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Every year, 1.5 million wildebeest migrate from Tanzania’s southern Serengeti towards the greener pastures of Kenya’s Masai Mara to the north. They do it all at once, moving en masse, sometimes with breathtaking, earth-shaking momentum — but when they get to a river crossing, they freeze. One of the world’s largest mammal migrations comes to a halt because the wildebeest at the front of the line are afraid of what’s in the water, what lies ahead.
This is where the fashion industry sits on its sustainability journey: stuck at the edge of the river. Brands dip their toes in the water to test ideas and innovations from the safety of the riverbank, but they’re afraid or too risk-averse to go all in.
A look back at 2023 confirms that more brands have strategies for sourcing raw materials more sustainably, according to Textile Exchange, but have yet to “decouple the extraction of raw materials from economic growth”. Sustainability commitments are failing to translate onto the runway, and momentum for next-gen materials is too slow to make a dent in the industry’s overall impact. Similarly, brands are working towards climate targets that reduce the intensity of their footprint but do not align with the necessary climate science; resale continues to grow but with little evidence that fashion is using it as a strategy to offset new product sales; and circularity promises continue to hinge on parts of the circle, but rarely if ever do they close the loop.
“We keep saying enough commitment, we need action. It’s about crossing that river and getting to the other side. And yet — everybody’s hedging,” says Helen Crowley, former head of sustainable sourcing innovation at Gucci parent company Kering, who also holds a PhD in zoology.
In the plains of the Serengeti, wildebeest eventually do cross the river — they would have no food if they chose to reverse course — although not until a couple wildebeest at the front of the line demonstrate the courage to jump in and swim across first. Once those first few begin, the masses behind them can’t follow fast enough. Brands, too, must accept that staying put and operating business as usual is not an option; no brand relies on stagnation as a business strategy, and no executive wants to take their company backwards.
The threats are there, no doubt. Systemic transformation is risky, by definition, because there is no blueprint for how to achieve it successfully. That’s precisely the problem. Brands have already picked the low-hanging fruit, and what’s left are the tasks that no one can guarantee they know how to do.
Fashion has yet to scale pilot projects into industry-norm practices, whether it’s water efficiency, textile recycling or regenerative agriculture. It’s a basic paradox, says Brittany Sierra, founder and CEO of the Sustainable Fashion Forum. “Brands are hesitant to support sustainability initiatives until they are proven effective and scalable. However, many of these initiatives need substantial backing from these brands to reach a level of maturity where their effectiveness and scalability can be demonstrated,” she says.
The challenge that’s even more difficult and profound is to shift business models away from being so heavily dependent on new product sales, and from valuing economic profitability above all else. “Public companies have to grow regardless of climate change, regardless of any sort of risk it poses to humans, environment, animals for the sake of creating shareholder wealth,” says Caroline Priebe, sustainability advisor and founder and CEO of plastic-free apparel brand Driftless Goods.
Crocodiles in the water
That’s the real crux, says a sustainability-focused executive at a major luxury brand, because companies and their leadership remain solely evaluated based on economic performance — not on their contributions to people and the planet.
“When you get on calls with investors, they want to know how much the company is going to grow, and how they’re going to prove their profitability. That pressure is still the number one thing that decides the value of the stock, and therefore the value of the company. For senior executives, the value of their options or whatever variable compensation they have is heavily dependent on that. So all the intent is to maximise profitability — and sustainability is a conflict,” the executive says, speaking anonymously. The role of the predators lying in wait cannot be underestimated. “There are crocodiles in the river. The crocodiles are investors, and to some degree consumers — the investors say you have to keep the margins, consumers say don’t raise prices. Everyone wants to attack the fashion brands, and that’s part of it, but at the end of the day, the brand that has lower margins is going to get punished in the market.”
That is one area where regulations, emerging particularly in the EU, could help by not only making certain practices — supply chain due diligence, for example — mandatory, but by shifting the economic calculations that go into every major decision a company makes, whether it’s a fabric choice or production volume.
What’s clear is that business as usual is not an option anymore. “You can’t just be thinking about the short-term ROI, you need to actually be thinking, ‘this is an investment’,” says Sierra. “There’s also a mindset shift. You can’t be thinking about it from old systems and old ways of doing business — if we’re trying to create something completely new, if we’re trying to completely change the system, then we can’t continue to use old indicators.”
Something else that needs to change, Sierra adds, is the nature of the industry’s response when a brand tries something new — so that there’s increased collaboration and support when working towards the common goal of a healthy planet. “If someone is venturing out there and trying to do something different, the way that we support them as an industry really matters. This work is really challenging,” she says. “We all say we want this change — but then when [someone] ventures out there, we tell them why it’s not going to work, we talk about all the negatives. We don’t try to support — like maybe I have insight because I tried doing this years ago. We don’t really do that as an industry. It’s more like, who can get there first.”
An urgent moment
Nature offers a constant reminder of the urgency of the situation, says Sandra Gonza, senior sustainability strategist at Quantis International, while also offering lessons to the fashion industry. Wildebeest play a role in the ecosystem, trampling and fertilising the land as they move and graze across it — a cyclical movement that helps rejuvenate the grasslands and maintain an ecosystem balance, she says. “Similarly, the fashion industry needs to better recognise interdependence, starting with unravelling the complex web of relationships among suppliers, manufacturers, consumers and waste management systems. Without recognising these interdependencies and by solely focusing on one stakeholder — often shareholders and often for short-term financial gains — the future of the fashion industry remains precarious,” says Gonza. “Brands looking to establish a legacy and relevance across future consumers are often the ones that acknowledge the critical role within their ecosystem.”
She points to how French footwear brand Veja works with its supply chain partners in Brazil, “not only in terms of eco-design but supply chain partnership and due diligence”, she says. “There is a growing business case for embracing these intersectionalities and internalising some of the traditional risks within the complex supply chain.”
Others point to Danish brand Ganni and New York designer Mara Hoffman, who decided to pivot her entire business to centre sustainability in 2015 and is now considered a leader in the sector. The pivot wasn’t easy, says Hoffman, but instead of shying away from the challenges, she’s learnt to embrace them.
“We get in trouble when apathy takes over and that’s when evolution becomes stunted,” she says. “It’s not that we haven’t been afraid many times of the risks we were taking… especially on a financial level.” Her team shares a vision that enables the brand to take the steps others might find too risky, she explains — and that’s where the magic happens. It’s a result of the risks they take, not in spite of them, she says. “I believe that when you embrace discomfort and allow it to be your compass, it will lead you to great transformation.”
Forging a viable, sustainable path forward is about observing the realities of the ecosystem a designer, a brand, an industry is operating within, and adapting to them accordingly, says Quantis’s Gonza.
“The fashion landscape, akin to the vast terrains of the Serengeti, demands adaptability and resilience. Just as migration sustains an ecosystem, understanding our industry’s ecosystem interdependence and fostering collective collaboration are vital,” says Gonza. “Nature’s lessons I think should serve as a compass for a just transition towards sustainability.”
Whether it wants to recognise it or not, however, fashion’s reality is shifting. Regulations are emerging, consumer expectations are changing and the supply chain is in or on the verge of tatters in many places, from raw material production to shipping routes.
“There’s no choice. We have to change our business models. The world is going to force us to change anyway,” says Crowley. “Who are the leaders? Who are the courageous ones that are going to show that you can do this?”
Fashion can either take the lead, or be swept up in the tide.
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