NYC Fashion Week: Sustainability
Photo from Squarespace stock images
We live in a world where a normal brand's main focal point is, above all else, profit. Money has become such a prominent driving force behind brand actions that our planet is suffering because of it. Environmental and sustainability concerns are slipping further and further down our agenda, but our planet can’t afford our neglection of these concerns.
The fashion industry is one of the most polluting and unsustainable industries in the world. With millions of tons of textile waste produced every year, skyrocketing levels of water and chemical use, the use of polluting microplastics, and rising carbon emissions, we are destroying our planet.
We have to push brands to take action and create long-term solutions to unsustainable practices. We need to push them to answer the question of “how can we make sustainability the most profitable way of running our business?”
Sustainable Examples to Follow
Coach
Photo Credits: Isidore Montag
This New York Fashion Week, Coach’s British designer Stuart Vevers has led a great example for how major fashion labels can incorporate sustainability into their garments while keeping the same level of quality. To the unsuspecting viewer, the denim that graced the Coach catwalk was simply denim, but if you dig a little deeper into the creation of the pieces you’ll find that these garments weren’t just artfully distressed, they were made entirely from post-consumer denim.
The same can be said for the collection’s leather handbags as they were made from vintage baseball gloves. Backstage, Vevers said, “The funny thing is, the older the baseball glove, the more beautiful the bag ends up looking.”
Coach has also started to integrate this same post-consumer denim, along with other upcycled materials, into their stores to make up a large segment of their products. Last year, the brand teamed up with Bank & Vogue to produce handbags made with upcycled corduroy and just recently they dropped trench coats made from repurposed cotton chino pants. All of these decisions are an effort to promote circularity within the fashion industry and reduce landfill contributions.
“There are some really great materials already out there in the world, and my team and I have the creative ideas to refresh them and make them feel new again,” Vevers noted.
Collina Strada
Photo Credits: Filippo Fior
Sustainability has long been central to the practices of the house of Collina Strada. This fashion week, the designer’s latest collection teaches brands how you can utilize sustainability without sacrificing aesthetic or visual storytelling and how it can actually aid creative expression.
The collection used upcycled textiles, deadstock fabrics, and intentionally uneven finishes to create a beautifully dark and vampiric narrative that subtly drew from familiar horror archetypes. The collection’s shoes in particular are made from upcycled textiles, plant based leathers, and bio-based and recycled soles. According to a sustainability disclosure from the brand, many of the materials were sourced from reclaimed production waste and re-engineered fibers. Acknowledgment of the importance of circular design principles within the fashion industry is something that every brand should express.
Maria McManus
Photo Credits: Krizstian Eder / Courtesy of Maria McManus
Maria McManus provides a great example of how to make profitable, fully traceable collections that are based on ethical practices and prioritize the planet. The foundation of her brand is based on principles like reducing waste by manufacturing in small quantities, lowering the environmental footprint of her garments, ensuring all workers involved in the supply chain are paid a fair living wage, and more. Recent collections of hers utilize organic cotton, recycled Italian cashmere, biodegradable plastics and nylon, and leather cut from deadstock hides sourced from local factories.
Will We See More Brands Move Towards Sustainability in the Future?
Major brands have already started integrating materials like mushroom leather and bioengineered fabrics into their products and luckily, today’s Gen Z and millennial consumers have had a major impact on increasing the demand for sustainably made products and company transparency. This has led more and more brands to make small shifts towards circular economy innovation and join in on the upcycling revolution. This has also led to fast fashion companies receiving immense criticism for both their unsustainability and unethical practices.
Large luxury companies that have more disposable income are one of the key factors that will help drive the fashion industry as a whole in the direction of sustainability. Since sustainable materials and practices aren’t currently the norm, they are going to be more expensive to invest in, but these luxury companies that have the means to shift in this direction and show success from these practices can influence smaller companies to work towards doing the same.
