable design, recycling, and upcycling – as part of a circular economy, are designer’s work. So, do that!

In the end, the dialogue between fashion and design implies shared values. But the outcome of this reciprocal contamination must bring a tangible change, not empty slogans. The planet needs action!

EU Commission: a plan against greenwashing

12 April, 2023

Can non-mandatory rules fight greenwashing?

On March 22nd, the EU Commission released a plan against greenwashing claims. But these new rules leave some leeway that will probably generate more confusion. 

Environmental claims aren’t reliable!

Over the last five years, we started digging deep into sustainable matters. And how tricky it is for people to understand which label is sustainable or not. That is because of greenwashing: the process of brands and companies deceiving consumers to believe they are green when they are not. Obviously, brands release fake green claims to sell more. Indeed, the sustainability business is flourishing! And perhaps, those who believe in fairy tales are happy with it!

The plan to fight greenwashing

These are the data:
53% of green claims are vague, misleading or unfounded information.
40% of claims have no supporting evidence.
1/2 Half of all green labels offer weak or non-existent verification.
There are 230 sustainability labels and 100 green energy labels in the EU, with vastly different levels of transparency.

Hence, the new criteria want to make green claims reliable across the EU, protecting consumers from greenwashing. Also, contribute to creating a circular economy based on reuse, repair, and recycling.

Expected impacts

“With certain consumers purchasing products that will be truly better for the environment, it is estimated that the impacts on the environment will be highly positive.”

Now the above statement may sound like greenwashing, too! In fact, the only “better for the environment” is a drastic reduction of new products and not more eco-products!

The controversial point

“However, it remains a decision of companies to include (or not) environmental claims in their voluntary commercial communications. This means that the companies can control their costs by determining the scope of the claim (if any) considering its expected return on investment. In short, the costs of substantiation are of a voluntary nature to companies as they are part of one’s marketing strategy and therefore credible estimations of the overall cost for the Union market are difficult.”

Therefore, rules aren’t mandatory for companies. Indeed, businesses have been given leeway on how to provide their evidence. Likewise, governments will be able to decline the guidelines when they transpose them into national legislation. 

In conclusion, without unified regulations, the EU plan to fight greenwashing won’t stop greenwashing!

Retail and sustainability

12 April, 2023

How Italian consumers view sustainability

Today, Fashion Network shared a survey released during the second edition of the “Retail & sustainability” event. A meeting arranged by Mind-Milano Innovation District.

This survey scans Italian consumers and their views towards sustainability.

The survey

According to it, Italian consumers are more conscious towards environmental issues. One out of three (32%) is more careful to waste. Also, 30% believe it is crucial to limit pollution sources. Most importantly, 58,6% think companies are important players, together with citizens and government, in order to reach UN 23 goals.

According to the people interviewed, they say there is a mismatch between the active role companies should have and what they are actually doing. Specifically, 57,8% of consumers think that fashion and clothing companies are “little or not at all committed to the issue.”

In other words, Italian consumers say brands are not doing enough for sustainability.

But on the other hand, sustainability doesn’t have a fundamental role in the purchasing decision. Indeed, 65,9% of the interviewees consider multiple factors or not at all these aspects (14,7%).

However, in general, the price of these products or services is deemed higher compared to less sustainable alternatives.

Our viewpoint retail and sustainability

We see two problems here:
As a matter of fact, brands and retailers are not doing enough. Because it is difficult, it is time-consuming. Most of all, they wouldn’t make money as they did so far. Why should they make this effort? Of course, business and consciousness do not play well in a capitalistic view!
But also, consumers still purchase a lot of fast fashion or poor-quality garments.

Why aren’t consumers consistent with their expectations?

As a retailer, apart from our niche customers, the only request we hear is: “how much is it?” Because people do not care about quality. No one cares about “buy less, buy better.” They only want “cheap and buy more!”
Furthermore, social media are complicit in the ongoing diffusion of misleading practices. For instance, many brands with hordes of followers sell shoes for 50€, passing them off as made in Italy! Or cheap clothing with a price tag too low to be sustainable with eco-friendly tags. Do we believe in fairy tales?

So, we really would love to hear from consumers, from you!
As consumers, Italian, European or wherever you come from – what do you expect from retailers? And you, on your side, what are you willing to do for sustainability?

Drop us an email or comment here below!

Is sustainable fashion elitist? BOF questions

12 April, 2023 / Leave a Comment

Misunderstanding sustainability or a manipulated behaviour

In a recent post, Business of Fashion raised the question: is sustainable fashion elitist?

Earlier, a fashion writer, Derek Guy, tweeted his thoughts about menswear, inviting his audience to “buy less, buy better”, considering quality pieces over fast fashion.
Well, we agree! But this post sparked controversy: many said sustainable fashion is elitist because most people cannot afford luxury clothes.

Surely we cannot deny that sustainable materials plus production chains that give proper wages to their workers cannot provide cheap products.

But let’s go through some points:

• cheap clothes and disposable fashion are not sustainable!
They offer an easy-to-connect narrative, but they aren’t sustainable. Not only do they damage the environment, but need an underpaid workforce to thrive.
• luxury doesn’t mean sustainable! Indeed, fast fashion and most “luxury” brands are two faces of the same coin. They both share an overproduction pattern based on people and planet exploitation.
• brands that call themselves sustainable but are distributed everywhere, so mass-produced, aren’t sustainable.

Download “The sustainability basics” here!

Education, not just money

Mindful consumption is one of the building blocks of a modern lifestyle, and it is a matter of education, which not necessarily rich people have! The conversation on sustainability is not about inducing low incomes to stop consumption but helping them develop better habits. On the contrary, high incomes must reduce their purchases drastically because their lifestyle’s impact is much higher.

Sustainability is not just about shopping. It’s a lifestyle choice in respect of nature, and people and workers’ rights. A necessity in the face of climate change!

It is tricky to say what is sustainable and what is not. So, the fashion industry can force brands to stick to specific regulations, making things clear to consumers. But, in the end, each individual must learn and become a conscious consumer. Nothing happens on one side only.

How can we explain this complex situation?

We live in a consumer society where everything revolves around consumption. People overconsume at the expense of other human beings and the planet as if it is the only reason for living. Of course, many cannot afford expensive items. But vintage represents a sustainable and circular option. Also, you can find up-cycled clothes in every price range.

So, is sustainable fashion elitist? And why people prefer to buy fast fashion? A quote by Upton Sinclair gives a perfect insight:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

Upton Sinclair

Community: understanding the true meaning

12 April, 2023 / Leave a Comment

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.

Davos Forum: permacrisis and private jets

11 April, 2023 / Leave a Comment

World leaders, the luxury bubble that rules the world

These days, the planetary elite is gathering in Davos. And try to guess how they reach the World Economic Forum? On a private jet, of course!

Davos Forum: what is it?

Davos is a town located in the Switzerland Alps where, in January, the World Economic Forum takes place. Started in 1971, WEF is a Switzerland non-profit that holds a five-day conference annually. The delegates include political leaders and representatives from international companies, pharmaceuticals, tech, banks and academics.

Every year the leaders tackle a different topic. This year’s theme is: “Cooperation in a fragmented world.”
Since Europe is facing a persistent state of hardship, going from crisis to crisis, we entered the era of “permacrisis.” And there seems to be no end to this challenging time. Other than economics, leaders will touch on environmental and social issues too.

Greenpeace & Davos

Greenpeace published an analysis conducted by the Dutch CE Delft checking the CO2 emissions from the private flights to the Davos Forum:

“The analysis shows a substantial increase in private jet flights to and from Davos airports and an even more sizable increase in CO2 emissions during the week of the World Economic Forum 2022, compared to an average week. The number of private jet flights doubles and private jet emissions quadruple during the week of the World Economic Forum compared to an average week.”

About every second flight is attributed to the meeting. But, the distance travelled is striking:
53% of all private jet flights were short-haul flights under 750 km. 38% were ultra short flights (below 500 km) that could have easily been train or car trips. More than 6% of all private jet flights flew less than 100 km. The shortest flight recorded was 21 km.

Read the full report here.

Clearly, these leaders live in a luxury bubble. In order to address economics, the climate emergency and social injustice, they fly on private jets and go to five-star hotels. Nevertheless, they suggest a radical change in technology and sustainability. In short, they indicate solutions while they exacerbate the problems. Absurd. Isn’t it?

Of course, the idea that leaders travel on private jets to address pollution, causing more CO2, could make us laugh. Unfortunately, the climate emergency is here to stay, and there’s nothing to laugh about.

Corporate change & sustainability: this is greenwashing!

11 April, 2023 / Leave a Comment

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!

Limited number of pieces: our fashion alternative

11 April, 2023 / Leave a Comment

Why limited quantities pave the way to sustainable fashion

The production of a limited number of pieces represents an alternative in the fashion industry. Indeed, it is a viable approach towards sustainable fashion.

It means producing much less without forcing the market to pursue never-ending growth. The purpose is to limit the impact of the fashion industry on the planet while protecting workers with decent wages. But, at the same time, offering quality and not quantity to consumers.
We are far from the scarcity principle and the fear of missing out, developed to manipulate people’s behaviour. Those patterns fake scarcity to hide a system of overproduction. Because of this massified production, the fashion system needs parallel markets, frequent markdowns and marketing tricks to push people to consume more and more.

The sustainable solution

Garments and accessories made by skilled tailors or crafted by artisans. In the hands of a healthier and more balanced manufacturing chain, those limited production would have a lower impact on the planet. This system includes small reorders and a made-to-order service for retailers. In the end, clients would get real quality pieces made to last rather than disposable fashion.

Unique fashion and sustainability: a limited number of pieces, our retail approach

We have reduced the quantities we buy from each brand we select. Perhaps they are not happy with it, but they cannot deny there’s a new reality, so we must face it and find solutions. Even though some brands come from Japan, which you may consider less sustainable, since quantities are small, the impact is low. Microscopic compared to the fashion supermarkets like big retailers or dept. stores.

Indeed, a limited number of pieces is our commitment to uniqueness and sustainability. Specifically, we are satisfied with Marc Le Bihan, who gave the opportunity of a made-to-order service to those who appreciate his unique designs.

Eventually, we can foster the status quo, pursuing an exploitative system. Or, we can explore alternatives.
We chose to work for a different possibility, an evolution, a change for the better. And a limited number of pieces is our commitment to unique fashion and sustainability.