Green is the new black

“It’s getting faster, moving faster now, it’s getting out of hand”. 
The above quote was part of an provocative campaign aimed at making the New York Fashion Week attendees think twice about purchasing some new ‘it’ designs. Originally, this quote is part of the lyrics of a 70's song called 'Disorder' by Ian Curtis and his band. So of course, Ian Curtis wasn’t originally speaking about the fashion industry, but the sentence perfectly describes the trend of fast fashion that nowadays dominates the industry.

Balancing fashion and sustainability 

Fast fashion refers to the fact that lots of brands are competing against each other by introducing more lines per year at lower costs. Brands must respond to quickly changing fashion trends, which now change in weeks instead of months. The dark side of production on such a mass scale is that the fashion industry has become the third most polluting industry on earth. The world is ringing the alarm-bell: the natural resources on this planet can’t keep up with the demands of fast fashion. The fashion industry has faced intensifying criticism about its environmental footprint and it seems that in response to that, lots of brands are slowly but surely establishing their own sustainability commitments. Adidas for example, has its own sustainability innovation team that ensures the choice of materials they manufacture will minimize their environmental footprint.

Nike: the best pupil in the class

  

The best example of sustainable innovation in fashion is without doubt Nike. The company aims to innovate across design and materials and states that cross-industry collaborations are bringing game-changing solutions to scale. Nike has even created its own Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) that they use to select environmentally better materials. Each material's impacts are assessed in four areas: energy, chemistry, water and waste. 

Still, even with all of these efforts to build what the fashion industry describes as “sustainable fashion future”, one question is still hanging out there: can fast fashion really be sustainable?
The fact that so many businesses are catching up with sustainable innovation, puts me at ease. Actions always speak louder than words, and Nike is the perfect illustration that some companies actually care about the environment. But I’m afraid that in the end we, as customers, share the blame. Part of the challenge will be moving from happy shoppers to happy non-shoppers, customers that use their garments more frequently, share clothes but above all: buy less.

So, what do you guys think? Can fast fashion be sustainable? Or is the ‘sustainable innovation in fashion’ just a clever way to boost the image of the fashion industry? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Jolien


Link: 

http://info.firstcarbonsolutions.com/blog/bid/357801/Fashion-Forward-to-Innovation-with-Sustainable-Clothing