Is Sustainable Fashion Just a Trendy Marketing Tactic or a Genuine Commitment to Change?

New fashion is becoming a thing of the past as more sustainable options become more popular. A buzzword that has been floating around the retail community for years, sustainability now impacts every part of the industry, from design and supply chains to marketing and customer awareness. Vintage, thrifted, and secondhand clothes are the new trend as fast fashion companies are getting bashed for their unsustainable methods. According to its exploitative nature and environmental effect, fast fashion is now criticized. Typically, the people who make these clothes are paying very little. They cost just a few cents per item and work 12 hours a day. So what does this mean for the fashion industry as a whole? Is this trend something that could last, or just another fad?

Vintage clothes are becoming increasingly desirable with companies like Depop becoming powerhouses in the fashion world. In the past, companies would push the newest clothes to their customers. Also, the phrase “last season” was very prevalent and used as a way to assert status and wealth for those who could afford to always keep their closet updated with the newest clothes. Batsheva Hay, a woman who upcycled old fabric to make new dresses for her brand, states that fashion had been “afraid of anything last season,” even though consumers have positive associations with the word “sustainability.”

Sustainability in the fashion world would be a massive transformation to come out of the pandemic because it is so drastically different to the past ideals of fashion. The clothing company Levi’s launched a sustainable campaign called “Levi’s Secondhand” where customers can participate in a buyback and resale system. The denim can be reinvented, sold again, and even recycled in an effort to make a positive environmental change. Patagonia also introduced an effort called the Worn Wear program. Gucci, a massive name in the fashion world, announced they would be partnering with the RealReal, a notable resale site.

With big names in the fashion world stepping up and providing more sustainable programs, the entire rhetoric and stereotype of the industry is changing. It’s the first step in moving towards a more action-conscious fashion world. Giorgio Belloli, the chief commercial and sustainability officer of Farfetch, an innovative fashion platform, says, “They’re changing because of pandemic-induced economic factors and the understanding, no longer debated, that the responsibility to address the landfill problem lies not just with fashion producers, but also shoppers. 

One problem with sustainable fashion choices is that it tends to be more expensive and less accessible to a lot of people. Therefore, not as many people can support the cause. Additionally, the question must be asked: Are these big names in the industry making these changes just to boost sales and because it’s “trendy” right now, or is this a long term commitment to making real change?