The first time fashion came close to an official United Nations climate conference like the one just held in Glasgow, Scotland, was in 2009. It was COP15 (COP stands for “conference of the parties”). “), and it was held in Copenhagen. I write “near” a COP because fashion was not considered the focus of the climate conversation back then. It’s not, somehow, serious full.
In fact, fashion is so marginalized that to talk about its role in creating and combating climate change, it has to hold a conference of its own. And so the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, focused on sustainability, was born.
It took more than a decade, but things have changed. There has been a lot of talk this year about the financial giants finally coming to the COP table, but this is the first year that fashion has had a wide and meaningful presence. As Stella McCartney, who created a special documentary exhibition “Future of Fashion” at Kelvingrove Art Gallery, says, after nearly two decades of promoting fashion acknowledging its effect on environment, she is no longer a “virgin COP”.
Here’s what else stuck with me from COP26.
1. There are many official actions.
In the middle of the Blue Zone (the official delegate area – ie the place where world leaders speak), there is an installation by a fashion collective called Generation of Waste made to mimics a bar chart of the different stages of textile waste. , from design through raw materials, garment manufacturing, etc.
The United Nations Environment Program has released a new version of its fashion charter originally created in 2018, which now has 130 signatories, including LVMH for the first time and with a stronger commitment. to halve carbon emissions by 2030 (and reach net zero by 2050).
In addition, Federico Marchetti, former president of Yoox Net a Porter, revealed a digital ID created by Prince Charles’s Sustainable Markets Initiative fashion task force: a garment card. Scanable wearable works like a DNA trace for a product’s manufacturing history, using blockchain technology.
And the Textile Exchange, an NGO that sounds like a fabric trading station but is really focused on creating global standards in fashion, presented a trade policy inquiry. for national governments backed by 50 brands. It’s a meaningless term for calls to create import-export and tariff structures that encourage companies to use “environmentally preferred materials” rather than polyester. By the way, this is the most used material in the entire fashion industry.
2. A false truth was eventually abandoned.
No one talks about the fake index which is now discredited but formerly very popular “fashion is the second most polluting industry on the planet”. Everyone eventually agreed that it was one of the worst, and that was bad enough.
3. “Degrowth” is the word of the moment.
Maturity: means less product is produced. Means action was taken to deal with the fact that in the first 15 years of this century, clothing production doubled, but the number of times a piece of clothing was worn before being thrown away fell by 36%. . For a long time, the response to this kind of data has been to urge consumers to “buy less!” and “wear longer!” Now, it seems brands have played their part in this regard.
That said, it’s hard to imagine LVMH’s Bernard Arnault or Ralph Lauren standing up at their annual shareholder meeting and announcing that their strategy for 2022 is to “decelerate”. (Sounds like a potential “Saturday Night Live” skit.) Except that Halide Alagöz, director of sustainability at Ralph Lauren, revealed in a New York Times Climate Hub panel that the brand signal had secretly tried it.
4. Resale becomes reuse.
Designers are also being innovative when it comes to products that exist in the world. One of my favorite points comes from William McDonough, author of “Cradle to Cradle,” a kind of founding manifesto on the circular economy, who pointed out that we should think of apparel as the raw material. whether the source can be reused for a second time and for a third use.
This is exactly what British designer Priya Ahluwalia thought when she collaborated with Microsoft to create a platform called Circulate, which allows consumers to send their used clothes to her company. If the clothes are in acceptable condition, they will be remade and included in her next collection and the donor will receive “bonus points” for new purchases with the brand. It was a sourcing hack that Ahluwalia says opened up a whole new channel of fabrics and ideas for her.
5. But watch out for “regeneration”.
It’s a buzzword growing in fashion, thanks to regenerative agriculture, a farming technique that restores soil health and nutrients. One of the less-discussed aspects of fashion is how closely tied it is to agriculture – many brands are now investing in supporting regenerative farming – but the word has jumped along and filtered to the industrial sectors. The company prides itself on “strategic rebirth” and “tactical rebirth,” which seem to mean…well, not sure what that means. But it looks good, doesn’t it?
This is the kind of fuzzy language that can lead to green cleaning fees, which is why the Textile Exchange is working on a specific definition, due out next year.
Honestly, they could have expanded the definition to include the entire fashion vocabulary so everyone would use the same language. For example, another word that I bet we’ll hear more of thanks to the McKinsey report: “nearshoring,” which means using suppliers that aren’t necessarily located in your country but aren’t halfway away. earth circle. After all, according to a presentation by British brand Bamford, the average merino wool sweater travels 18,000 miles over its entire production cycle, from raw materials to manufacturing to boutique shopping. .
Probably a project for COP27.
📣 For more lifestyle news, follow us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook and don’t miss the latest updates!
