A seismic transformation is taking place across the globe and the effects can be seen rippling through every industry; it’s a shift in consciousness and one that brings the built-in obsolescence of fashion under the spotlight. Our throw-away culture is being phased out by changing consumer behaviours and retailers have no choice but to meet our new demands.
Today, for brands big and small, old and new, luxury and mass market, a few token ethical promises is not enough – true sustainability is the only way to survive.
In the UK, those that turnover £36m or more are now being asked to state what they are doing to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking as part of The Modern Slavery Act.
Then on social media, campaigns such as The Fashion Revolution’s #whomademyclothes, which had over five hundred million hashtags posted in 2018 alone, is demanding more information about where and how products are being produced.
It’s the rise of conscious fashion and we’re asking the right questions, but the problem is that brands don’t know where to find the answers.
As technology catapulted us forward into the age of digital shopping with smartphones in our hands, retailers had no choice but to quickly refurbish their front end to keep us coming back for more.
It became all about shiny, new, mobile-friendly online stores with seamless user experiences and all you could ever want in terms of delivery options. Our screens began to seduce us with a dazzling bombardment of exciting new collections every time we hit refresh.
But behind the scenes of these glossy, tech-savvy boutiques we see on our devices, everybody was, or maybe still is, scrambling around trying to somehow pull everything together for ready for sale and the back-end operations have been completely neglected.
Read more here at WhichPLM.com…
Ana Daksina 5 March 2019
Good one. Reblogging to my readers at sister site Timeless Wisdoms
allmyheroesareweirdos 5 March 2019
Thanks Ana!
Ana Daksina 5 March 2019
Absolutely!
maddiecook0002 11 March 2019
Great post! It is so important to demand for transparency in the industry in order to tackle our social and environmental responsibilities. Fast fashion needs better communication tactics to avoid the crisis’ they keep running into along the supply chain.
Frau Hoy 21 April 2019
A lot of positive change in the fashion industry is also driven by small labels who choose to produce their garments in a more sustainable and ethically responsible way. The Australian label A.BCH is doing some cool stuff in circular fashion. I have written about them recently here: https://greenden.net/2019/03/30/abch-circular-fashion-brand/
allmyheroesareweirdos 21 April 2019
amazing! will check them out. Yes I’m doing a lot of work with small to medium sustainable fashion brands professionally and I’ve co-founded Mindless Mag, a storytelling platform for conscious fashion. we have plans to work with those brands in the future so definitely check that out too! http://www.mindlessmag.com
Frau Hoy 21 April 2019
That’s great – thanks for sharing. Know some people into sustainable fashion here who might be interested in getting involved.
Cyndel B. 17 May 2019
I love that this is a conversation that is starting to really take hold! The fast fashion industry is awful! Ever since I learned about fast fashion practices, I have tried to become a better consumer. I recently saw that ThredUp did a sustainable minded reprint of t-shirts they had in stock, which is really cool! Thanks for sharing!