February 6, 2008
The Future of Sustainable Fashion
In wondering about the future of sustainable fashion, author Kate Fletcher comments that over 20 major brands and 1200 smaller ones sell organic fiber products and that spending on eco-fashion has doubled in the last two years. But she notes that the focus of eco-fashion has been almost solely on choice and provenance of materials, and that is too limited.
Fletcher argues that sustainable fashion must concentrate on materials-based or technical innovations and social change, everything from championing lower impact fiber types to fairer employment methods to more efficient processing techniques. Some of this is already happening; Marks & Spencer, Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, has mainstreamed Fairtrade label cotton. One recent article noted how sustainable fashion was helping local farmers.
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Reader Comments
I would have to agree, if it is not the whole package, including fair trade, then it is just a lot of lip service.
Diana | February 28th, 2009
Absolutely. I think too many people just look for organically/fairly produced raw materials and forget about the entire life cycle of the product. Perhaps a label could be introduced to state that materials were organic, it was created in a sound workplace, shipped in eco friendly manner and packaged using sustainable materials? I recognise this is justa pipe dream now but once the recession is over who knows?
Susatainable Fashion | April 15th, 2009