What is wrong with sustainable fashion?

Image courtesy of Racked

The collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh that killed thousands of factory workers called for better practice in fashion manufacturing. The fashion industry is currently ranked second in terms of its contribution to pollution. Global brands are starting to put more effort into conscious fashion. Fast fashion giant, H&M, launched its conscious fashion collection back in 2014. H&M and Zara also installed bins in its stores for customers to drop or donate their unwanted clothes for recycling. Nike also has its own collection scheme, ‘Reuse-A-Shoe’, which amounted up to 1.5 million worn out trainers every year.

In this 21st century, more and more global brands are following this trend. Up and coming brands such as Edun, Patagonia, Organic Basics and Organic Threads have branded themselves as ethical and sustainable. It is still out of reach for majority of people, but it is truly a noble effort trying to combat environmental hazard. Sustainable brands have extremely high price point compared to ‘normal’ brands. They might be slightly pricey but it is reasonable; the products from these brands are made from organic fabric which are meant to last- thus customers not having to replace them as often as they normally would.

In order for these sustainable brands to overthrow fast fashion chain from its throne, they would need to step up their design game. Many sustainable clothes are too basic and expensive, with plain t-shirts hovering around a minimum of $50. The brands might say that they are going for the minimalistic approach but they need to remind themselves of the fact that consumers are so used to seeing runway designs being reproduced to fit in high-street budget. People in the middle to lower income bracket would not be able to fork out the money for these expensive sustainable clothes. As a result, ‘ethical and sustainable’ is seen as a gimmick to hike up prices and increase sales.

Unlike palm oil, the fashion industry has not had any standard certification. Fashion brands have no grounds to claim themselves sustainable. Many would ask on the criteria of being sustainable, but whatever they may define sustainable now could be different to what sustainable is tomorrow. It all depends on how society and even science determines on the definition of sustainable.

Fabric care is also another issue and not many types of them are washing machine friendly. People just do not have the time and money to invest in dry cleaning or hand washing. On a side note, it is definitely not efficient to dry clean everyday staples such as t-shirts or under garments. People might argue on why they bother buying sustainable clothing if they are not going to take care of them. The point of those clothes being sustainable is so that people could keep and treasure them longer than fast fashion clothes.

Customers are spoiled with fast updates from major retailers. Primark, Dublin-based fast fashion company, offers new products everyday. Shopping behaviour has shifted and it is also another reason why sustainable fashion is currently not achievable. However, changing shopping habit is borderline impossible. Many brands are advertising low-priced clothing and when comparing these to the pricey sustainable clothing, customers sees it as a bargain that cannot be missed.

At the same time, fashion then becomes disposable and easily replaceable. Donating unworn clothes is not enough to stop the problem; some of them are recycled and many of them are sent to those in need. Despite the effort, fashion still contributes tonnes of waste yearly.

In Asia where the poverty rate is relatively higher than those in the west, sustainability issue in fashion are less than likely to make any news headline. Voices of concern came from western countries, which is a sign that consumerism is a sign of wealth.

Fast fashion chains like Uniqlo, Zara, H&M and Topshop are much more expensive than local Indonesian brands. People tend to treasure fast fashion clothes more than those that sold in local markets or online shops. Places such as Sungai Wang in Malaysia, Bugis in Singapore, Tanah Abang in Indonesia and ‘Ladies Market’ in Hong Kong are accountable for disposable clothes. Most factories or manufacturers in Asia would only accept big orders per style. The clothes are then distributed to markets and resellers, which is why many shop owners in the area are selling similar clothes.

Overproduction of garments has become a common issue in Asia. Many business owners would rather wholesale than selling directly to consumer. It is known that wholesaling is one of the easiest ways to roll in the money and these manufacturers would not need to spend extra cost for branding. Wholesaling also guarantees lower manufacturing cost but at times could compromise the quality. This creates an impression that clothing is meant to be dirt-cheap. Therefore, the clothes hold no value to their buyers.

The fashion industry has to find balance in quality, pricing and quantity in order to achieve sustainability. The quality of fabric, stitching and design should be the foundation to set pricing. Shoppers walk away when the price is too high yet they also do not value the clothes when the price is too low. The frequency of launching new products also affects the price and quality. Producing high quantities of garments could lead to people being disinterested, as it is overflowing the market. Limited products can create excitement and Supreme is the prime example of the case.

Fashion cannot be fully sustainable because it is a natural human behaviour to desire new things to excite them. Hence why there will always be fabric waste, but the number of fabric waste can be reduced significantly if the industry applies better practice in supplying and manufacturing.