Fashion's Green Mission

Through resourceful means and clever design, luxury houses and entrepreneurs alike are doing their parts to reduce the industry’s negative impact on the planet, as Jacquie Ang finds out

- Jacquie Ang

Not too long ago, fashion and sustainability would have made strange bedfellows, but it’s become impossible for brands to ignore the demands of millennials, the demographic that now has more spending power than baby boomers. According to the State of Fashion 2018 report by Business of Fashion and McKinsey, about 66 percent of global millenials are willing to spend more on brands that are sustainable. Another study by LIM College, a school dedicated to the business of fashion in New York, showed that nearly 90 percent of respondents would boycott a fashion brand if it was not sustainable.

While the industry as a whole has a long way to go before it can be considered truly eco-friendly, a number of influential fashion houses have already implemented changes that will light the way forward: through innovative design, by using recycled materials and saving factory offcuts from the landfill.

INGENUITY IN DIVERSITY

Stella McCartney remains the reigning poster girl for sustainable fashion. In July, she went into partnership with LVMH – a collaboration that should boost its sustainability credentials. A lifelong vegetarian and firm advocate of animal rights, McCartney has long eschewed the use of leather and fur and always pushed for technical innovation to create more sustainable products. Case in point: her Loop sneakers are made with a detachable sole that uses clips – not glue – to attach to the upper part of the shoe, so the components can be efficiently recycled at the end of their life cycle.