Green Pages

Sustainable fashion: Is ‘being green’ the new black?

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Fashion by Rachel Ariel Photography

Fashion by Rachel Ariel Photography (Photo credit: rawphotowomen)

It’s easy to get carried away with an idea. To indulge in the prospect of something greater, more divine or guilt free. To want to change the world, eradicate poverty or save the environment. But how do we go about doing this? What makes one idea better than the other? Whose ‘expert’ opinion should we value? Which statistic do we follow? With the growth and expansion of the internet and in particular social media, it would appear that everyone has an opinion, an idea and now a voice (both beneficial and detrimental in my opinion) on what is right and wrong, what we should and shouldn’t do and how we should go about doing it. After reading several articles, posts and magazines both free and bought, lately, it would appear that sustainable fashion is the movement of the moment and hot on everyone’s lips! Or is it? After reading an article in The Green Pages , Benetton shows its true colours and commits to toxic free fashion by Greenpeace international, a wave of thoughts came crashing into my mind about fashion, sustainability, their connection to each other and whether this is the way of the future. Has sustainable fashion and ‘being green’ become the new black? In short no, or at least not yet.

Sustainable fashion is on the rise as growing evidence mounts for a greater need for toxic free fashion and sustainable long-term solutions to manufacturing and production methods within the textile industry. But as I read this article by Greenpeace about their Detox campaign, which I’ve gathered is their campaign to get as many fashion companies to commit to becoming toxic free as possible, which has so far included the benetton group, Zara, Mango, Esprit and Levi’s , I couldn’t help but wonder who are these people? I’m assuming we all know Greenpeace and what their about, but who are these activists and ‘consumers’ who are targeting high-end fashion houses almost exclusively to step up, bear the cost and become toxic free? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for saving the environment and think the more toxins we can eradicate the better, my personal experience in developing my own organic fashion label has shown me the excessive amount of chemicals and toxins used in the growing and production of fibres such as conventional cotton and its dangers and effects to both the environment and people, but are we justified in brutally targeting high-end fashion labels so regularly, when in my understanding, the majority of the actual consumers of these high-end fashion labels and the majority of consumers in general do not really care. I understand that there is a growing market for organic, sustainable and toxic free fashion, but it is only a very small percentage of the market, with the majority of mainstream consumers either unaware what organic, sustainable and toxic free fashion is, it’s impact or benefit on the environment or simply unwilling to pay the extra cost for the items. So why should major fashion houses work so hard for something with little financial reward?

I must admit, after reading this article I was very torn in my opinion and how I felt about the idea of sustainable and toxic free fashion, as I agree with the need to reduce toxins in all industries including fashion, but I am also aware of the extra cost involved in manufacturing and production of such fashions and of the limited market it targets. So I decided to survey some of my facebook friends, most of whom were mothers, and find out what they thought about sustainable fashion and if it impacted there purchasing ethos and try to see how viable sustainable fashion is and whether this onslaught of ‘green’ being the new black is really justified. The results proved to be quite surprising. The majority of the these women knew very little if anything on sustainable fashion, or assumed this meant organic, but were also misguided in their understanding of what organic fashion was. The greatest emphasis in these women shopping techniques was on cost with not one of them being influenced by the sustainable side of a piece of clothing, whether it’s organic or not, or how the company produced the garment. Quality came up three times with price still being a deciding factor with only two women noting that they looked at where products were made but that it wasn’t a key influencer in their purchasing. Hand me downs and the desire to move away from ‘designer labels’ was mentioned but all in all, all these women, all from different demographics and age groups, were basically unaware of what sustainable fashion meant. And to be honest who can blame them! It is a confusing term that gets thrown around too regularly considering the hundreds of ways in which sustainable fashion can be interpreted.

When I set out to write this post, I was aiming to define sustainable fashion, throw out a few facts about organic and non organic, but after asking these women and some retailers on their opinions of sustainable and organic fashion, I realised there is no clear definition. Much of this confusion can be attributed to the fashion industry itself, with terms like organic being thrown out there in all fashion markets without accuracy. ‘Organic’ is something we’re starting to see more regularly on fashion labels with consumers assuming that if they see this term the garment is chemical free. But the reality is that unless the tag says ‘100% certified organic’ which means it has passed a serious of tests by a certifying body and the fibres have been grown in soil that has been chemical free for no less than 5 years (Australian standards), there is no guarantee that the fabric is chemical free. In fact in a lot of cases the ‘organic’ component could make up less than 20% of the entire garment. Thus a very misleading marketing practice that allows designers to add a greater mark up on these pieces. The other misguided part of ‘organic’ fashion is that even if the fibres are grown chemically free, the majority of bulk produced ‘organic’ fashion brands are packaged in highly toxic plastic bags and to my surprise after speaking with one children’s fashion store owner, sprayed by a highly toxic chemical once they arrive in Australia as a process of quarantine! But this is a reflection of the market. Most average consumers simply do not want to spend the extra on certified organic clothing and packaging, so why should the designers or labels? Why come back from ‘black’ when ‘green ‘ is not the current demand?

Sustainable fashion can mean a thousand different things, from organic to toxic free, to where and how they are produced. But the thing I find most contradictory about a lot of these articles floating around at the moment, is that organisations and ‘activists’ are often quick to point the finger at the ‘environment destroying fashion labels,’ but fail to point out the good they do and the ways in which they give back to the community. I believe sustainable fashion is more than just creating a label that helps the environment, I think it’s about helping people and communities as well, doing what they can when they can. The Benetton group for example contributes profits to the charity Africa Works, Gucci has contributed over $7 million dollars to UNICEF, Oscar De La Renta donates to New Yorker’s for Children whilst Nicola Bulgari has designed a special-edition- Save the Children ring with profits going to the organisations. Even the founders of Australian children’s designer label Munster, packed up there 3 kids and moved to the village in Vietnam that manufacturers their label and helped work with the community, providing jobs, education and donations through their T4T campaign, which is an initiative aimed to help the kids in orphanages throughout Vietnmen and Cambodia through commissioning an artist to do a series of original prints for t-shirts with all profits going towards funding books, bikes and other essentials for these less fortunate kids. To me that is what sustainable fashion is about. Sustaining the future of people and communities across the world as well as the environment. With fashion labels doing what they can when they can.

So in terms of ‘green’ being the new black? Whilst I think the concept of sustainability is growing, it won’t become mainstream particularly in the fashion industry until demand increases, which I don’t believe will happen until a clearer understanding of exactly what it is more widely understood and defined.

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