Out With The New In With The Old

Still think stylish and sustainable can’t be in the same sentence? Well think again. We have picked out five concious innovations raising the bar on ways to shop in an eco-friendly manner while still channeling your inner fashion influencer.

Last year, the streets of London were lined with polka dots. Every turn was a vision in monochrome. It sounds like it could’ve been the opening credits of 101 Dalmatians, only there was no Pongo or Purdy in sight. Instead, a flurry of shoppers, commuters and day-trippers alike all sporting the same frock that was enough to make Cruella go dotty. It was the modest, multi-faceted midi dress that stole the hearts of women of all ages, shapes and sizes. If the summer of 2019 were an item of clothing, it would be that £40 Zara dress. It was so popular that it even got its own Instagram account with over 25k followers. But with such demand comes dire consequences. The dress that defined a season was the living embodiment of the problem with fast fashion. 

If demand for cheap garments continues at the current rate, by 2050 the industry’s carbon footprint would be equal to the amount of carbon emissions that the whole of India produced in 2018. Of course, it’s not just Spanish-based Zara that’s the culprit. Other notorious brands include PrettyLittleThing, ASOS, Boohoo and Misguided. A common thread linking these names together is that they are all British born and bred. It’s online retailers like these that have thrust the UK into being the epicentre of fast fashion in Europe. Each person in the UK buys an estimate of 26.7kg of clothing a year, compared to an average of 15.6kg for people across Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands and Sweden. 

Much of these clothes are made using cheaply produced and sourced fabrics, like polyester which has a carbon footprint of 5.5kg compared to cotton that has just 2.1kg. The proportion of these synthetic fibres in clothes has doubled since 2000, rising to 60% in 2019. There is no denying that this is a big problem, after all, it is the second most environmentally damaging industry after oil. The high street has started to pick up on this, offering conscious lines with sustainable items that promise to have you sporting looks that don’t cost the earth, literally. However, the term ‘sustainability’ is forever at odds with the long-established world of fashion. It’s a trend-led industry, so the hottest, newest fads from the catwalks are what sells. 

While some companies are definitely taking steps to be eco-friendlier, some are just using sustainability as the next ‘in thing’ which is an exercise in smoke and mirrors. This misleading practice is called ‘Green-washing’, which is when a company uses ambiguous terms to suggest it’s doing more for the environment than it actually is. But there’s a new wave of immersive retail and technology experiences emerging worldwide, providing an innovative antidote to fast fashion and help stop the damage in its tracks. 

We’ve picked out a few that are disrupting the market:

1. Transparent Shopping

The problem with many mainstream fashion brands is that they capitalise on the growing interest in sustainable and ethical clothing. Buzz-words like eco, conscious, kind and sustainable are thrown around to create a blur of fluffy marketing nonsense making it hard to know what’s true and what’s not. New platforms like Lone Design Club (LDC) are helping environmentally minded customers cut through the cons of the high-street by acting as an aggregator bringing conscious brands together and verifying their green practices.

Rebecca Morter founded LDC in 2018 after she realised her fashion label Rein, which was worn by the likes of Lady Gaga and Charlie XCX, was contributing to the fast fashion problem. LDC is a London-based pop-up shop that houses independent brands and offers the designers a chance to meet the consumers and give them first-hand accounts of how the product was made.

 “Everyone in this pop-up are being clouded by big names like PrettyLittleThing. They have such a way with people, everyone knows their name because they offer quick, cheap products that are worn once then thrown away” says Amanda Fullalove, Marketing and Events Manager at LDC. “I do think that’s changing now though, people are looking for brands they believe in and trust the person who made it, it’s an investment to them.” 

LDC’s mission is to help shift the mindset of customers seeking new clothes and educate them that spending more on an item made by a small company is money better spent than cheap fast fashion. “A lot of [the designers] have had experience in the industry before,” Amanda says, “like Fanfare Label, the designer Esther Knight was a buyer for Vivienne Westwood and it was the things she saw in the factories that made her want to get out and start a more sustainable practice on her own.” 

Just over a year ago, contemporary unisex brand Fanfare Label was born after founder Esther Knight saw the first-hand damage large companies had on the environment. “I was a buyer for both designer & high street fast fashion brands. As a buyer, I was the one that was dealing with and producing clothing to hit margin targets no matter what to cost was to people or the environment” Esther says. “I realised I couldn’t be part of this industry in the same way anymore. Rather than leaving it, I decided to offer people an alternative, tackle this issue head-on.”

“We introduce revolutionary practices into our design developments by developing a circular business model, having zero waste pattern cutting & production, producing multiple wear clothing and promoting longevity through predicting trends

 years ahead.”

2. WE’RE HIRING!

The age of Instagram and influencers has developed a culture that relies on new outfits for every new event. Let’s face it, we’ve all been guilty of doing something for the ‘gram.  A study by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation found that 50% of fast fashion that is made will be disposed of within that same year, which this new culture Is largely to blame for. It’s not only created a surge in fast fashion purchases, but also a practice called ‘wardrobing’. This is where customers return worn products to retailers, which astonishingly 1 in 5 British clothes shoppers between the age of 24 and 35 admitted to doing it. If wearing an outfit once is what people want, then clothes hire is surely the answer.

What was once limited to formal wear to offer short term rentals of posh gowns and red-carpet looks, is now expanded to clothes for all occasions and even shoes and designer bags are on offer. You can live out your Cinderella fantasies and get glam for one night only without breaking the bank. The companies either charge a one-off fee for an item or offer a subscription service for unlimited clothes hire. 

The business model is already really big in America, with pioneering brands like Rent the Runway which is worth a billion dollars. But new British companies have started cropping up in recent years, like Girl Meets Dress, Hurr Collective and Hire Street. “Extending the life of the clothes you own is the best way to reduce your fashion footprint.” Renting is a great way to be sustainable. It’s a driving force of our community and our business. Renting is the future of fashion” said Victorica Prew, Founder of Hurr Collective, to The Telegraph last year.  

A study carried out by Westfield Shopping Centres revealed that the potential rental retail market is worth £923 million in the UK alone. So, save some pennies to go alongside your Netflix subscription as this is set to be the next big thing. 

3. SWAPSIES

Remember when you used to swap wacky stationary, trinkets or playing cards as a kid with your pals? Well, this is like the adult version of that. Clothes swapping is a circular economy model, meaning you can get ‘new’ clothes without buying into fast fashion. It’s something you can do between friends or attend events by organisations putting swapping on the fashion map. 

Global Fashion Exchange (GFX) is an international platform that empowers consumers to be more mindful while updating their wardrobes by saving clothes going to landfill through clothes swapping. In February 2020, GFX collaborated with designer Patrick McDowell, Lablaco, Swap Rebellion and Swarovski Crystals to host the first-ever swap shop at London Fashion Week. “It’s an experiment. It’s never been done before. It fits in with the way the world’s moving, towards experiences, rather than consuming” McDowell told The Guardian.

GFX events happen across the globe and anyone can add their own event too. At one of these swaps shops, you attend with a bag of unwanted clothes that act as your currency. One item equals one ticket and a ticket can be exchanged for one item of clothing. The GFX team then sort through the clothes and items of good quality are put into the swap hall into sections in a retail shop format. The stuff that doesn’t make the cut is whisked off to be repurposed into a new garment. So, if you’re strapped for cash but are desperately bored with your current fashion offerings, then why not attend a swap or organise one of your own? The excitement of not knowing what you’ll

find is enough to sway anyone.

4. GET TECHY WITH IT

When thinking about technological innovations in businesses, fashion is not something that usually springs to mind. Blockchain is something that was first used in the finance and banking sectors but has now started to flow into the fashion industry too. Now that brands are urged to be more transparent about the production process and supply chains of their garments, blockchain technology is an excellent addition. It attaches a unique serial number and a QR code to an item which allows it to be tracked. Anyone can see the journey that item has been on from manufacture to end customer. 

Founded with a mission to make fashion circular, Lablaco is the very first retail platform that has implemented blockchain.  The company has revolutionised the average shopping experience by introducing traceability technology on their pre-loved e-commerce website. To put it in simple terms, if Beyoncé once owned that vintage Prada bag you were just eyeing up on their website, then you will know about it. 

Lorenzo Albrighi, co-founder of Lablaco, says their mission is to enable circular retail at scale. “Customers need to have a better alternative to fast fashion, so [they need] cheaper clothes at a fraction of the impact,” he says, “Swapping and pre-owned is going to disrupt the industry in the near future.” One of their goals is to recirculate 100,00 fashion items and partnering with GFX at this year’s London Fashion Week brought them leaps and bounds towards their goal. “Attending the LFW swap shop, endorsed by The British Fashion Council, has really leveraged blockchain,” Lorenzo says. “By providing the items ownership history and estimated environmental impact, in just 3 days we saved the equivalent of 600,000 litres of water and 4 tonnes of CO2.”