5 Reasons Why I Don't Promote Sustainable Fashion Brands
The fashion industry has a long-standing reputation for being environmentally destructive and exploitative, but sustainable fashion brands aim to provide an alternative. However, buying from sustainable brands can still perpetuate elitism, privilege, and classism. Additionally, sustainable fashion brands often play into the same system as fast fashion, which is capitalism. They also can play into the idea of symbolism being valued over real action, where the logo becomes more important than our internal code of conduct and ethos. In addition, there's a myth around timeless and seasonless sustainable fashion in the midst of the need for drastic systemic change. So instead of relying on individual action and shopping choices, we need immediate and effective change from all fashion brands and coalition work with on-the-ground activists. This is especially important when sustainable fashion brands still plays into the harm present in the industry, especially when they use new, virgin resources for their collections. The environmental impact of all fashion brands is critical to consider in the face of a climate crisis and where there is enough clothing in existence to clothe the next six generations, despite any social good that comes from brands that claim they are sustainable.
The Complexities of Sustainable Fashion: Beyond Timeless Collections and Brand Logos
Sustainable fashion brands can argue they are providing a sustainable alternative in the midst of fast fashion. They can very well provide good job opportunities for workers across the globe and serve as an environmental friendlier example of production in the face of fast fashion brands. However, sustainable fashion brands have long been in existence …. fast fashion brands have had more than enough time to take notes. In addition, sustainable fashion brands, while they do good for its workers well-being and the earth, their existence calls into question how they are impacting the earth and society on a holistic level. Sustainable fashion brands are inherently businesses that have missions and visions with grounding values. They visualize this with their material collections that often represent sustainable philosophies and ethos that people can resonate with. Yet sustainable fashion brands' logos have the potential of resembling idealism of sustainable ideals and/or lifestyle. It has the danger of leading to ego-driven purchases to prove we care about doing the right thing versus doing the most sustainable option: using what you already own.
Buying from sustainable fashion brands also calls into question our internal thought process and feelings around clothing purchases, and our role in the fashion industry. We must understand our true intentions when buying from sustainable fashion brands given every choice we make has an impact. There is an assumption that the pieces being sold by sustainable fashion brands resonate with not only our personal ethics and philosophies, but also our personal style. Yet sustainable fashion can look different, and we need to ask ourselves: What does sustainable fashion really look like? What can fashion really look like when it does good on a holistic level? This is important to consider because sustainable fashion is more than clothing. Sustainable fashion clothing is what what we believe in being manifested in how we dress. However, clothing collections from sustainable fashion brands won’t fix the issues in the fashion industry, nor with any resonance with any particular logo.
Although no one sustainable fashion brand or collection is perfect, it does not negate their efforts that help develop innovative, sustainable materials and provide good jobs. However, when we have more then enough clothing on the planet to dress the next six generations, their practices must be called under question. This is especially so when it seems like the innovations found in sustainable fashion brands focus on improving its supply chain, meaning their innovations are material and production based versus systemic-based. This makes the design and creation of clothing the main focus for brands versus directly tackling the issues in the industry.
Sustainable fashion brands need to center legislative solutions that target root causes and issues in the industry to truly fulfill their mission and visions of addressing the harms in the fashion industry. We don’t have time to lose in midst of a climate crisis. There needs to be a dynamic envisioning of the industry to make radical change happen. Total collective re-imagination can start with brands readapting their business practices to the clothing they make…. or end up not making.
Paradoxes of Sustainable Fashion: Resources, Authenticity, and the Illusion of Timelessness
The consumers purchasing from sustainable fashion brands often have more resources to use and spend in comparison to lower-income individuals. They also have more time to reflect on what clothing purchases they want to make that align with their ethics and values. However, sustainable fashion brands operate very similarly to fast fashion, despite consumers best efforts to support sound alternatives. And to make matters worse, trends are present in sustainable fashion, as seen in curated collections. Trends can be described as changing styles, whether they last for a couple of weeks or months, but sustainable fashion collections need to address authentic styling. Authentic style is dressing like your most authentic self. Brands will never be able to cater to everyone’s personal authenticity in their collections, despite having a curated target audience and business strategy. So, instead of believing that brands can provide a pathway to a personal sense of fashion, we must consider our own authentic style and how brands are affecting that concept.
Finding our personal style is revolutionary when media has been selling ideas of beauty and fashion for years. And, sustainable washing is certainly present in sustainable fashion brands. It is quite common to visualize sustainable fashion brands as linen clothing in soft hues with hints of granola environmentalism. However, sustainable fashion can and should look like any pattern and style in the world. However, sustainable fashion brands can perpetuate perceptions of style that can actually damage individuality in a lifestyle we deeply care about. Yet, the good news about sustainable fashion brands is that they offer season-less and timeless pieces. This can allow people to use pieces over and over again for years to come. It can also decrease excess consumption of clothing and reduce the waste introduced to our planet. But it does present an odd juxtaposition on whether clothing can actually be season-less when our world is naturally marked by seasons. In theory, timeless also does not exist, unless we are thinking in a metaphysical sense, but the reality we understand is rooted in time and seasons. Season-less and timeless pieces are actually a myth in a world marked by natural change. In fact, everyone is living in constant change where our closet is marked by different needs, desires, feelings and moments in our lives. Timeless and season-less clothing by sustainable fashion brands can therefore also be understood as unrealistic concepts to sell you clothing cloaked in popular sustainable-oriented keywords.
Sustainable Fashion Brands Play into Fast Fashion
Sustainable fashion brands play into the same system as fast fashion because their both rooted in capitalism. Brands are, and will always be a business, and unless their sustainable materials are deadstock, then we don't need more things. And if sustainable brands are creating western trends, then it only plays into western thinking rooted in colonialism and extraction. So, we must ask ourselves the real intention of buying from sustainable fashion brands. Would we stop buying from sustainable fashion brands if they were devoid of logos and any external gratification? Getting to the root of the intention behind our clothing is necessary for the benefit of the environment and people. Sustainable fashion brands need to release in-depth reports detailing its supply chain to allow us to make truly informed shopping decisions. And despite claims of democratizing the fashion industry by providing a sustainable alternative to fast fashion, the meaning of democracy in fashion needs to be concerned. Does democracy in fashion come from brands simply giving sustainable options? Sustainable fashion brands certainly may be accessible by having websites and shipping options, but the same would be said for resale sites like Depop and Poshmark. So if we are not choosing to buy from online resale stores then it very well alludes to a stigma and aversion of buying used. It also speaks to the privilege of buying from fast fashion brands despite having access to affordable alternatives and the egoism of rejecting things because it had a past owner.
Sustainable fashion brands understand the issues in the fashion industry, and are aware of the excess clothing in the world, yet continue to make more and more collection. They are essentially normalizing the idea that we must buy ourselves into this world and to participate in sustainable fashion. It also limits what sustainable fashion looks like because it can mean swapping clothing, localizing fashion, and using what we already own. Buying from any sustainable fashion brands also very well perpetuates elitism, privilege and classism, which can also be understood as “conscious consumerism”. This criticism also includes indigenous-based and inspired brands and collections that sell to any and all consumers, since only a select few will be able to afford their pieces. It is idealistic for brands to think people will have save enough for a four hundred dress when they are struggling to survive from paycheck from paycheck. Simply said, the fashion industry does not need new collections and material-based innovations from sustainable brands to address infustry’s issues. And if sustainable fashion brands are not local nor artisanal work, then it is especially toxic and counter-productive in the face of mainstream fashion that pushes the idea to buy more and more. We also certainly DO NOT need more sustainable fashion brand guides when the world is rapidly ending and producing more things than we will ever need.
Sustainable Fashion Solutions Beyond Brands and Collections
Action will never come from more materials goods in an already suffocated planet. We need legislative change that forces brands to act responsibly and ethically to move change forward. There is so much work that needs to be done on a systemic level and purchasing goods won’t achieve that. The commonized counter-narrative in sustainable fashion to be a conscious consumer is ineffective if all we are doing is shopping. We need to reframe guides that go from “5 Sustainable Fashion Brands To Support This Summer 2023” to “5 Ways to Become a Sustainable Fashion Activist in 2023”. Yet there are financial incentives from sustainable fashion thought leaders, bloggers and influencers to make money by promoting sustainable fashion brands and their products. It is easy to play into our current system of capitalism when their vested interest in making profit from your power and following in justification of pushing sustainable fashion forward. To be frank, it is extremely ironic to push people to buy more material goods in the name of sustainability. Yet, the saddest part of playing into current modes of fashion, which include sustainable fashion brands, means that powerful, holistic change won’t ever come in time.
The fashion industry is reminiscent to the story of Frankenstein creating Frankenstein. We must consider who is the real Frankenstein of the fashion industry, because at the end of the day who is the real monster? This is an important question to ask to understand where the problems of the fashion industry first arose. It allows us to understand who has perpetuated harm, and to further discern the purpose of collections. In a way, owners of sustainable fashion brands want to create new life, but are actually creating a monster that makes the problem worse, despite best intentions. But, if we don’t know the owners, how do we know the creator's vision which we feel the direct result of? Yet I may be asking the wrong questions. Maybe the creator of fashion brands don’t matter when our governments continue free market-based systems of trade with no caps or regulations. Fashion will continue to exist on its devastating level unless we battle with the current systems that are upholding it and the true power players propping it up. Knowing the root of fashion creation and its systemic tools can be the secret to reaching the holistic change needed in the fashion industry. So, instead of understanding fashion brands' missions and team members, maybe we should be wondering what mechanisms are being used in the creation process to address our current waking fashion mess.
What True Sustainable Fashion Looks Like
Sustainable fashion can be embraced by everyone, and the good news is that it doesn’t have to come from one brand or even one look. A mix of patterns and styles is actually normal in our society, especially when everyone is different and sees fashion differently. It also resembles a healthy ecosystem of people where options are available, but it does allude to what options would be available and who would have advantages and disadvantages in a sustainable fashion world (which is still utopian thinking). Yet, don’t we currently have more to lose if we keep acting normally under the doctrine of fast fashion? And even more to lose if we pretend to create change by shopping into ideals that don’t address the harms being inflicted by others, and on our planet?
This blog piece is no way directly tackling the root issues in the fashion industry, but it is an attempt to address the harm being done by others. It is an effort to foster critical thinking in spaces that seem increasingly filled with more things, more vanity and needless cute outfits. And it is a reminder that we are stronger together, and that true consumer power is our authenticity and buying second-hand clothing that appeal to our true selves. So, let us embrace change for its natural course in the world, and that fashion has the ability to be cherished and shared over and over again. There is no need to stop asking questions and to reconsider the inherent worth and value of clothing. No guide can tell you what to think and do, but I certainly hope you take action for the good of all.
