SONEGRA, No.1: The Sustainability Issue by Rahul Sonegra

No. 1 The Sustainability Issue

Alhuwalia / S.S. Daley / Mowalola / Bianca Saunders / Róisín Pierce / Supriya Lele / Nicholas Daley / Yuhan Wang / Carlota Barrera / Tokyo James / Brøgger / Fanfare Label / Marfa Stance / Gilded Glamour / Fashion and War / Fuck Fast Fashion / Sustainability Regulations / Micro-Trends / Circular Fashion / How To Dress Sustainably

This fashion magazine is dedicated to my late grandfather, Dahyalal Sonegra. Born in Tanzania, my grandfather was a descendant of tailors—a practise he continued and honoured in his lifetime. His soul left us on March 26, 2022, but what he left behind will remain with us forever.

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

S/S 2022

Images courtesy of Ahluwalia Instagram: @ahluwalia

Collection

London-based fashion designer Priya Ahluwalia is discussing her experiences as an Indian-Nigerian woman growing up in London, and the way these experiences have informed her Spring/ Summer 2022 collection, “Parts of Me”; which was conceived as a celebration of Afro-Caribbean and Indian hair, its artistry, symbolism, and rituals. A collection that’s an amalgamation of research from Ahluwalia into the creativity behind popular styles in the 1970s, when Black liberation movements in the US. and the UK were most prominent. The clothing itself is a healthy blend of patchwork, slim tailoring, and retro tracksuits, while unisex staples are given priority as Ahluwalia dives into the world of womenswear, giving pieces like printed joggers and suiting a unisex, feminine spin. The collection is accompanied by a collaborative bag collection with Mulberry.

Designer

Priya Ahluwalia launched her eponymous multi award-winning label in 2018, after graduating from the MA Menswear course at The University of Westminster. The Ahluwalia ethos originates from family trips taken to Nigeria and India during this time. Considering every aspect of the design process, Ahluwalia works with responsible sourcing and manufacturing methods. The label combines elements from the designer’s dual Indian-Nigerian heritage and London roots and explores the potential of vintage and surplus clothing by giving existing materials new life through textile techniques. Ahluwalia is informed by art, music, literature, and culture across the African and Asian diasporas to create an intersection between near and far, and past and present, making Ahluwalia both nostalgic and futuristic at the same time.

ahluwalia.world

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

S/S 2022

Images courtesy of S.S. Daley Instagram: @stevenstokeydaley

Collection

Stokey-Daley presented his second collection under his eponymous brand during his first London Fashion Week. Rather than just offering up a standard catwalk show, the designer enlisted the help of the National Youth Theatre (which he was a member of in 2014) to present his Spring/Summer 2022 collection. The collection was inspired by Stokey-Daley’s obsession with British public school culture, something he himself never experienced as he was educated at a state school in Merseyside. Pleated cotton shirts were oversized and reminiscent of those worn in £3,000-a-term classes, while luxurious, silky pyjama shirts designed to be worn outside were cleverly cut from four pieces like traditional West Yorkshire rugby shirts.

Designer

Flirting with class ideologies, Stokey-Daley, a working-class boy from Liverpool, reinterprets the realm of British elitism via the institution of the British public school. Stokey-Daley quickly became enraptured with the world of regatta races, flowery traditionalism and decadent English aristocracy. Amongst a range of referential films, theatrical practitioners and 18th-century portraiture, Daley remains influenced by British cult classics: “Maurice”, “Another Country”, and “Brideshead Revisited.” Daley questions the structural nature of British heritage and systematic elitism through the lens of 'homosocial' theory. Post-graduation amidst a global pandemic, Daley has no plans of slowing down. He continues to explore the theatricality of British elitism, which his romantic, quality-first, bespoke garments evoke.

ssdaley.com

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

S/S 2020

Images courtesy of Mowalola Instagram: @mowalola

Collection

For her second Fashion East collection, the Nigerian-born designer continued to showcase her deep understanding when it comes to working with leather. If Mad Max were a Blaxploitation film, Mowalola’s Spring/Summer 2020 collection for Fashion East would be the ideal wardrobe choice. Destructive and daringly sensual, this was Mowalola’s interpretation of love in its most potent form. Looking at eccentric A-list couples of the 90s as a starting point (think Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese; Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman), sexed-up silhouettes were in abundance. A fuchsia high-neck dress was left wide open at the front to reveal a model’s breasts, while neon-green cowhide two-pieces oozed 70s Americana on acid. All in all, this collection served as a stark reminder that being in love is one whacky, wild ride.

Designer

Mowalola Ogunlesi is a fashion designer and heads up her namesake label Mowalola. She is a menswear and print graduate from Central Saint Martins and debuted her graduate collection titled Psychedelic at the Central Saint Martins Press Show in May 2017. The collection was mainly influenced by Nigerian psychedelic rock, and her panAfrican approach to design is a celebration of culture, sexuality and desires. The Mowalola brand made its London Fashion Week debut as part of Fashion East for Autumn/Winter 2019 and in 2019, NOW Gallery hosted Ogunlesi's first solo exhibition Silent Madness. In June 2020, Ogunlesi was appointed design director of Kanye West's brand Yeezy.

mowalola.com

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

S/S 2022

Images courtesy of Bianca Saunders Instagram: @biancasaunders

Collection

Bianca Saunders is proud to present her Spring/Summer 2022 collection, which looks at the easy, unselfconscious style of summers before digital photography. As always, at the heart of Saunders’s work is experimentation in cutting, evolving and perfecting patterns as well as introducing fresh ideas. This is Saunders’s largest collection yet—30 looks subtly inspired by family photos taken by her mother, at age 18, in Jamaica. Saunders zeroed in on the “in-between tailored and casual” style of her uncles in their polo shirts and Sta-Prest trousers to inform her evolving interest in cut, how men wear clothes, and how fabric sits on bodies.

Designer

Addressing the tension between tradition and modernity, between the masculine and the feminine, the Bianca Saunders brand is spearheaded by award-winning Designer & Creative Director Bianca Saunders. Taking inspiration from her British and Jamaican background, the brand approaches design with a multi-disciplinary attitude that brings cross-cultural references into a modern and reinvigorated evolution of menswear. The brand is in an exciting period of growth following international recognition since its inception in 2017, being selected by the British Fashion Council as ‘One To Watch’ in 2018 and then later winning The 32nd Andam Grand Prix Fashion Award in 2021. Its headquarters are based in London with the capacity to take on design projects and produce two collections a year.

biancasaunders.com

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

“Two For Joy”

Images courtesy of Róisín Pierce Instagram: @roisinpierce

Collection

Created in all-white, an aesthetic Pierce developed while studying and continued within her first collection as a tribute to the ‘white work’ women in the laundries would undertake, “Two For Joy” moves on from its predecessors in that it offers more breathing space between her signature textures. While previous collections have taken fabric manipulation to its fullest extent—smocking, ruffles, tucks, embroidery, and volume all colliding within frothy, sculptural forms—“Two For Joy” balances texture with the soft sheen of satin panelling, left to tell its own story.

Designer

Róisín Pierce is an Irish-based womenswear designer committed to combining innovative and artisanal techniques whose brand explores the tradition of craftsmanship and its symbiosis with Irish women’s history. Having dedicated her collections to exploring the potential of zero waste cutting and three-dimensional construction techniques, Róisín Pierce focuses on thoughtful ways of production through deadstock, material recycling and subsequently cultivating new surface textural opportunities through her core sustainable practise. A mindful, considered and conscious approach to design sees Róisín Pierce align the term luxury with sustainable core principles. Currently, the collection is created locally by hand and machine techniques in Ireland. Keeping traditional techniques alive and valued whilst cultivating new surface textural possibilities within the realm of design.

roisinpierce.com

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

A/W 2021

Images courtesy of Supriya Lele Instagram: @supriya_lele

Collection

Skilled at fluidly forming clothing onto the body, Lele is an acclaimed colourist, and for Autumn/Winter 2021, she turned her attention to conventionally bad-taste tones. Custom lime, bubblegum pink, tobacco and cherry colours are seen in silhouettes that have a luxurious lilt like pooling flared trousers, peekaboo ruched mini skirts, dramatic décolletage halter necks and androgynous overcoats. There was also an element of experimentation in Lele’s Autumn/Winter 2021 collection, which saw a focus on handwork and a desire to reinvent ‘old-fashioned’ fabrics. She developed a devoré with a tactile transparent pattern, referencing a traditional Indian folkloric snake motif, which originates in Madhya Pradesh, the Central Indian state where Lele’s father’s family were born.

Designer

Supriya Lele is the designer behind the acclaimed eponymous label based in London. Her work is deeply rooted in her cross-cultural point of view, examining her Indian heritage and British cultural identity whilst creating work from a decidedly female viewpoint that tells a nuanced and delicate story. Lele completed her MA in Fashion (Womenswear) at the Royal College of Art in July 2016. Upon graduating, she was selected to showcase her work as part of Fashion East, debuting at London Fashion Week in 2017 with a presentation in the Tate Modern. After showcasing under the Fashion East scheme for three seasons, Lele was awarded full NEWGEN sponsorship from the British Fashion Council. In 2020, Lele was awarded a portion of the LVMH Prize fund which was split across all 8 finalists for the first time.

supriyalele.com

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

S/S 2022

Images courtesy of Nicholas Daley Instagram: @nicholas_daley

Collection

In this collection, the British designer Nicholas Daley expanded beyond the Scottish-Caribbean axis that is so personal to him and upon which he has built the majority of his connections thus far—and he did it by turning both metaphorically and practically to quilting. Sustainable knitwear was provided by Daley’s reliable, mother-led craft section. Collaboration with a mill in Wexford led to a new oversized pinstripe on linen used in berets, jerkins, and pouches, which chimed pleasingly against the bass line of a precisely pleated made-in-Japan pant and against the feedback of further embroidery, also Japanese.

Designer

Community, craftsmanship, and culture lie at the heart of Nicholas Daley’s work. Having graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2013, the London-based designer launched his eponymous brand in 2015, a practise intertwining personal narrative with wider Black British and diasporic themes. Clothing deeply rooted in both present and past, Daley reconsiders meaningful subcultural movements through his contemporary menswear wardrobe. Incorporating bespoke textiles and complex finishes into every collection, the label partners with a range of artisan makers in the UK and beyond to infuse garments with nuance and depth; expanding its sustainable systems through ethical sourcing and innovative repurposing.

nicholasdaley.net

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

S/S 2021

Images courtesy of Yuhan Wang Instagram: @yuhanwangyuhan

Collection

Yuhan Wang’s new Spring/Summer 2021 collection is an inspired kaleidoscope of feminine softness and defiance. The collection is a refreshingly alternative approach to the futuristic, sci-fi, apocalyptic aesthetic becoming increasingly prominent this season. Wang is addressing the chaotic state of 2020 profoundly through her unmistakable soft and hyperfeminine billowing silhouettes. Yuhan Wang’s distinguishing whimsical, Edwardian, romanticism and supernatural fascination coupled with traditional Chinese motifs culminate in an ethereal capsule of storytelling garments. The adjacency of the intricate gossamer-like dresses with the sturdy, elaborate suit silhouettes embody the different facets of femininity Wang is exploring.

Designer

Yuhan Wang is the eponymous London-based womenswear brand established by Chinese designer Yuhan Wang in 2018. Heralded for its sensitive approach to the portrayal of feminine strength under the lens of romantic nostalgia, the brand has powerfully expanded upon the hyper-feminine offering presented via talent incubator Fashion East, to a burgeoning womenswear business, expertly serving a customer who prioritises whimsical elegance above all else. Since the brand’s inception, Yuhan Wang has presented collections that root themselves in a poetic philosophy of championing understated beauty and subversively de-constructing the traditional notions of female fragility and sensitivity. Consisting of an elegant curation of apparel, accessories and jewellery, the brand offers pieces of uncompromising quality that eschew a conspicuous display of cultural symbolism for a more nuanced exploration into the flux between the idea of traditional Chinese femininity and its connections to Western culture.

yuhanwang.com

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

A/W 2021

Images courtesy of Carlota Barrera Instagram: @carlotabarrera

Collection

Carlota Barrera’s view of luxury centres on quality, comfort, and timeless elegance—the Autumn/Winter 2021 collection is the best encapsulation of these values and the foundation of the brand’s sustainable approach. Tailoring features heavily, each piece reimagined and subverted from a classic silhouette to create fluid, contemporary designs. Experimenting with what’s covered and what we choose to uncover becomes a core code to the brand, celebrating the detail of the pieces and the confidence of the wearer. The rigour of tailoring is applied for comfort and practicality—knowing the rules means they can be broken confidently. At a time when we are all being asked to consider what is essential, this perspective feels more relevant than ever.

Designer

Based in London, Spain-born designer Carlota Barrera graduated from London College of Fashion with an MA in menswear design in 2017. She made her debut for Spring/Summer 2019 with her collection titled ‘The Matador and The Fisherman’, presenting her contemporary vision of core menswear. Since its establishment, the brand has received awards such as Vogue Fashion Fund Spain in 2019, amongst others. Drawing deep inspiration from the complex shapes and movement of the male body, Barrera’s queer female gaze allows her to view intellectually and artistically, seeing masculinity and male sexuality—the emotions, the forms, the behaviours, and socially what it means to identify as male or female. Tailoring features heavily from season to season, each offering reimagined and subverted from a classic silhouette to create fluid, contemporary designs.

CARLOTA

carlotabarrera.com

BARRERA

CARLOTA

carlotabarrera.com

BARRERA

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

S/S 2022

Images courtesy of Tokyo James Instagram: @tokyojamess

Collection

Suiting remains the core of James’s offering, and he has loosened up its form with his signature slash vents, ruched fronts, and a new suit-skirt inspired by traditional African wraps. The ease of his garments—friendly to a wide range of bodies—has made his menswear a favourite of female shoppers too. To prove their versatility, James cast a couple of women in the lookbook to wear cinched upskirts and a sequined and black pearl-beaded blazer that took his atelier four months to make. That piece is his most expensive of the season, but for a lower price point, shoppers of all strokes at Dover Street Market—where he was recently picked up and given a primo fourth-floor placement—will gravitate towards tees inset with cord and lace.

Designer

Tokyo James is a British-Nigerian Menswear Designer at the forefront of a new generation of fashion talent emerging from the content of Africa, founded in 2015 by Iniye Tokyo James. Travelling between London and Lagos, with a base in menswear his collections emphasise the use of traditional Saville Row tailoring whilst shattering traditions with unconventional Pantone and textile choices—gaining James a fast-growing cult following globally. Speaking to the modern man, the eponymous brand emphasises the use of traditional techniques, bold fabrics, texture, and structured silhouettes to outfit the confidence at heart. At its core, Tokyo James creates irreverent fashion with a cultural edge for the bold.

tokyojames.co.uk

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

Pre-Autumn 2022

Brand

Images courtesy of Brogger Instagram: @brogger

Brøgger is a London-based luxury clothing label by Danish designer Julie Brøgger. Their collections play between the feminine and the masculine, varying from sharp tailoring to soft silhouettes, consistently balanced on the edge between formal and day wear. Brøgger celebrates playful and bold fashion with craftsmanship and quality in focus. Each season new unique prints and fabrics are designed by the designer, building on the distinctive Brøgger handwriting of bold and stand out clothes, merging the dualistic influences of Danish design tradition and the boldness of London/ Brøgger stays committed to producing in the United Kingdom and EU, as well as sourcing all materials from these regions. Brøgger is founded on the practise of social inclusiveness and low impact on both the environment and the social consequences of the fashion industry, something that embodies every inch of the business. They believe quality must come first in creating more sustainable clothing. Their clothes are made to last and be cherished across seasons and years, therefore longevity ranks highest in choice of materials and design. Whenever they can, they combine this with organic and recycled materials, as well as repurposing stock materials. Producing low impact shows and campaign shoots is a key practise. Social sustainability is a natural part of all decisions made regarding the representation of Brøgger.

brogger.co

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

“Reused, Recycled, Repurposed”

Brand

Images courtesy of Fanfare Label Instagram: @fanfarelabel

Fanfare Label is a circular clothing brand changing the way people buy, wear, and consume clothing. The award-winning clothing brand was launched in 2018 by Esther Knight. Offering a simple solution to fashion's complex problems. For too long, businesses have built supply chains to drive financial profits at the expense of people and the environment. The current fashion system is broken with 50% of fast fashion purchases being disposed of and 350,000 tons of used clothing going to landfills in the UK every year. On top of this, the fashion industry is a major contributor to climate change, pollution, human, and animal exploitation. The exorbitant amount of waste generated in the fashion industry inspired Fanfare Label to represent the circular economy standard; the label is a representative of what fashion could and should look like. The label is leading the upcycling movement, transforming vintage pieces into unique contemporary designs, combining elements of vintage and surplus clothing by giving existing materials a new life through various textile techniques. Ethics and sustainability are the pillars of the business. Fanfare Label pieces are made in ethical factories from organic and recycled materials. Even down to every thread, fibre, and trim sustainability is considered, sustainability is a journey, and the brand is always looking for ways to improve.

FANFARE fanfarelabel.com

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

A/W 2021

Brand

Images courtesy of Marfa Stance Instagram: @marfastance

British brand Marfa Stance designs an ever-evolving, unique and essential wardrobe that fuses a versatile, season-less and multifunctional approach with beautiful luxury designs. Founded in 2019, designer Georgia Dant, a former transatlantic commuter, identified an opportunity in the global luxury fashion space for a buildable and transportable brand to effortlessly transition across climate, seasons and occasions. Taking her 15 years experience at iconic brands such as Burberry and Rag&Bone, Dant created Marfa Stance to fuse timeless luxury design with versatility and functionality for the global, conscious customer. Signature Marfa Stance pieces can uniquely build, adapt and reverse; allowing each customer to personalise their style in multiple ways and adapt each garment to suit their lifestyle. Marfa Stance is a collection for women with select unisex pieces shareable by both women and men. The collection is designed with a sustainable approach in mind, to reduce overconsumption and waste, in line with the need to buy less but buy better. Longevity is at the forefront, with each season evolving to add a new component such as a collar or hood, and in turn, increase the life cycle of each garment. Marfa Stance is made in Italy in the finest family-run factories, with responsibly sourced and recycled fabrics from Italy and Japan. Each garment is produced in limited quantities, taking a stance against the fast fashion trend, and made to last in your wardrobe season after season.

marfastance.com

Gilded Glamour 84 Fashion and War 92 Fuck Fast Fashion 102 Sustainability Regulations 116 Micro-Trends 128 Circular Fashion 136 How To Dress Sustainably 150 References 160 Images 162 Colophon 163 82

C O N T EN T S

S O N E GR A

Editor's Note My intention for this issue was to celebrate young designers who champion sustainable practises and provide honest and transparent stories about fashion’s sustainability problem. I wanted to showcase that sustainable fashion can be just as luxurious and expressive as some of the renowned names we know in fashion. The sustainability issue sheds light on some of the uncomfortable conversations about the fashion zeitgeist such as fast fashion, greenwashing, and social media’s role in the overconsumption of clothes. It was vital to make my readers question their spending habits and how they can participate in more conscious shopping. In this issue, we celebrate the clothes we already own, remembering who made them, and simply buying less. Enjoy! Rahul Sonegra

ISSU E 1

ED IT O R ' S N O T E

GILDED GLAM

WORDS BY ELISE TAYLOR

At the bottom of the Met Gala invitations sent every spring is an inscription small in size but vital in importance: the dress code. In 2020, for “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” it was studied triviality. In 2021, for “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” it was American independence. And come May 2, 2022, for “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” it will be gilded glamour, white-tie.

OUR

h, yes. Dust off Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth. The 2022 Met Gala will ask its attendees to embody the grandeur—and perhaps the dichotomy—of Gilded Age New York. The period, which stretched from 1870 to 1890 (Mark Twain is credited with coining the term in 1873), was one of unprecedented prosperity, cultural change, and industrialisation, when both skyscrapers and fortunes seemingly arose overnight. Mrs Astor and her 400 ruled polite society until the new-money Vanderbilts forced themselves in. Thomas Edison’s light bulb, patented in 1882, alit first The New York Times building and then the entire city. Alexander Graham Bell’s 1876 telephone made communication instant—and created a demand for operators to man the lines, leading one of the first mass waves of women into the workplace. Wages skyrocketed past those in Europe (although, as Jacob Riis captured in How the Other Half Lives, far from everyone benefitted). Millions of immigrants arrived to the country through Ellis Island, the recentlyerected Statue of Liberty beckoning them in with a poem by Emma Lazarus (“Give me your

tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”) Architects McKim, Mead, and White built Beaux-Arts buildings up and down Fifth Avenue, beautifying the city in the process. And in 1892, Vogue was founded with the mission of publishing the “point of view of the cultivated citizens of the world.” Original stockholders included Cornelius Vanderbilt, Peter Cooper Hewitt, and John E. Parsons— last names that still live on in New York to this day. For the upper echelon, fashion during that period was one of excess. Thanks to recent

For the upper echelon, fashion during that period was one of excess. innovations of electric and steam-powered looms, fabric became faster and cheaper to produce. As a result, women’s dresses often featured a combination of many textiles, such as satin, silk, velvet, and fringe, all adorned with over-the-top textures like lace, bows, frills, and ruffles. (The unofficial edict? The more going on, the better). Let's take a look into the fashion of the Gilded Age era.

G IL D ED G L A M O UR

S O N E GR A

Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence (1993).

ISSU E 1

N EW S

Colours were rich and deep jewel tones. Lighter colours were only worn only at home, as they were impractical while walking in the streets of New York. Hats were a necessity when going out and often were adorned with feathers. (In fact, the Audubon Society was founded in 1895 in response to protecting birds from the millinery trade.) Corsets were commonplace, and in the 1870s to late 1880s, women embraced bustles to elongate their backsides—in fact, a commonly repeated conceit was that a bustle should be big enough to host an entire tea service. By the 1890s, however, they faded out of fashion, replaced by mutton sleeves, bell-shaped skirts, and pompadour hairstyles. This aesthetic was only further popularized by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson, whose pen-and-ink illustrations of the hourglass Gibson Girl were tremendously popular in publications and advertisements. That’s not to say that all Gilded Age fashion was formal. As leisure activities like bicycling and tennis became popular among the well-heeled set, sportswear, for the first time, became an integral part of one’s wardrobe. Many women adopted a shirtwaist ensemble—or a long skirt paired with a feminine blouse—which allowed for easier movement, as perhaps best exemplified by John Singer Sargent’s 1897 portrait of Gilded Age socialite Edith Minturn.

Parties, balls, and soirées brought out the most extravagant style this country has ever seen. However parties, balls, and soirées brought out the most extravagant style this country has ever seen. The opera, which was often frequented by the upper echelon, had a strict dress code: Women put on tulle dresses exposing their décolletage,

opulent fur-lined cloaks, and elbow-length gloves, while men donned top hats. The 1880s also saw the arrival of the tuxedo in America. (Urban legend has it that a man named James Potter wore the Englishoriginated design to a country-club ball in Tuxedo Park—hence the suit style’s name.) Outrageous costume parties thrown by the most talented hostesses of the day had frenzied and fantastical fashions. Take Alva K. Vanderbilt’s March 1883 event for her daughter, Consuelo, which became known as the most lavish celebration of the era. “The Vanderbilt ball has agitated New York society more than any social event that has occurred here in many years,” The New York Times wrote dramatically at the time. “Since the announcement that it would take place, which was made about a week before the beginning of Lent, scarcely anything else has been talked about.” Guests spent outlandish attention to detail—and amounts of money—on their outfits: Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt came dressed as an electric light bulb, which meant a white gown satin trimmed with diamonds, complete with a diamond headpiece and a light bulb as a jewelry accessory. Her sister, Mrs. Ada Smith, meanwhile, wore an outfit completely covered in peacock feathers, from the train to the fan. Another guest donned a black-and-cream-coloured satin embroidered with gold stars, accompanied with a diamond necklace and hairpiece. (It’s no surprise that Fifth Avenue fine-jewelry house Tiffany began to thrive during this era.) Time will only tell how the guests interpret the dress code for the 2022 Met Gala when they arrive to the storied museum on the first Monday in May. However, for those still mulling over their outfits—perhaps we should end on a quote, written about the endlessly ethereal Countess Olenska, from Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence : “Everything about her shimmered and glimmered softly, as if her dress had been woven out of candle-beams, and she carried her head high, like a pretty woman challenging a roomful of rivals.”

G IL D ED G L A M O UR

S O N E GR A

Winona Ryder as May Welland and Daniel Day-Lewis as Newland Archer from Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence (1993).

ISSU E 1

N EW S

“Everything about her shimmered and glimmered softly, as if her dress had been woven out of candlebeams, and she carried her head high, like a pretty woman challenging a roomful of rivals.”

G IL D ED G L A M O UR

S O N E GR A

Michelle Pfeiffer as Ellen Olenska from Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence (1993).

ISSU E 1

N EW S

FASHION

Unpacking Luxury’s Response to the War in Ukraine: whether or not brands keep doing business in Russia is largely being driven by logistical challenges rather than moral commitments. #StandWithUkraine

WORDS BY TAMISON O'CONNOR

AND WAR

“Free Ukraine” T-Shirt by Ukrainian designer Anton Belinkskiy. 100% of donations are split between Zeilen van Vrijheid who delivers ambulances and medical equipment to hospitals in Ukraine and Anton Belinkskiy's fund in Ukraine.

FA S H IO N A N D W A R

S O N E GR A

n early March, a flurry of luxury’s biggest names voiced their support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country on February 24, 2022. Armani, LVMH, Kering, Prada and others announced donations to aid organisations like the UNHCR and the Red Cross, issuing statements in favour of peace. Few, however, went so far as to address Russia’s role in the crisis, or to announce new policies about doing business with the country. Neutrality has long been the luxury industry’s default stance on political and social issues as brands seek to sell their products across borders, and often on both sides of divisive issues. But in recent years, increased political polarisation and consumer activism, particularly on social media, have pushed brands to engage with socio-political issues more frequently. Dior’s “We Should All Be Feminists” T-shirt, Gucci’s stance against gun violence, and the broader industry’s response to the killing of George Floyd all offer examples of the industry’s growing willingness to take a stand to hasten change. On Russian aggression, however, brands have been more cautious, even though Western sanctions have already disrupted many from doing business as usual in the region. It’s a contrast with companies like Apple, Disney and Exxon, which have paused business in Russia, openly citing moral grounds. “The big decision for luxury brands is whether to join Apple…and cut off the Russian market,” Bernstein analyst Luca Solca said. “Politics is divisive by definition, while major global brands are trying to appeal to all.”

ISSU E 1

“The big decision for luxury brands is whether to join Apple and cut off the Russian market. Politics is divisive by definition, while major global brands are trying to appeal to all.” While top-spending clients from Russia have long been a fixture of fashion week audiences, the country’s material contribution to the bottom line is limited. Analysts estimate the Russian market accounts for somewhere between 3 and 5 per cent of global luxury sales, despite the repatriation over the pandemic of some spending Russians used to do abroad. Last year, Italy exported around €1.4 billion ($1.54 billion) worth of luxury fashion and beauty to Russia, less than 2 per cent of the country’s total exports for the category, according to Carlo Capasa, president of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) trade group. At puffer coat maker Moncler, less than 2 per cent of the group’s sales come from Russian clients at home and abroad, according to the brand. Valentino, which operates in Russia through a franchise agreement with a local partner, said the country represents 3 per cent of turnover. For some brands that deal in high-end jewellery, watches and couture, exposure to the Russian market could be higher, as demand is likely driven by a small, yet very wealthy, proportion of the population rather than a broad base of middle-class consumers snapping up shoes or entrylevel bags, according to Mario Ortelli, managing partner of luxury advisors Ortelli & Co. “The average [price] ticket is higher because the key buyers are [high-net-worth individuals],” he said.

N EW S

Still, in most cases taking a stronger stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would be far from financially crippling. “Given the relatively small exposure to the region, some luxury brands could follow [the example of companies like Apple] to appease consumers in the West,” said Morningstar analyst Jelena Sokolova. For Hungarian accessible luxury label Nanushka, which does roughly €50 million in sales, taking a political stance against Russia was worth the risk of losing its customers there. In addition to offering support to refugees fleeing Ukraine, the brand halted all business in Russia, ceasing deliveries, refusing new orders, and severing ties with wholesale partners in the country. “It was not an obvious or an easy choice, because we have the utmost respect for Russian people, and to Russian partners, friends,” Vanguards Group chief executive Pèter Baldaszti said. “In no shape or form do we make decisions that are supposed to harm them or humiliate them, it’s really not about that,” he said. While the brand didn’t operate stores in Russia, selling via e-commerce and local retailers, the country had been growing fast, accounting for near 10 per cent of total sales, he said. But “Luxury is not a necessity,” he said. “We can make profit elsewhere without the moral consequences.”

“Luxury is not a necessity. We can make profit elsewhere without the moral consequences.” On Thursday, the British Fashion Council urged brands to take a stand against the Russian government’s actions. “We encourage all those in our network to show their support, however they can, for

the global campaign condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the trade group said in a statement. Smaller brands can actually benefit from taking vocal stances as they carve out their niche, Bernstein’s Solca said. Larger brands with stores and employees on the ground, however, have to weigh the human consequences of a stronger stance. Others, like Valentino and Kering-owned Balenciaga, operate in the region via local franchise partners. Whether brands keep doing business in Russia is increasingly being decided by logistical factors rather than moral commitments. Western sanctions against Russia have impacted international shipments, payment systems and travel, meaning that even though luxury goods are exempt for now, many brands are unable to process payments or fulfil orders. In Italy, sanctions are “generating a systematic collapse for all the manufacturing goods exports to Russia, not only for luxury or fashion,” CNMI’s Capasa said. Burberry and Net-a-Porter are among the companies that have paused shipments to Russia as a result of operational challenges. On Friday, Hermès was the first major luxury brand to announce that it would close its three Russian stores and pause commercial activities in the region. Russian demand is likely to keep sinking, putting the economic interest of operating in the country in question. Since the invasion on February 24, the value of the rouble has fallen by more than 25 per cent against the dollar. The weak rouble will lower living standards and fuel inflation, already high in the country—as a punishing exchange rate piles on shortages of essential goods that could stem from sanctions. The phenomenon of local shoppers reportedly racing out to buy luxury items as a safe haven for wealth amid the collapsing value of the ruble is almost sure to be short-lived.

FA S H IO N A N D W A R

S O N E GR A

Marianna Senchina launched their Charity Drop in May, in which all profits from this collection will be donated to the MASHA Foundation—a charity fund that focuses on providing humanitarian aid to women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

ISSU E 1

N EW S

Whether brands keep doing business in Russia is increasingly being decided by logistical factors rather than moral commitments.

FA S H IO N A N D W A R

S O N E GR A

Vogue Ukraine September 2019 cover capturing Kyiv's local youth, photographed by Stuart Winecoff.

ISSU E 1

N EW S

Ukrainian Fashion Designers to Know and Support:

Marianna Senchina Marianna Senchina is a young brand of women’s apparel founded in 2015 by Marianna Senchina. The Marianna Senchina brand is aimed at young fashionable individuals with experimental styles. The garments are mixed between feminine and unisex silhouettes. The clothes also contain experimental details, high-quality handcrafting, and ironically fun ideas. @mariannasenchina

Bevza Established in 2006, Bevza is a womenswear brand based in Kyiv. The key approach of the Bevza design aesthetic is defined by less and luxe. Sophisticated clean silhouettes, sharp tailoring, and soft colour palettes are the core of each collection. While focusing on chic and sensuality Bevza provides a new perspective on refined minimalism. @bevza

100

FA S H IO N A N D W A R

S O N E GR A

Kseniaschnaider Kseniaschnaider is a Kyiv-based independent fashion house founded in 2011 by a married couple Ksenia Schnaider and Anton Schnaider, a Ukrainian fashion designer and a Russian graphic designer. The collections cover women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, reworked, upcycled, patchwork, denim, and accessories. @kseniaschnaider

Chereshnivska Chereshnivska is a Ukraine-based unisex brand founded in 2016. The fashion brand is focusing on innovations and sustainability, and in 2024, 50 per cent of its production will be made from recycled items. All their designs are available in very limited quantities. Chereshnivska believes that design combined with artistic value and sustainable practices will always matter. @chereshnivska

Syndicate Syndicate is a menswear brand founded in Kyiv in 2010. Since then, it has become one of the main players among Ukrainian streetwear brands and has entered foreign markets. Syndicate give preference to the laconic form and functionality of casual style, which will be appropriate for any situation and for any city in the world. @sndct_kyiv

ISSU E 1

N EW S

1 01

Words by Terry Nguyen

GEN Z DOESN’T KNOW A WORLD WITHOUT FAST FASHION. WHY DO WE EXPECT TEENAGERS TO OUT-THRIFT MAJOR RETAILERS?

FASHION

illions of shoppers, specifically those born around or after the year 2000, have never inhabited a world without fast fashion. They became shoppers at the height of its boom: Retailers like ASOS drop at least 5,000 new styles a week, and Shein offers 700 to 1,000 new styles daily. And while these young shoppers are increasingly wary of the evils of fast fashion, they have little room to protest. They buy what’s available, and what’s available is generally fast. This pace is a relatively modern innovation. Garment production has quietly accelerated to breakneck speeds over the past three decades, easing young and old consumers into thinking of their clothes as disposable. It began in the 1990s, so the story goes, when the founder of Zara spun the fast fashion wheel into motion. Zara abandoned the concept of fashion seasons for the thrill of constant novelty. A confluence of factors prompted Western designers and retailers—H&M, Forever 21, Gap, to name a few—to follow Zara’s lead in the next decade. Retailers migrated their manufacturing process overseas, where labour was cheaper. Cheaper was better, of course, from a business perspective. It was a period of excess for both consumers and retailers. Profits soared, and the number of garments produced from 2000 to 2014 doubled to 100 billion a year. The dream of “instant fashion” pioneered by Zara became a reality, and things were only about to get faster.

104

F U C K F A S T F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

Bangladeshi textile worker photographed by Kazi Salahuddin Razu.

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 05

Generation Z Toward the tail end of the 2010s, “ultra-fast” fashion brands emerged as viable competitors to the dominant fashion empires of the previous decade. They have names like Boohoo, Fashion Nova, Shein, and Princess Polly, and reached millions of young shoppers through social media, whereas fast fashion’s old guard resided in brickand-mortar stores. These retailers have now turned their attention toward Generation Z—the new kids on the block who’ve recently come of spending age. According to Pew Research, members of this demographic were born between the years 1997 and 2010, and grew up under the looming threat of climate change. Gen Z can’t imagine a world without fast fashion because they were born into its heyday. From 2000 to 2014, the average price of clothing declined in spite of inflation. Young people are conditioned to accept low prices as the norm; some even rely on these depressed costs to access trendy clothes. Why pay more when you can buy a brand new T-shirt for $5, a dress for $20, or a pair of jeans for $30?

Major retailers are investing in sustainable technologies to bulk up their business portfolios. They’ve pledged to be more sustainable and resourceful in public campaigns. They haven’t, however, pledged to make less. Even if the materials and labour used to produce fashion are marginally better, it does little to offset the clothing consumption cycle Gen Z was born into. In reality, the corporate vice-grip of fast fashion is hard to escape, even for a generation made keenly aware of its environmental implications.

Nevertheless, marketing research and surveys have found that most young consumers care about sustainability. They are avid thrift storegoers and secondhand shoppers. Gen Z wants similar commitments from the companies they buy from and aren’t afraid to demand it. This has fueled an oft-repeated narrative that Gen Z’s green habits have “killed” or significantly slowed down fast fashion’s global expansion. While fast fashion is a relatively young phenomenon, it’s part of a centuries-old industry that has adjusted to its current pace of growth.

Gen Z certainly isn’t the only group buying from these companies or responsible for their continued success (“Most people in the Global North have worn fast fashion in some capacity in the last two decades,” said Aja Barber, a sustainable fashion writer and critic). They are, however, the first to do so during adolescence as a matter of course. They have to navigate a world in which trends are more accessible than ever. And these questions they face of personal responsibility and overconsumption have remained unanswered and unsolved by older generations.

Young people are conditioned to accept low prices as the norm; some even rely on these depressed costs to access trendy clothes. 106

F U C K F A S T F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

Gen Z influencer Emma Chamberlain wearing Louis Vuitton and Cartier at the 2022 Met Gala. Photo by Mike Cappola.

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 07

The Cult of Shein Sixteen-year-old Maddie Bialek does her best to avoid fast fashion, but she can’t remember a time without plentiful, cheaply produced clothes. When Bialek was born in the year 2005, the likes of Zara, Forever 21, and H&M were annually raking in billions of dollars in sales, and proliferating in malls across America and the world. The ultra-fast fashion brands most shoppers Bialek’s age would recognise either were in their infant days or had yet to exist at all. But the speedy groundwork for their later success was firmly established in the aughts. Bialek is, in many ways, not your typical teenage shopper. She doesn’t buy from resale sites like Depop or Poshmark, and instead mends and crafts her own clothes, usually from secondhand fabrics sourced from local thrift stores. She comes from a family of artists, who instilled within her a do-it-yourself attitude that ultimately led her to reject the premise of fast fashion: that clothes are inherently disposable. “Ever since I’ve started to make and sell my own clothes, I’ve started looking at prices more critically,” Bialek told me. “If I see a new dress for $16, that makes me think someone along that supply chain who made it or transported it might not be paid well or treated fairly.”

Teenagers are a prime consumer market for brands, which are able to target age demographics in social media ads. Plus, the integration of “social commerce” onto platforms like Instagram and TikTok further blurs the lines between scrolling and shopping: Users don’t have to head to a retail site to intentionally browse. Their social media feeds are frequently encouraging them to buy through direct advertisements, influencers, or even their peers. That’s how Shein, the Chinese ultra-fast fashion retailer, became one of the most recognisable retailers for young female shoppers. The US is the brand’s largest consumer market, due to a successful blend of Instagram and TikTok marketing, low prices, and a trend-forward approach. “Most of my friends buy from Shein,” said Chelsea, a 17-year-old from California, who asked to withhold her last name for privacy reasons. “It’s not my favourite place to shop, but their selection is very trendy and affordable, so if I ever need an outfit for a special event, I tend to look for it there.”

She added that she “isn’t always perfect,” and could make improvements in other aspects of her life, such as reducing plastic waste. But as a high schooler, it requires a conscious effort on Bialek’s part to resist buying what everyone else is wearing. Social media might be a democratizing force for fashion, but it’s also an accelerator.

The advertising strategy of Shein is notoriously persistent and ubiquitous across all social media platforms. There was a brief period when Chelsea would encounter Shein content wherever she went online. It became impossible to avoid the company. On TikTok, the hashtags #Shein and #SheinHaul boast billions of views, with buyers regularly showing off hundreds of dollars worth of clothes in try-on hauls, essentially serving as free marketing for the brand.

Social media might be a democratising force for fashion, but it’s also an accelerator.

Chelsea occasionally shops secondhand, but she turns to fast fashion sites when she needs a specific item of clothing, like a graduation dress or a halter top. “When you go to a thrift store, you don’t always know what you’re going to find, which can be fun,” she said. “It’s a lot harder to find a specific style you want in a thrift store, especially during the pandemic.”

108

F U C K F A S T F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

House of Sunny’s swirling green Hockney dress came to popularity on TikTok in 2020, after users caught Kendall Jenner modelling it on Instagram. The dress became rejected by TikTokers as it soon became considered a ‘micro-trend’.

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 09

Photo by Florian Gaertner.

11 0

F U C K F A S T F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

“There is no ethical consumption under capitalism,” has been boiled into a pithy punchline, stripped of its original anti-capitalist meaning.

Capitalism

ISSU E 1

Resale applications like Depop and Poshmark have popularised secondhand or vintage buying and selling. Yet, their existence isn’t enough to curtail Gen Z’s enthusiasm toward well-known brands—even those with sustainable shortcomings. According to a survey of 7,000 teenagers by the investment firm Piper Sandler, Amazon is one of the most popular online shopping sites teens turn to for clothes and other miscellaneous items. A few ultra-fast fashion retailers like Shein and Princess Polly were also labelled as Gen Z favourites on the survey, competing with established brands like Nike, American Eagle, and Lululemon. Like many ideas on the internet, the phrase, “There is no ethical consumption under capitalism,” has been boiled into a pithy punchline, stripped of its original anti-capitalist meaning. “People are justifying why they spent hundreds of dollars on new clothes with this phrase they really don’t understand,” explained Shreya Karnik, the 16-year-old co-founder of the publication Voices of Gen Z. “Well, yes, ethical consumption is hard, but that doesn’t mean you should just drop $500 on fast fashion.” For Karnik and her co-founder Saanvi Shetty, the goal is to shop more intentionally, although they’re aware their personal styles might evolve as they grow older. While the statement’s meaning has been defanged by TikTok teens, it’s rooted in a general truth, especially when it comes to fashion. Fast fashion is, to put it bluntly, the product of a system that prizes profit over workers’ rights and environmental effects. To be clear, most luxury and mall brand companies are no better than fast fashion when it comes to this. (During the onset of the pandemic last spring, retailers like American Eagle and Urban Outfitters cancelled garment orders last-minute and refused to pay workers for their completed labour.) To be a consumer requires some level of mental separation from the production process. Executives know that sustainability doesn’t scale, at least not quickly enough or to achieve a billiondollar business model. As a result, clothing supply chains have become so opaque to allow retailers to maximize profit, and it has been decades since a majority of American-designed clothes were actually made in America. Ethical consumption simply isn’t a facet of the modern fashion ecosystem.

F EA T UR ES

111

The Fast Fashion Paradox In May 2020, two researchers from Denmark, Nikolas Ronholt and Malthe Overgaard, published a study titled “The Fast Fashion Paradox.” The pair surveyed consumers between the ages of 22 and 25, and completed one-on-one interviews with respondents to understand why the participants kept purchasing fast fashion despite their own desires to be more sustainable. “What intrigued us was how the consumers said they cared about sustainability, but that care did not translate into their actual purchasing behaviour,” Overgaard told me. “There was a major gap there. It’s become trendy to label yourself as a sustainable consumer, but it’s another thing to see it reflected in your behaviour.”

media platforms also be held liable? A majority of consumers surveyed expect the retailers to take more sustainable steps, but history has proven that, unless pushed to do so by shoppers, brands are usually slow to act. Additionally, most fast fashion corporations tend to greenwash their efforts with buzzy branding words like “conscious” or “ethical,” while failing to be specific about their goals. In 2018, for example, H&M was criticized by the Norwegian Consumer Authority for “misleading” marketing of its Conscious Collection; the retailer wasn’t specific about what types of “sustainable” materials its clothes were sourced from or what its clear goals were.

“It’s become trendy to label yourself as a sustainable consumer, but it’s another thing to see it reflected in your behavior.” This fashion paradox is especially evident in the comments section of clothing hauls on TikTok, where a few commenters would urge haulers to shop more sustainably, only for others to defend the purchase. In one Shein haul video with 500,000 “Likes,” a user commented that they were bothered by how Shein packages each item in individual plastic bags. The creator of the video responded in agreement saying, “It is such a waste, I wish they wouldn’t :(” The response set off a series of comments asking why she bought from Shein if she cared about packaging waste. Ronholt and Overgaard’s research gets at the heart of this responsibility paradox. Who is to blame in this transaction: the lone shopper who purchased hundreds of dollars worth of clothes, or the billion-dollar retailer? Should social

11 2

“The current situation looks like a deadlock,” said Ronholt. “There’s this duality in response from consumers who felt they could do better, but still wanted more transparency from retailers. Some even suggested political intervention to solve this, like a tax on things that aren’t sustainably produced.” But even with sustainability hanging in the back of people’s minds, Ronholt added that young consumers have developed a, “I like it, I buy it,” mentality that does little to offset how often they shop. This, of course, is exacerbated by social media’s effects on trend cycles and clothing seasonality: Fast fashion and major retailers no longer rely on the traditional fashion calendar, and instead operate on the premise of “faster is better” to drive sales based on novelty.

F U C K F A S T F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

113

Wear What You Own Karnik, the co-founder of Voices of Gen Z, admits she likes to browse Shein, even if she’s not planning to buy, in order to stay up to date on trends. As a teenager, Karnik’s clothing purchases are usually made under financial constraints. Price, as well as sizing availability, is a major fast fashion appeal for shoppers with budgets or other limitations. “I’m guilty of looking, and I have like 98 items saved in my cart, although I haven’t bought anything in the past year,” she told me. “I’ve become aware that fast fashion is all about trends, though, so I’m trying to look for staple pieces that will stick with me for a couple of years.” The most sustainable thing consumers can do, according to fashion critic Barber, is to buy less overall. Her proposed solution doesn’t require everyone to be perfect; it depends on individual efforts to resist novelty and trend cycles, ideally at a grander scale. “There’s a significant correlation between fast fashion, the way we consume clothing, and the rise of social media,” Barber told me. “You have teens saying they don’t want to wear the same outfit twice on social media, and to be honest, that makes me a bit sad.” The challenge for sustainability advocates is, in Barber’s opinion, education. The number of people working in apparel manufacturing in the US has steadily declined since the 1980s, and fewer people know firsthand the workers who craft their clothes. As a result, it’s become easy to turn a blind eye to how clothes are constructed and to accept the unsustainable status quo. “In general, we’re losing tradespeople in our society,” Barber said. “If more people knew how much time went into sewing a pin cushion, they could recognize exploitation in a $3 shirt and become better, more informed consumers.”

11 4

The core of Barber’s work is deconstructing corporate-driven sustainability and the bevy of products that are marketed to middle- and upperclass people, items that theoretically make them feel better about buying. Most young shoppers can’t afford, for example, handmade clothes. Some proclaim that a sustainable lifestyle feels out of reach because the products are too expensive or don’t come in their sizes. However, according to fashion critic Barber, sustainability isn’t a product, but a mindset that’s often established out of scarcity and championed by marginalised people, like her mother, who reused almost every plastic container she came across. Low-income people aren’t the consumers keeping fashion corporations afloat. “The most sustainable thing you can do is wear what’s in your closet,” Barber said. “And keep wearing it. When you need to replace something, do so with options that are secondhand.” As a young demographic of consumers, there is an expectation foisted upon Gen Z to reform their shopping habits, sometimes by their peers. And, as Shetty of Voices of Gen Z pointed out, the sustainability movement feels very gendered. Young people’s consumerist tendencies, it seems, are still malleable, and their politics largely progressive. Yet, the task of undoing decades of marketing strategy and environmental degradation shouldn’t solely fall on a generation born within these circumstances. Significant change requires action from a cohort of policymakers, marketers, and retailers—in addition to shoppers, especially those with disposable income.

F U C K F A S T F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

“The most sustainable thing you can do is wear what ’s in your closet. And keep wearing it. When you need to replace something, do so with options that are secondhand.” ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

115

Words by Rachel Deeley and Sarah Kent

GOVERNMENTS IN EUROPE ARE DISCUSSING REGULATIONS THAT COULD HELP STEER THE SECTOR IN A MORE SUSTAINABLE DIRECTION

Renewcell is a fast-growing Swedish textile recycling company with a unique technology and a world-class team of people on a mission to change the global textile industry for the better. Photo by Alexander Donka.

11 8

S U S TA IN A B IL IT Y R EG UL A T IO N S

S O N E GR A

hen it comes to sustainability, the fashion industry is notoriously under-regulated. Efforts to reduce pollution or weed out labour abuses largely rest on voluntary commitments or codes of conduct that create little accountability. Where regulation does exist, it’s often poorly enforced. It’s a state of affairs that campaigners routinely point out has failed to fuel transformative change, despite the proliferation of high-profile sustainability initiatives from brands. But that is starting to change. In Europe and the US, where many of fashion’s biggest companies are based, governments are considering a raft of new policies and regulations that could transform the industry, including stricter supply chain obligations, tighter guidelines on marketing a product as sustainable and incentives to support better business models. “The industry has been pretty used to being under the radar,” said Jonas Eder-Hansen, global affairs director at sustainable fashion advocacy group Global Fashion Agenda, but “regulation is coming.”

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

119

A More Responsible Supply Chain

A Crackdown on Greenwashing

When the US banned imports of cotton from China’s Xinjiang region earlier this year over allegations of forced labour, it raised the stakes for companies to ensure they have oversight of where and how their clothes are made.

Governments are also looking to crack down on inflated marketing claims, as more brands seek to appeal to consumers with promises of eco-conscious or ethically made products.

Fashion companies typically outsource their manufacturing, often too complex and opaque networks of suppliers outside the jurisdictions that govern their corporate headquarters, but now regulators are looking to strengthen due diligence requirements. In March this year, members of the European Parliament voted by a landslide to press ahead with proposed legislation that would make companies more accountable for ensuring environmental and social standards are upheld across their supply chains. The exact terms and scope of the new standards will become clearer later this month, when a draft of the directive is expected, but they are likely to cover any large company that does business in the European Union, even if they are headquartered elsewhere. Penalties could include fines, sanctions or import bans. It will likely take two to three years for these measures to be implemented, but “any company that waits for the ink to dry on this directive is deluded,” said Sam Eastwood, a London-based lawyer specialising in corporate due diligence and compliance.

“Those that are not getting ready right now are at risk of really being in a race to catch up with regulations.” 120

In May 2021, The Netherlands’ competition watchdog launched investigations into 170 companies, 70 of which are in the clothing sector, for making misleading marketing claims about their products’ sustainability. Those found to have fallen foul of the authority’s rules could be fined up to €900,000 (about $1 million), or a proportion of company turnover. The UK is drafting new guidance on how businesses can comply with consumer protection laws when marketing products as environmentally friendly. And in the US, a group of fashion brands and sustainable fashion advocates has written to the Federal Trade Commission asking it to review its guidance on green marketing. The EU is also looking to create common, standardised methods to communicate a product’s environmental footprint and help consumers cut through any marketing, though exactly how this will be calculated is a matter of ongoing debate. Still, the requirements could come into force within the next four years, and given the long lead times of the traditional fashion design and manufacturing cycle, brands should brace for these changes as if they are around the corner, said Baptiste Carriere-Pradal, chair of the Policy Hub, an EU policy advocacy group representing the interests of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Federation of the European Sportswear Industry, Global Fashion Agenda, Textile Exchange and Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals. “Those that are not getting ready right now, to be able to better understand the footprint of their product [and] how this can be communicated to consumers are at risk of really being [in a] race to catch up with regulations,” he said.

S U S TA IN A B IL IT Y R EG UL A T IO N S

S O N E GR A

Photo by US Cotton Trust Protocol.

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 21

Photo by Alexander Donka.

122

S U S TA IN A B IL IT Y R EG UL A T IO N S

S O N E GR A

“I’m here to encourage these world leaders to really look at laws, look at policy change, how to incentivise the young designers of tomorrow.”

Circular Incentives

ISSU E 1

When the G7 met in the UK last week, Stella McCartney was among a group of global executives in attendance, calling on policy makers to help drive sustainable investments and industry action.“I’m here to encourage these world leaders to really look at laws, look at policy change, how to incentivise the young designers of tomorrow,” McCartney told Sky News ahead of the meeting. Such intervention could help unlock long-term investments in new technologies and infrastructure required to scale more sustainable business models. For instance, the EU is driving efforts to establish a more circular textile and clothing industry, seeking to reduce waste and encourage recycling. By 2025, all EU municipalities will need to have systems in place for collecting textiles. France already requires clothing producers and retailers to pay for clothes to be collected, sorted and recycled once the consumer is finished with them in a socalled extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme, and it’s banned the controversial practise of destroying unsold products. Other governments are looking at similar schemes. The EU’s plans for a standardised approach to sustainability data could feed into circular strategies too, with potential incentives and lower textile collection costs for brands selling products with a smaller environmental footprint. While there are still hurdles to bringing these initiatives to life, and concerns about how they can be standardised across all 27 EU member-states, efforts to mandate textile collection and recycling are a crucial step toward a more coordinated, scaled-up approach to fashion’s waste problem. “Policy and regulation we all know can have a significant impact on business, and if done in the right way for the fashion industry it will encourage innovation, action and progress in the key areas like climate change and supply chains,” said Alan McGill, global head of sustainability reporting and assurance at PwC.

F EA T UR ES

1 23

A New Reporting Framework Companies of all sizes are accustomed to sharing financial figures for the scrutiny of auditors, shareholders, and regulators. Soon they may have to do the same for their performance on environmental, social and governance criteria. If done in the right way for the fashion industry, [regulation] will encourage innovation, action and progress in the key areas like climate change and supply chains. To be sure, many fashion companies do disclose some information about their performance on this front in annual sustainability reports, but disclosures vary widely. Information can be difficult to find and interpret, and comparisons are distorted by a lack of consistency. Requirements for greater transparency and more standardised reporting are on the horizon. The EU, UK and US are all planning to implement mandatory requirements in this area, with companies listed on the London Stock Exchange expected to disclose climate risks as part of financial reports by 2022. Stricter regulation will not only drive greater transparency, it will also require companies to sharpen their focus and make more effort to understand and measure their environmental footprint. “It really begins to highlight where risks might arise,” said Emily Cromwell, Deloitte’s UK consumer lead on sustainability. “That’s powerful insight. I think [it] shouldn’t be viewed as a burden, but as an opportunity.”

124

S U S TA IN A B IL IT Y R EG UL A T IO N S

S O N E GR A

“If done in the right way for the fashion industr y, regulation will encourage innovation, action and progress in the key areas like climate change and supply chains.”

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 25

Photo by Alexander Donka.

126

S U S TA IN A B IL IT Y R EG UL A T IO N S

S O N E GR A

Green or Greenwashing? The challenge is that measuring fashion’s impact is particularly complex and the consumer market the industry serves is used to simple messaging. While exactly how the PEF will be deployed is still part of policy negotiations, it’s widely expected that it will be used to help back up consumerfacing product labels. In that context, the limits of what it measures risk misleading consumers, fashion critics argue. Last October, a coalition of brands, advocacy organisations and natural fibre trade groups— who worry the methodology used may mean their materials fare badly under the new rules— launched a campaign pushing to widen the scope to take into account metrics including social impact, microplastics and how long a product remains in use once it’s sold. “I don’t think you have to be a marketing expert to know that products with a whiff of sustainability about them will appeal to consumers,” said Emily Macintosh, policy officer for textiles at the European Environmental Bureau, a network of civil society organisations that has observer status on the PEF committee.

Bad Data, Bad Outcomes In 2018, Veronica Bates Kassatly was living in Berlin, trying to build a sustainable fashion brand. It was a dizzying process, trying to navigate a maze of claims, counterclaims, industry-backed certifications and self-regulated standards. For Bates Kassatly, whose background included time as a financial analyst at the World Bank, there appeared to be alarmingly little basis for many of the impact assessments available.

support its sustainability claims, co-authoring a two-part report critiquing the current frameworks in play. The gaps, she said, are so significant that there just isn’t robust enough information to support tools like the PEF. “We can’t possibly have people putting these kinds of made-up numbers into legislation… It’s misleading and unsubstantiated; it really is incredibly important and time is of the essence,” said Bates Kassatly. The European Commission is in the process of reviewing data that could be used to support the PEF and exactly what the tool will look like won’t be finalised until 2024. But the scope of its influence is likely to become clearer in the coming months. In July, the European Commission is due to publish a proposal on how brands will be required to back up green claims, potentially laying the groundwork for the tool to become the backbone for how environmental impact is communicated to consumers. Such a move would put the PEF in pole position to become a template for global standards. But even if underpinned with a solid tool, efforts to establish environmental labels risk simply enabling more consumption, which, for many at the heart of fashion’s sustainability debate, is the underlying issue no matter how green garments become. “We’re wary of too much emphasis on trying to measure the environmental performance of products without any real attempt to reduce the numbers of those products in the first place,” continues Macintosh. “We can’t label our way out of overproduction.”

“I kept reading LCAs and finding they don’t say what people claim,” Bates Kassatly said, referring to Life Cycle Assessments commonly used to measure environmental impact. She’s spent four years researching the data the industry uses to

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 27

THE ACCELERATION OF FASHION CYCLES AND WASTE

Words by Marielle Nelson

ashion's waste issue is alarming, and despite various manufacturers’ efforts to operate more sustainably, this problem persists. It is perpetuated by micro-trends and the shortening of fashion cycles, which can be tied to the rise of short video sharing platforms as well as influencer culture. So, what is a micro-trend when it comes to the fashion industry? A “trend” is defined as a general direction in which something is developing or changing, and when we apply that to the fashion industry, this describes the popularity of a specific type of style or piece of clothing. So, a micro-trend is one that quickly rises in popularity and falls even faster. The fashion cycle of a micro-trend is usually 3-5 years, while macro-trends typically last 5-10 years. Macro-trends are the styles we tend to associate with the different decades, for instance, shoulder pads of the eighties, drop-waist dresses in the twenties, and bell-bottom jeans in the seventies.

13 0

M IC R O - T R EN D S

S O N E GR A

LIFECYCLE OF A TREND

Classic

Frequency of adopters

Micro-Trend

Time passage of fashion cycle

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 31

Supermodels Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss became recognised for their street style and popularised fashion trends in the 90s.

13 2

M IC R O - T R EN D S

S O N E GR A

How Did It Become Mainstream? The faster the fashion cycle, the greater amount of waste is produced. Consumers will likely buy more pieces to keep up with the higher volume of overlapping trends and wear them for shorter amounts of time as the pieces go quickly in and out of style. Unfortunately, this movement is increasing. The volume of clothing Americans throw away each year has doubled from 7 million to 14 million tons in under 20 years. In under 15 years, clothing production doubled as well, with the average consumer buying 60 percent more clothing pieces. Each piece is now kept half as long. So how, exactly, did micro-trends become mainstream? Before the rise of Tik Tok and Instagram influencer culture, we looked to models, movies, celebrities, and fashion magazines to set the trends that many people carefully and diligently followed. This group of people was small, and our access to them was neatly curated, which ultimately limited the public’s exposure to potential new trends and kept fashion cycles slower. In the past 15 years or so, however, the rise of YouTube bloggers, and more recently, Instagram and Tik Tok creators, have given almost anyone the ability to influence the masses. Now, there are hundreds of thousands of potential trendsetters who can quickly and easily reach millions of people.

How Do They Start? To draw in viewers and followers, these creators cleverly oversaturate people’s feeds with new and up-and-coming trends from fast-fashion brands that can mass produce quickly and cheaply. Since these influencers are in competition with others in the same space, each person is racing to popularize the next big trend. This ultimately leads to many, varying posts and videos essentially saying, “Hey, you! This is the next big thing, so go out and buy it or your closet will be outdated.” Now, we have consumers buying more clothes at accelerated rates. This is what expedites fashion cycles and creates an overabundance of micro-trends, which causes colossal amounts of waste when consumers throw away their unwanted apparel to make room in their closets for the newest fashions of the week.

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 33

Photo by Kylie Jenner.

13 4

M IC R O - T R EN D S

S O N E GR A

To draw in viewers and followers, these creators cleverly oversaturate people’s feeds with new and up-andcoming trends from fast-fashion brands that can mass produce quickly and cheaply. ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 35

ION

THE SHOPPING CONCEPT THAT COULD POSSIBLY SAVE THE PLANET

Words by Ella Alexander and Emily Chan

CIRC

ULAR

FASH

ustainable clothing not always been important to shoppers, nor to the fashion industry. This generation cares about the planet. We don’t want small animals to be choking on plastics they find in our oceans, nor do we think it’s right that Arctic blocks of ice are now mired with sizeable chunks of polystyrene. We think it is inexcusable that 300,000 tonnes of unwanted clothes are binned, not recycled, every single year. The rise of ethical and eco-friendly brands is impossible to ignore, but how do we reconcile a love of fashion and clothes in conjunction with sustainable practises? A relatively unknown term is currently being bandied around the industry claiming to be the answer—circular fashion. An off-shoot of the circular economy concept—an economic system aimed at minimising waste and making the most of resources—it challenges fashion’s linear production line that ends with clothes being discarded in landfill.

13 8

C IR C UL A R F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

Photo by Achim Schäfer.

eco-friendly photo

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 39

What is Circularity? “It is a somewhat broader term than sustainable fashion, as circular fashion combines the principles of both sustainability and circularity,” says Dr Anna Brismar, who coined the term in 2014, and has worked with luxury resale destination Vestiaire Collective to create an an easy-to-use consumer guide to the subject. “Circular fashion relates to not only fashion per se, but also to sportswear, outdoor wear and everyday wear.” “Circularity can be defined as clothes, shoes or accessories that are designed, sourced, produced and provided with the intention to be used and circulated responsibly and effectively in society for as long as possible in their most valuable form, and hereafter return safely to the biosphere when no longer of human use.” Circular fashion means that every part of the life span of a garment is cyclical—it starts with the design of a piece and how much longevity and timelessness it has, then onto the materials and whether or not they are sustainable, before the making of the item—is its production fair and ethical; are workers and animals rights being upheld? Once the piece has become tired, it should be repaired or redesigned, then—rather than being binned—rented, swapped or sold at second-hand. All this means less will be bought and less will be left ruining our planet. The future of fashion is circular. It has to be,” Stella McCartney, sustainability pioneer, explains. “Right now, the equivalent of one dump truck of textiles gets landfilled or burned every second, and by 2025 the clothing waste accumulated between now and then will weigh as much as today’s world population. We can’t ignore it.” “We are always working on new and interesting ways to be more circular as a company,” she added. “It gives us the exciting opportunity to get creative. Currently, the fashion system is linear,

14 0

“We need to evolve from just reducing our impact to making a positive impact, but this can only happen if we all work together.” so it needs a radical transformation—we need to work together as an industry with huge levels of commitment and innovation and challenge the status quo. We need to evolve from just reducing our impact to making a positive impact, but this can only happen if we all work together.” McCartney isn’t alone in her view. Bethany Williams, rising design star and recipient of the 2018 Queen Elizabeth II Prize for Design, has been applauded for her rigorous reinvention of the typical production process by turning it into a virtuous cycle. The London-based designer not only uses sustainable materials to create her streetwear collections, but also works with different charities and takes an active role in helping them, rather than just donating money (although a portion of her collections is given away to the various foundations). She gives jobs to those using a respective charity’s services so that they form part of the production line, which bolsters self-worth and self-esteem. “It’s about trying to make a cycle of production rather than just a production line. It’s a different way of operating,” Williams explains. Her goal is to set up a UK-based social manufacturing unit. “I’d set it up as a training programme and run it as a social enterprise,” she says. “I’d have different structures, so my brand and my wholesale business, then consultancy, lecturing and teaching and exhibit as an artist.”

C IR C UL A R F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

Design/ Manufacture

Recycling Sector

CIRCULAR FASHION Reuse, Repair, Recycle

Retailer

Consumer Usage

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 41

H&M takes a step toward circularity with their “Conscious Collection,” which was made almost entirely of materials upcycled from waste.

14 2

C IR C UL A R F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

Is It Realistic?

Our hunger for newness, our lastminute desire for a new dress to wear on a Friday night, comes at a price.

Online retailer Yoox agrees that circular fashion is the way forward. “Circularity is one of the many sustainable practises which are possible in fashion and we have recently been exploring it both in our buying,” says Yoox and The Outnet president Paolo Mascio. “We’ve also been exploring the idea within our special projects: the young designers from The Next Green Talents showcase, dedicated to sustainability, each created a unique garment out of prototypes from our private label 8 by Yoox, which was sold on Yooxygen.”

ISSU E 1

Fast fashion has come under the harshest scrutiny since the shift towards more considered, ethically minded shopping. Our hunger for newness, our last-minute desire for a new dress to wear on a Friday night, comes at a price. Garments are being worn much less and discarded quicker than ever before. So, is it possible for high street giants to engage in circular fashion? Yes, says H&M’s UK & IE Sustainability Manager, Giorgina Waltier, who said that the brand aims to only use sustainably sourced materials by 2030, and to be climate positive by 2040. It’s a bold, well-intentioned goal, but is it realistic? In the case of H&M, the company is starting with a focus on recyclable materials and designing with longevity in mind, before considering sustainable production processes when it comes to chemical and water management. The brand was also among the first to offer an in-store consumer recycling scheme, whereby shoppers were offered a £5 voucher in return for handing over clothes to be recycled. “For the H&M group becoming 100 per cent circular means applying a circular approach to every aspect of our value chain,” said Waltier. “We are also looking at our operations ranging from our stores, offices and logistics centres, through to our transportation to ensure that the way we run these operations enables us to reach our 2040 Climate Positive goal. In short, a circular approach across our entire value chain will enable us to maximise resources and minimise waste thus reducing our negative impact on the environment and society.”

F EA T UR ES

1 43

The Challenge Of course, sustainable clothing comes at a higher price, given the ethical materials and production processes required. Anyone with a conscience can see the benefits of shopping sustainably, but not everyone can stretch to higher price points. “There are lots of ways you can be sustainable without having a big budget,” says McCartney. “I know everyone says it, but the best way is to start by buying investment pieces over fast fashion. You can also reduce your personal impact by giving your old clothes to charity shops, to carboot sales, to friends and family or by re-selling them, therefore keeping them out of landfill for as long as possible.” This idea of reselling items isn’t new, yet it’s growing in popularity. Vestiaire Collective attracts 140,000 new members join every month, proving a change in how we now want to shop. The company by nature is part of the circular fashion process, but it still keen to dial up consumer awareness of what the term means with its newlylaunched guide available to look at on the site’s home page. The business has also dropped its commission rate to encourage more people to try pre-owned through selling and buying, also resulting in lower prices across the site. “From a style point of view, it seemed much more personal and fashionable to mix vintage and second-hand pieces with newer items, and from an environmental point of view it provided a responsible solution,” says Vestiaire Collective co-founder and creative director Sophie Hersan. “We wanted to break the rules. Ten years ago, the second-hand market was misunderstood, and the fashion industry didn’t want to recognise it. Today, the market has matured and could take over the demand for affordable and sustainable fashion.” If our future shopping investments are all made with timelessness and longevity in mind, then

14 4

the concept of fashion trends, which by their essence are transient, seems problematic. Hersan says not so. “Trends still have a place in the fashion industry and the consumer will always love to be part of it,” she says. “In a similar way, second-hand also follows current trends, but also offers a wider selection of styles and original designs that have been reedited.” There are two long-standing arguments that challenge circular fashion—the first is that it’s just a jumped-up term for recycling and the second is that a decrease in fast fashion will be detrimental for businesses, the idea that if we shop less, sales will slump and jobs will be lost. The first myth can be debunked quickly— recycling is just one of the many components of the new system; there are a number of criteria that means that a garment is truly circular. As for the second, Dr Anna Brismar says it’s up to the industry to adapt, and it needs to do so fast. “The fashion industry will be forced to come up with new ways of making business in a world that is naturally limited in time and space and in the availability of arable land, freshwater, minerals and raw oil,” she said. “As the circular economy framework suggests, we need to focus on creating valuable services instead of shortterm products. Instead of continuing to support a short-term, profit-biased and ownership-focused economy, the fashion industry needs to contribute to building a long-term prosperous and sharingoriented global economy.”

“It's more fashionable to mix vintage and second-hand with newer items.”

C IR C UL A R F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

Stella McCartney debuted their first-ever mushroom leather bag. Their vision of sustainability are perfectly embodied in their latest launch—the world’s first-ever garments made from vegan, lab-grown Mylo™ mushroom leather.

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 45

Photo by The Or Foundation.

14 6

C IR C UL A R F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

A Blueprint For The Future Currently, though, we are a long way off achieving a fully circular fashion industry. In fact, critics argue that “circular” has become yet another buzzword that’s been hijacked by brands that are guilty of greenwashing.

Critics argue that “circular” has become yet another buzzword that’s been hijacked by brands that are guilty of greenwashing.

One of the main issues is that discussions around circularity are usually limited to one piece of the jigsaw, whether that’s resale, renting, or using recycled materials. Just having a take-back scheme doesn’t mean you’re suddenly operating on a circular model—in fact, data suggests that less than one per cent of clothing is currently recycled into new clothes.

ISSU E 1

That’s why the British Fashion Council’s Institute of Positive Fashion has launched a new report entitled, “The Circular Fashion Ecosystem: A Blueprint For The Future,” which calls for a more ambitious and holistic approach towards circularity. The first step? Reducing the vast volumes of new garments produced every year—which is estimated to be a shocking 100 billion pieces globally. “The initial part is to stop the culture of overconsumption, where we know from the research that people buy a product, wear it once, and don’t feel that they can wear it again,” Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC), says. “And that product often then goes in the bin; it doesn’t even go to recycling and, therefore, ends up in a landfill. So we definitely need to change behaviour as far as that’s concerned. We also know there’s overproduction in the industry.” Secondly, it’s about extending the life of the garments that are in circulation, both in terms of ensuring customers hold onto them for longer, as well as finding a second life for them afterwards. “We’ve seen the growth in secondhand and resell, but also in rental,” Rush continues. “It’s something that businesses can really think about as part of their business model for the future.” Lastly, the report emphasises how improved sorting and recycling facilities are needed to ensure that textiles from the fashion industry can actually be used again, rather than ending up in landfills. “We know that innovation can absolutely be scaled [up],” Rush says. “In the UK, we collect more post-consumer waste in terms of textiles [per capita], and so if we actually had the infrastructure we could play a very big part in closing that loop.”

F EA T UR ES

1 47

Are We Close to a Circular Fashion Industry? While these are the three key action points highlighted by the BFC report, the journey to circularity, of course, doesn’t end there. At the design stage, for example, careful thought needs to be put into all the materials used to create a piece of clothing (from the threads to any dyeing or chemical treatments involved) and what happens to these at the end of a garment’s life. For that reason, Firth doesn’t believe that a synthetics-based fashion industry (polyester still makes up 60 per cent of fibres produced globally) can ever be truly circular. “Plastic is something that doesn’t decompose; it doesn’t go away,” she says, adding that even recycled plastic is a problem. “The majority of recycled plastic fibres are recycled plastic bottles, so when you throw away the garments, they [still end up as] pollution.” On the human side, too, there are issues that need to be addressed. “Along any supply chain, there’s people, so you cannot take people out of the equation,” Firth continues. The BFC report notes that there needs to be a “just transition” to a circular economy, to help those whose livelihoods might be affected by the changes, adding that there’s also the opportunity for more jobs to be created. How quickly can we actually move to a circular fashion economy, given the scale of the challenges involved? Well, legislation and government incentives for brands would make a significant difference in accelerating change—but in reality, everyone has a role to play. “We’re in a place where we all have to—as citizens of this planet, whether we’re in industry or consumers—play our part in change, otherwise we’re not going to move quickly enough,” Rush concludes.

14 8

C IR C UL A R F A S H IO N

S O N E GR A

“ We’re in a place where we all have to—as citizens of this planet, whether we’re in industr y or consumers—play our part in change, other wise we’re not going to move quickly enough.” ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 49

Words by Emily Chan

HOW THE INDUSTRY IS ADVANCING TO A GREENER FUTURE AND HOW YOU CAN DO YOUR PART

Buy Less and Buy Better It may be a cliche, but the mantra “buy less and buy better” is key when you consider that a staggering 100 billion garments are being produced globally every year. Before making a purchase, sustainability consultancy Eco-Age’s chief strategy officer Harriet Vocking advises that you ask yourself three all-important questions: “What are you buying and why? What do you really need? Will you wear it at least 30 times?”

Invest in Sustainable Fashion Brands Buying better can also mean supporting designers who promote sustainable practises, including the likes of Ahluwalia and Fanfare Labe, who use upcycled textiles in their designs. Narrowing your find for specific items can also help, whether that’s seeking out brands producing activewear more sustainably (such as Girlfriend Collective and Indigo Luna), swimwear (including Stay Wild and Fisch) or denim (Outland Denim and Re/Done).

Shop Secondhand and Vintage With secondhand and vintage now increasingly accessible thanks to sites such as The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective and Depop, consider buying pre-loved items when looking to add to your wardrobe. Not only will you extend the life of these garments and reduce the environmental impact of your wardrobe as a result, you can also find one-of-a-kind pieces that no one else will own. Look to the likes of Rihanna and Bella Hadid—both vintage aficionados—for inspiration.

Try Renting Instead of buying a new dress for that wedding or BBQ this summer, it’s now easier than ever to rent something to wear instead. According to one study, an astonishing 50 million garments are bought and worn just once every summer in the UK alone—a dirty habit we need to quickly ditch, given that the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is burned and landfilled every second.

152

HOW T O D R ES S S US T A IN A B L Y

S O N E GR A

Bella Hadid embarking on a Brooklyn vintage trawl in retro-inspired paisley flares from Etro, a vintage strappy cami, Vans, and carrying a Louis Vuitton Panda monogram Pochette.

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 53

Nanushka is a Budapest-based womenswear, menswear, and accessories brand founded in 2006 by Sandra Sandor. The brand uses animal-derived fabrics that are mostly recycled. For instance, it uses leather regenerated from scraps. Nanushka aims to avoid virgin sources and is working towards making all its fabrics traceable.

154

HOW T O D R ES S S US T A IN A B L Y

S O N E GR A

Avoid Greenwashing As consumers become ever more aware of their environmental footprint, greenwashing—brands using vague, misleading or false claims to suggest it’s more eco-friendly than it actually is—is becoming increasingly prevalent. Look beyond buzzwords such as “sustainable”, “eco-friendly”, “conscious”, and “responsible” to see if brands have detailed policies to back up their claims.

Know Your Materials Understanding the impact of materials is crucial when it comes to making more sustainable purchases. A good rule of thumb is to avoid virgin synthetics, such as polyester—which makes up 55 per cent of clothes globally—as these are derived from fossil fuels and take years to break down. Not all-natural materials are made the same: organic cotton, for example, uses significantly less water than conventional cotton and doesn’t use harmful pesticides.

Be Conscious About Vegan fashion While animal-derived materials, such as leather and wool, come with environmental and ethical concerns, vegan alternatives—which are often made from synthetics such as PVC—can also be harmful for our planet. Even plant-based alternatives usually contain a degree of synthetics, although these are likely to improve over time.

Ask Who Made Your Clothes With the pandemic highlighting the extreme difficulties faced by garment workers around the world, it’s essential that the people who make our clothes are paid a fair wage and have safe working conditions. Seek out clothing brands who openly disclose information about their factories and their policies around wages and working conditions.

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 55

Look For Scientific Targets To find out if brands are serious about reducing their environmental impact, a good place to start is checking whether they have committed to scientific targets. Brands who have signed up to the Science Based Targets Initiative, for example—which includes Gucci-owner Kering and Burberry—must have goals for reducing CO2 emissions that are in line with the Paris Agreement.

Support Brands Who Have a Positive Impact Eco-minded brands, such as Fanfare Label and Marfa Stance, are considering how fashion can have a positive impact on the environment rather than just reducing its impact. Regenerative agriculture—which involves farming practises such as no-tilling and growing cover crops—is a growing trend within fashion that aims to restore soil health and biodiversity.

Watch Out For Harmful Chemicals Hidden chemicals that are used to treat our clothes are a serious concern, polluting local waterways and posing a risk to garment workers. Keep an eye out for the Made in Green by OEKO-TEX and Bluesign certifications, which set out requirements for chemical usage during the manufacturing process.

Reduce Your Water Footprint Given that the production of textiles uses an astonishing 93 billion cubic metres of water annually—the equivalent to 37 million Olympic swimming pools—we should all be more conscious about the water footprint of our clothes. As mentioned previously, organic cotton uses significantly less water than conventional cotton, while the use of low-water dyes also reduces water consumption.

156

HOW T O D R ES S S US T A IN A B L Y

S O N E GR A

The regenerative cotton farm sustainable womenswear brand Christy Dawn has partnered with in India. Christy Dawn is committed to practices that honor Mother Earth and all her people. Photo by Ashish Chandra.

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 57

Elise McMahon—founder of furniture studio LikeMindedObjects in New York City—specialises in creating upcycled items. McMahon and textile designer Francesca Capone designed a chair made out of discarded t-shirts. Photographed by Caroline Tompkins.

158

HOW T O D R ES S S US T A IN A B L Y

S O N E GR A

Take Care of Your Clothes Extending the life of your clothes is key when it comes to lowering the environmental footprint of your garments, and ensuring they don’t end up clogging landfill sites after just one or two wears. Ensure your clothes last as long as possible by not overwashing them (which will also lower your CO2 emissions and water consumption), as well as repairing them instead of throwing them out.

Avoid Microplastic Pollution As it’s difficult to avoid synthetics altogether (nylon and elastane are still required in activewear and underwear to get that all-important stretch), washing clothes can release thousands of microplastics into our waterways and oceans, causing harm to marine life that ingest the tiny particles. Luckily, there’s a simple solution: investing in a microplastics filter such as a Guppyfriend washing bag, in which you can put your synthetic garments or a Cora Ball that you put in with your laundry.

Ensure Your Clothes Have a Second Life When clearing out your closet, being conscious about how you dispose of your clothes will help stop them from ending up in landfill. Re-selling your clothes or organising a clothes swap is the best way to ensure they’ll have a second life, as well as donating to charities and organisations that are looking for used clothing. For worn-out pieces that can no longer be repaired or reused, look for recycling schemes specifically for those items, where possible.

Circularity is Important There has been a lot of talk about creating a circular fashion industry of late—a system where all garments can be reused, recycled, or returned to the earth (if biodegradable or compostable). While the industry is a long way off becoming fully circular, thinking about whether your clothes can re-enter the system in any of these ways is crucial when it comes to sustainability.

ISSU E 1

F EA T UR ES

1 59

References Ahluwalia (2022) About. Available at: https://ahluwalia.world/pages/about (Accessed: 1 June 2022).

sustainable-fashion (Accessed: 1 May 2022).

Alexander, E. (2019) Introducing circular fashion: the shopping concept that could save the planet. Available at: https://www. harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/a27189370/ circular-fashion-definition/ (Accessed: 10 April 2022). Benson, S. (2021) The Radical, Fabric-First Approach of Designer Róisín Pierce. Available at: https://www.anothermag.com/fashionbeauty/13780/radical-fabric-first-approach-ofdesigner-roisn-pierce-two-for-joy-collection (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Bevza (2022) About. Available at: https:// bevza.com/pages/about (Accessed: 1 June 2022).

Deeley, R. (2021) The Sustainability Regulations That Could Reshape Fashion. Available at: https://www.businessoffashion. com/articles/sustainability/the-sustainabilityregulations-that-could-reshape-the-fashionindustry/ (Accessed: 1 April 2022). Don't Take Fake (2021) First Look: Autumn/ Winter Collection of the Kyiv Brand Syndicate. Available at: https://donttakefake.com/en/ first-look-autumn-winter-collection-of-the-kyivbrand-syndicate/ (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Fanfare Label (2022) About. Available at: https://fanfarelabel.com/pages/about (Accessed: 1 June 2022).

Bianca Saunders (2022) About. Available at: https://www.biancasaunders.com/about (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Brogger (2021) About us. Available at: https:// brogger.co/about-us (Accessed: 1 June 2022).

Goedluck, L. (2019) Fashion East: Mowalola SS20. Available at: https://hero-magazine. com/shows/fashion-east-mowalola-ss20 (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Hawkins, L. (2021) Supriya Lele: ‘I wanted to create something positive, playful and fresh’. Available at: https://www.wallpaper. com/fashion/supriya-lele-aw21-collection (Accessed: 1 June 2022).

Carlota Barrera (2022) About. Available at: https://www.carlotabarrera.com/about (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Carlota Barrera (2020) Fall/Winter 2021 Collection. Available at: https://www. carlotabarrera.com/editorial/archive/collectionfall-winter-2021 (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Chan, E. (2021) What Would A Truly Circular Fashion Industry Actually Look Like?. Available at: https://www.vogue.co.uk/ fashion/article/what-is-circular-fashion (Accessed: 1 April 2022). Chan, E. (2022) 16 Things Everyone Should Know About Sustainable Fashion. Available at: https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/

160

Chereshnivska (2022) About us. Available at: https://chereshnivska.com/pages/about-us (Accessed: 1 June 2022).

Kent, S. (2021) Green or Greenwashing: Who Gets to Decide?. Available at: https://www. businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/ green-or-greenwashing-who-gets-to-decide/ (Accessed: 1 April 2022). Kseniaschnaider (2022) About. Available at: https://www.kseniaschnaider.com/pages/about (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Leitch, L. (2021) Nicholas Daley Spring 2022 Menswear. Available at: https://www.vogue. com/fashion-shows/spring-2022-menswear/

R EF ER EN C ES

S O N E GR A

nicholas-daley (Accessed: 1 June 2022).

fashion-cycles-and-rise-in-waste/ (Accessed: 10 March 2022).

London Fashion Week (2022) Ahluwalia. Available at: https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/ designers/ahluwalia (Accessed: 1 June 2022). London Fashion Week (2022) Marfa Stance. Available at: https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/ designers/supriyalele (Accessed: 1 June 2022). London Fashion Week (2022) Supriya Lele. Available at: https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/ designers/supriyalele (Accessed: 1 June 2022). London Fashion Week (2022) Tokyo James. Available at: https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/ designers/tokyojames (Accessed: 1 June 2022). London Fashion Week (2022) Yuhan Wang. Available at: https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/ designers/yuhanwang (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Lula Mag (2020) Yuhan Wang SS21 is an Ode to Feminine Resilience. Available at: https:// lulamag.com/yuhan-wang-ss21-is-an-ode-tofeminine-resilience/ (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Maoui, Z. (2021) Harry Styles-approved SS Daley’s SS22 collection is grade A greatness. Available at: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/ fashion/article/ss-daley-spring-summer-2022 (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Marianna Senchina (2022) About. Available at: https://mariannasenchina.com/pages/about-1 (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Mower, S. (2021) Bianca Saunders Spring 2022 Menswear. Available at: https://www.vogue. com/fashion-shows/spring-2022-menswear/ bianca-saunders (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Nelson, M. (2021) Micro-trends: The acceleration of fashion cycles and rise in waste. Available at: https://wrapcompliance. org/blog/micro-trends-the-acceleration-of-

ISSU E 1

Nicholas Daley (2022) About. Available at: https://nicholasdaley.net/pages/about (Accessed: 1 June 2022). Nguyen, T. (2021) Gen Z doesn’t know a world without fast fashion. Available at: https://www. vox.com/the-goods/2021/7/19/22535050/genz-relationship-fast-fashion (Accessed: 31 March 2022). O'Connor, T. (2022) Unpacking Luxury’s Response to the War in Ukraine. Available at: https://www.businessoffashion.com/briefings/ global-markets/unpacking-luxurys-response-tothe-war-in-ukraine/ (Accessed: 1 April 2022). Róisín Pierce (2021) About. Available at: https://www.roisinpierce.com/about (Accessed: 1 June 2022). SHOWstudio (2022) Mowalola Ogunlesi. Available at: https://www. showstudio.com/contributors/mowalola_ ogunlesi?page=1&type=editorial (Accessed: 10 June 2022). S.S. Daley (2022) About. Available https:// www.ssdaley.com/about (Accessed: 31 March 2022). Taylor, E. (2022) The Met Gala 2022 Dress Code? Gilded Glamour. Available at: https:// www.vogue.com/article/the-met-gala-2022dress-code-gilded-glamour (Accessed: 20 April 2022). Yotka, S. (2021) Tokyo James Spring 2022 Menswear. Available at: https://www.vogue. com/fashion-shows/spring-2022-menswear/ tokyo-james (Accessed: 1 June 2022).

R EF ER EN C ES

161

Images Courtesy Of Achim Schäfer Ahluwalia Alexander Donka Anton Belinkskiy Ashish Chandra Bevza Bianca Saunders Brogger Carlota Barrera Caroline Tompkins Chereshnivska Christy Dawn Columbia Pictures Elise McMahon Emili Sindlev Fanfare Label Florian Gaertner H&M Kazi Salahuddin Razu Kendall Jenner Kylie Jenner Kseniaschnaider Marfa Stance Marianna Senchina Mike Cappola Mowalola Nanushka NASA Nicholas Daley Oshadi Studio Róisín Pierce S.S. Daley Stella McCartney Stuart Winecoff Supriya Lele Syndicate The Or Foundation Tokyo James US Cotton Trust Protocol Vogue Yuhan Wang

162

IM A G ES

S O N E GR A

Colophon SONEGRA MAGAZINE No. 1 Sustainability Issue

Printing The Print Centre (University of Southampton) Southamton, UK print@soton.ac.uk

Graphic Designer Rahul Sonegra

Final Major Project Writers Ella Alexandra Emily Chan Rachel Deeley Sarah Kent Marielle Nelson Terry Nguyen Tamison O'Connor Elise Taylor

ARTD3075 Final Major Project Nickie Hirst Jodie Silsby University of Southampton (Winchester School of Art) University of Southampton, Park Ave, Winchester SO23 8DL

Typefaces Digestive, 2017

Special thanks to Designer: Jérémy Landes Foundry: OH no Type Company / ohnotype.co, Studio Triple / studiotriple.fr Louize, 2013

Jodie Silsby Nickie Hirst Bruce Jamieson Alice Kumagami Futouh Almutawa

Designer: Matthieu Cortat Foundry: 205TF / 205.tf Every effort has been made to properly credit all designers, artists, writers, and photographers in this magazine.

Authentic Sans, 2015 Designer: Christina Janus and Desmond Wong Foundry: AUTHENTIC / authentic.website

Paper 300gsm / 150gsm Digital Silk

Finishing Perfect bound publication

ISSU E 1

COLOPHON

163

164

A R T IC L E N A M E

S O N E GR A

ISSU E 1

N EW S

165