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STORY CARLI PHILIPS ILLUSTRATIONS PAULA SANZ CABALLERO
In 2017, Burberry set alight £28 million worth of its own clothing and cosmetics to minimise counterfeiting and the devaluing of the perceived value of the brand by putting it on sale. It was a widespread yet somewhat surreptitious practice rife in companies selling luxury merchandise. Public pressure contributed to Burberry not only ceasing the practice but also implementing a number of textile initiatives, including donating offcuts from the production of its leather goods to Elvis & Kresse, a small business that upcycles existing materials into new accessories. According to a report by Monash University, the global fashion industry produces 100 billion garments annually, with 33 per cent going to landfill within the first year of purchase. Behind the US, Australia is the second highest consumer of textiles per person in the world, consuming an average of 27kg of new clothing per person, per year and recycling only 7 per cent. These staggering statistics have led to a $1 million grant from the Morrison Government to the Australian Fashion Council for a landmark scheme that will see designers, manufacturers and retailers working together towards a more sustainable textile circular economy. One of the ways in which fashion brands are contributing to sustainable growth is the re-use of excess inventory so that clothing remains in circulation rather than going to landfill. The bar has been set high by the likes of outdoor clothing company Patagonia’s ReCrafted initiative, which takes goods from past collections that are beyond repair and transforms them into new garments, keeping them in use for longer. Think vests modified from sweaters and bags from old denim. Although Patagonia may prioritise sustainability and performance over aesthetics at a lower price point, it’s a template the big players in the luxury apparel industry should be looking to.
SECOND LIFE
Luxury brands are discovering creative ways to use surplus materials, repurposing and upcycling to make what’s old new again Luxury brands are discovering creative ways to use surplus materials, repurposing and upcycling to make what’s old new again
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They are, however, taking steps to catch up, with the possibilities for the redistribution of textiles now firmly in the consciousness of premium fashion houses looking inwards to their own archives or storerooms for leftover fabrics that can be reclaimed. Notable mentions include Louis Vuitton’s Be Mindful, a collection of accessories giving untouched printed silks a second life, and its Spring Summer 2021 Trainer Upcycling, a shoe created from earlier 2019 sneaker models; Maison Michel’s Legacy Parade, hats made with forgotten stockroom materials; Loewe’s The Surplus Project, bags braided in strips with leather offcuts; Chloe’s iconic Edith bags, reimagined with recycled cashmere and shearling; Upcycled by Miu Miu, a limited number of vintage dresses reworked with embellishments; and a collaboration with Levi’s decorating eighties and nineties denim. Hermès’ petit h workshop “creates in reverse”, improvising with extras such as old studs, silk, crystal, metals and padlocks that other métiers have no further use for. The workshop has made everything from pendants with mother-of-pearl buttons and shoelaces from patterned silks. Sweden’s Acne Studios has taken it one step further with its Repurposed series, made from existing materials already on site to minimise the carbon emissions from transport. Pieced together from past seasons, silks and chiffons, leather and wool blends have been patchworked and restitched with exposed seams and mismatched prints. While all this is admirable, difficulties of scale have meant luxury houses are producing capsule or one-off collections as opposed to integrating them into main lines. However Stephanie Benedetto, CEO and founder of Queen of Raw, a marketplace for buying and selling unused textiles, argues that there are very real and practical ways for fashion companies to centralise their material waste. “There has been this myth for so long that sustainability has to cost you more money to participate,” she says. The good news is that 46 M A R C H 2 0 2 2 WIS H
One of the ways fashion brands are contributing to sustainable growth is the re-use of excess inventory so that clothing remains in circulation rather than going to landfill. Premium fashion houses are looking inwards to their own archives or storerooms for leftover fabrics that can be reclaimed
by focusing on, for example, a business’s waste and unused inventory, luxury brands and retailers can sell it today and make money since it is so valuable. And then they can take that money and put it back into doing good things in their supply chain. I know a lot of businesses are trying incredibly hard to become more sustainable, but they also need to answer to stakeholders and investors, so it’s vital we get the economics right. You can resell waste to free up costly warehouse space, recoup up to 15 per cent-plus of your bottom line, and also get a better sustainability story to tell that should also improve your top-line sales.” In the industry, “deadstock” refers to discarded or unused fabrics. While the big fashion houses have budgets to produce flawless virgin materials, using “leftovers” has long been a necessary way of working for nascent designers with limited budgets. And while their motivation may not necessarily be fiscal, bigger brands are recognising the importance of extending the lifespan of their products by keeping them in use for as long as possible. Increasingly, as luxury companies continue to experiment with upcycling, the narrative is being reframed. Australian designer Bianca Spender says remaking clothing from remnants is no longer considered crafty or homemade. “Until recently, the idea of existing textiles being remade and resold perhaps hasn’t been that appealing to a luxury consumer,” she says. “I think there’s a misconception that if other people have rejected the fabric it must be faulty, but it often just comes from suppliers wanting to offload it or from cancelled orders.” While some designers look to their own surplus materials, Spender has been outsourcing deadstock for more than a decade. It’s a practice she introduced after working as an intern in Paris for Martine Sitbon. “My job was to sort through thousands of swatches and file them — a process that took months even before the fabric itself was ordered. I was overwhelmed by the amount of waste, even at the sampling stage,” she
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recalls. “When I came back to Australia, I connected with suppliers who had incredible things from Italian mills, essentially excess from someone else’s production. There was everything from beautiful suiting and jerseys to French lace. The mills all had high minimums but the deadstock worked for me as I was only doing smaller collections.” Spender, whose collections now consist of more than 50 per cent deadstock, is partnering with social enterprise Thread Together later this year to rework donated suits, recutting oversized jackets into dresses and vests. For many young and independent designers, the use of cast-off textiles has been built into their supply chains. While New Zealand womenswear fashion label Maggie Marilyn has a “repair and repurpose” philosophy that includes the use of deadstock, they admit the practice is merely “making the best of a broken system” in that there is no supply chain traceability when it comes to second-hand remnants. Yet for waste already in existence, there’s work that can be done now. “Every single year, $120 billion dollars’ worth of unused textiles just sits in warehouses collecting dust, or is burned or sent to landfill. And this supply chain waste matters now more than ever,” says Benedetto. “We are currently experiencing a crisis of supply. There’s more unused inventory than ever before because of closed stores, huge returns and missed seasons. For a large brand or retailer we’re not just talking about scraps off the cutting room floor, and we’re not talking about 250 yards. This can be millions and millions of yards of perfectly good fabric and thousands to hundreds of thousands of SKUs around the world.” In addition to the positive environmental impact of re-use, social consciousness comes into play too. In 2019, a pioneering initiative introduced by creative director Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen saw the house give beautifully stored fabric dating back over a decade to students at universities across the UK. Everything from mint condition wool checks to taffeta and shirting was refashioned by a new generation
Using ‘leftovers’ has long been a necessary way of working for nascent designers with limited budgets. And while their motivation may not necessarily be fiscal, bigger brands are recognising the importance of extending the lifespan of their products by keeping them in use for as long as possible
of designers. And last year, LVMH launched e-commerce start-up Nona Source, making high-quality, revalued “sleeping beauties” from the group’s Maisons de Couture available to purchase. Kellie Hush, senior adviser at the Australian Fashion Council (AFC), says that this sharing of resources also helps foster creativity among students. “It’s something they never normally would have had access to; it enables them to have the best of the best. And if there are only limited quantities available they have to work within those parameters to see what’s achievable. The big luxury houses have incredible storage and temperature-controlled warehouses and those fabrics are in beautiful condition. I think brands are starting to reconsider how long they can hang on to so much.” While upcycling is a creative way to deal with waste, minimising the manufacturing of raw materials and overproduction is a global issue. “Fast fashion brands have to sell volumes to make money but it means we end up with piles of clothes we don’t know what to do with,” says Hush, who is working with stakeholders on the AFC’s National Product Stewardship Scheme for clothing textiles to establish a viable roadmap to 2030 clothing circularity that will include implementing changes at the earliest stages. Stella McCartney, whose namesake label is a model for sustainability and best eco practices is a huge proponent of upcycling. For pre-fall 2021, she dipped into overstock she had held onto for years, transforming piecemealed nylon into fun and fresh sweaters, pants and jackets. “I’m a bit obsessed with getting rid of waste,” she told Vogue in 2020. “Waste not, want not. During lockdown, we made dresses and cycling shorts from lace we had from previous collections. They were swatches, samples, laces we’ve had left over in the warehouse, so we patchworked them together into little athletic dresses. It’s repurposing, recycling, but I don’t think you’d honestly know. They’re limited edition; we’ll just use up what we have.” W I S H M A R C H 2022 47