Developed in 1958, the revolutionary LYCRA fiber invented by Dr. Joseph Shivers – DuPont Chemist – was designed to replace natural rubber in girdles and foundation garments. Driven by the outbreak of World War II those in Europe and the US began to seek alternatives for natural resources that we expected to be either cut off or redirected for military use.
This new elasticated fiber could be spun into fine filaments and stretch up to 500% of its original length while being able to return to its original shape. Being both stronger and more durable, the fiber could be used to create softer, lighter and sheerer foundation garments that are easy to care for an highly resistant to perspiration, oils and lotions.
Flash forward 60 years, and LYCRA has had many landmark moments in the world of fashion, notable moments include the use of LYCRA for the Apollo astronauts’ spacesuits in 1969; achieving recording-breaking athletic performance in the 1972 summer games; jumping onboard the fitness craze in the 1980s; and becoming a household name in 1995.
Today, LYCRA has more than 200 unique fibers to optimize the way clothes look, feel, and perform. As an industry leader in fibre innovation, LYCRA is driven to meet the ever-changing needs of consumers.
How LYCRA is furthering sustainable fashion with the use of corn
Partnering with Qore, The LYCRA Company has developed the world’s first large-scale commercial production of bio-derived spandex using QIRA as one of its main ingredients. As a result, 70% of LYCRA fiber content will derive from annually renewable feedstock.
“As part of our sustainability goals, we are committed to delivering products that support a more circular economy while helping our apparel and personal care customers reduce their footprint,” said Julien Born, CEO of The LYCRA Company.
He added: “We are especially pleased to collaborate with Qore, a company that shares our vision for innovative, sustainable solutions. Their expertise in operating fermentation processes and understanding of the chemical value chains makes them the ideal partner to help develop a bio-derived LYCRA® fibre at commercial scale.”
Production of QIRA will be at Cargill’s biotechnology campus and corn refining operations in Eddyville, Iowa, operations will commence in 2024 following the completion of the facility’s construction. The first Renewable LYCRA fiber made with QIRA will be produced at The LYCRA Company’s Tuas, Singapore manufacturing site in 2024.
“We are proud to partner with The LYCRA Company on bringing this sustainable material solution to the market. This collaboration demonstrates that QIRA® directly replaces conventional BDO and thus significantly improves the fibre’s sustainability profile. QIRA® is an innovative platform chemical that can be used in various applications across industries,” said Jon Veldhouse, CEO of Qore.
By using field corm grown by Iowa farmers, both LYCRA and QIRA will enable a significant reduction in CO2, and replace a finite resource with one that is annually renewable, while maintaining the fiber’s performance.
For sports company PUMA, becoming a more sustainable company is a constant journey, which involves all parts of its business. This attitude is best expressed in the name of its sustainability strategy: “Forever Better.”
PUMA made sustainability an important part of its strategy when it introduced its first Code of Conduct in 1993. A lot has changed since then. Today, more than ever before, consumers and retailers expect companies to be a part of the solution to the world’s environmental challenges and ask for more sustainable product initiatives and ways to decouple consumption from carbon emissions.
PUMA knows that it cannot become more sustainable by only focusing on a few individual collections, but it has to make an impact at scale. To achieve this, PUMA has set goals across 10 target areas such as climate change, circularity and plastics, which it aims to meet by 2025.
As a member of the Fashion Charter for Climate Action, PUMA wants to reduce its CO2 emissions by what scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
Here the company recently announced some important results. Between 2017 and 2021, PUMA reduced its own carbon emissions worldwide (from offices, stores and warehouses) by 88% by buying renewable energy or renewable energy certificates and by moving its car fleet to engines without tailpipe emissions. In Los Angeles, PUMA introduced its first electric trucks to shift goods from the port to its warehouse in Torrance, California.
Despite its strong growth between 2017 and 2021, PUMA also managed to reduce the carbon emissions coming from its supply chain. The company achieved this by helping its suppliers source more renewable energy and by using more sustainable, and therefore less carbon intensive, materials.
The use of such materials is crucial to make more sustainable choices at scale. In 2021, PUMA expanded the use of recycled polyester to 55% in its Apparel products, as part of its strategy to use 75% recycled polyester in its Apparel and Accessories by 2025. It is also on track to remove plastic shopping bags from all of its stores this year.
By 2025, PUMA aims to have more sustainable components in 90% of its footwear. This includes developing recycled options for leather, rubber and polyurethane. The first repurposed leather materials were already introduced in PUMA’s RE:Gen collection in 2021.
But sustainability is not only about the production of new items. With the RE:SUEDE and RE:JERSEY projects, PUMA has also started two crucial experiments to explore ways to take more responsibility for the afterlife of its products. With RE:SUEDE, PUMA made an experimental version of its classic SUEDE sneaker with special materials such as biodegradable TPE and chromium-free leather. The RE:SUEDEs were distributed to 500 volunteers in Germany, who wore them for six months before returning them to PUMA. The company will now establish with a recycling partner, whether the RE:SUEDE can biodegrade in a controlled industrial setting.
With RE:JERSEY, PUMA trialed a chemical recycling process to turn old polyester jerseys into new products. With this process, PUMA can filter out colors and other impurities to create a recycled polyester yarn with the same performance characteristics as virgin polyester. PUMA plans to scale up chemical recycling in the coming years.
In September 2022, PUMA hosted its first “Conference of the People.” At this event in London, PUMA invited industry peers, experts and NGOs to meet with representatives of Gen Z to discuss some of the fashion industry’s most pressing sustainability challenges such as waste, materials and climate change.
Because of all of these efforts, PUMA was named the most sustainable brand in the industry according to Business of Fashion, which ranked the 30 largest companies in the fashion business.
PUMA is proud of the progress it has made with regards to sustainability over the past decades. However, the company is also well aware that much remains to be done to become even more sustainable and to be “Forever Better.”
In a globally interconnected world, textiles such as leather sourced from cattle, and wool sheared from sheep, have become a serious source of deforestation, other adverse land-use impacts, biodiversity loss and climate change, while fur farms (harvesting pelts from slaughtered mink, foxes, raccoon dogs and other cage-kept wild animals) have become a major biohazard to human health — a threat underlined by the risk fur farms pose to the current and future spread of zoonotic diseases like Covid-19.
But in a not-so-distant future, fashion biomaterials made from plant leaves, fruit waste, and lab-grown microorganisms may replace animal-derived textiles — including leather, fur, wool and silk — with implementation at first on a small but quickly expanding scale, but eventually on a global scale.
In fact, that trend is well underway. In less than a decade, dozens of startups have emerged, developing a range of biomaterials that, in addition to eliminating the use of animal products, incorporate sustainable practices into their production chains.
Not all these textile companies, mostly based in Europe and the United States, have fully achieved their goals, but they continue to experiment and work toward a new fashion paradigm. Among promising discoveries: vegan bioleather made with mycelium (the vegetative, threadlike part of fungi), and bioexotic skins made from cactus and pineapple leaves, grape skins and seeds, apple juice, banana stalks and coconut water. There are also new textiles based on algae that can act as carbon sinks, and vegan silk made from orange peel.
It’s all part of a promising sustainable textile revolution that has the potential to stylishly clothe both the high- and fast-fashion customer.
Sustainable materials are pivotal if we are to transform the fashion industry from one of the most polluting industries to one that is transformative, regenerative and more humane.
Carmen Hijosa, founder, Ananas Anam
According to a 2019 report, “Fashion’s New Must-Have: Sustainable Sourcing at Scale,” researched by the McKinsey & Company consulting firm, sustainable materials only represent a small fraction of global fashion production today, but recorded a stunning “five-fold increase [in growth] over the past two years.”
Seventy-four such companies are listed in “The State of the Industry Report: Next-Gen Materials,” released last year by the Material Innovation Initiative (MII), a California-based nonprofit that promotes animal-free materials. Of that total, 42 firms were established since 2014. The number of companies is even longer, though. Firms like Post Carbon Lab (UK), Chip[s] Board (UK), and SeaWear, for example, aren’t listed.
These pathfinding multidisciplinary companies — staffed by designers, biochemists, genetic and material engineers, biologists and textile specialists — in addition to being suppliers of textiles, clothing and accessories to manufacturers, have also been partnering with major fashion brands to further develop their research and gain scale. Awards created by conglomerates such as the H&M Foundation and the Kering Group provide grants and technical support for projects in their early stages.
Sustainable fashion’s environmental implications
The evolution of sustainable biomaterials is largely a response to the need to reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry, one of the worst planetary polluters. “The fashion industry is responsible for 10 per cent of annual global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined [and responsible for] around 20 per cent of worldwide wastewater [that] comes from fabric dyeing and treatment,” according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
The fashion industry is also connected to Amazon deforestation. The share of the Brazilian Amazon involved in the country’s leather production has been growing since 2000, when it was only 7 per cent. That jumped to 27 per cent in 2010 and 43 per cent in 2020.
More than 100 global brands “are working with manufacturers and tanneries that are sourced from companies with links to cattle raised on recently deforested Amazon land,” according to a study released in November by Slow Factory, an NGO. Among them are Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Prada, Nike, Zara, H&M, Louis Vuitton, Coach and Tory Burch.
In fact, it was a visit to a leather tannery in the Philippines — his first ever in 15 years as a designer and consultant on luxury leather products — that convinced Carmen Hijosa to never work with animal skins again.
As part of their industrial process, tanneries need to prevent newly made leather from decomposing by altering its protein structure using a potent chemical cocktail containing potential human carcinogens, including formaldehyde and azo colourants.
Hijosa’s 1993 visit to the Philippine tannery spurred her research into leather alternatives. While still in the Philippines, the Spanish designer learned of an old local fashion tradition: the use of pineapple-leaf fibres to make handwoven textiles.
So Hijosa focused her research on pineapple’s potential and went back to school to study textiles. In 2013, she founded a London startup, Ananas Anam. The next year, at age 62, she gained her PhD. The result of her journey is Piñatex, a trademarked fabric made from waste pineapple leaves and already sold in 80 countries.
“Sustainable materials are pivotal if we are to transform the fashion industry from one of the most polluting industries to one that is transformative, regenerative and more humane, caring both for the environment and the people it touches in its complex supply chain,” said Hijosa. “It is our responsibility as material designers and manufacturers to develop living systems that make this change possible.”
Piñatex still has a challenge to overcome: While its finishing coating is 50 per cent bio-based, the other 50 per cent is made up of a petroleum-based resin applied to strengthen the material. Ananas Anam is currently working with a chemical company to make a fully bio-based coating.
Plant substitutes for leather and fabrics
After working with organic cotton, hemp and bamboo fibres, the Swiss fashion company QWSTIONlearned about abacá, a plant in the banana family also native to the Philippines, with strong fibres. Used by locals to make textiles since before Europeans arrived in the 1500s, “the fibre had good potential to become a material for outdoor clothing and accessories,” Hannes Schönegger, QWSTION’s CEO and co-founder told Mongabay.
According to Schönegger, abacá is produced using permaculture, so is grown surrounded by other plant species rather than existing as a monoculture. “Very often it is cultivated with cocoa trees and bigger plants that give shade. [Only] the side stems from the banana plant are chopped off to extract the raw material, so it keeps on growing for 30-40 years.”
It took three years of research in partnership with a yarn specialist and a weaving manufacturer, both based in Taiwan, to create Bananatex, launched in 2018. In addition to accessories already made with the biodegradable fabric and sold in QWSTION’s flagship stores, other brands and retail partners are creating prototypes using the abacá-derived textile, with some products likely available to consumers soon, said Schönegger.
The company is also currently testing bacteria dyeing as an alternative to digital print, a method used in making handbags. “We try to use the least harmful dyes that are available in industrial quantities. However, dyeing is an area that definitely needs improvement, added Schönegger. Synthetic chemical textile dyes have a notorious history as pollutants.
Another major issue confronting Bananatex and other companies is the environmental impacts of the global fashion supply chain. In the case of Bananatex, its product is sourced in the Philippines, moves to Taiwan for processing, then to China for manufacture, and finally arrives in Europe to be sold in stores and also over the Internet. That globe-trotting itinerary generates a lot of greenhouse gas emissions.
“In an international economy — and the textile industry is one of the most globalized areas — it is best to produce close to where materials grow and distribute the [finished] products afterwards. Because of that, Bananatex was born from the idea of creating a supply chain with short distances in Asia,” said Schönegger. “Things have to be transported at some point. And a closer look often reveals unexpected facts: Transporting a backpack from Hong Kong to Hamburg by ship creates less CO2 than from Portugal to Hamburg by truck.”
Fur from a petri dish
Mink farms, long a target of animal rights activists, generally try to keep a very low profile. But that has become increasingly difficult since the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 virus infected US and EU fur-producing mink farms in 2020, underlining the potential of those facilities for transmitting zoonotic diseases, and leading to calls by epidemiologists and public health experts for them to be shut down.
“Any time we can avoid housing animals in high-density settings, we diminish the risk of [animal-to-human, and human-to-wildlife] spillover events for potential pathogens. Raising animals for fur can certainly represent a high-density scenario. So if [alternatives to the] fur industry are successful, they could reduce fur farming and thus emerging infection disease risk,” Michael Oglesbee, director of the Infectious Diseases Institute in Columbus, Ohio, told Mongabay.
Current alternatives to animal fur are made mostly from recycled polyester, an entirely petroleum-based fibre that contributes to climate change. A potentially more environmentally friendly option is Koba, a brand owned by the Chinese company Ecopel, whose faux fur uses a synthetic fibre manufactured by chemical giant DuPont, but which is made from corn byproducts resulting from biofuel production and petroleum-derived terephthalic acid. Ecopel claims a 63 per cent greenhouse gas emission reduction for its faux fur. Contacted by Mongabay, Ecopel did not respond for comment.
Some startups are paving the way for faux fur production through biotechnology, a field that modifies living organisms to develop a variety of products. One such firm is the Dutch company GENEUSBIOTECH, founded in 2017 by Henri Kunz, a serial biotechnology entrepreneur, and Maria Zakurnaeva, who worked in the fashion industry.
When Kunz and scientist Sundar Pattabiraman produced human hair follicles in vitro, Zakurnaeva had a revelation: “Why not take advantage of this technology to produce fur, and thus avoid the death of animals?” The research team expanded its work and is now even developing wool grown without sheep. Its biomaterial fur and wool products are being made under the FUROID brand.
“We are at a stage where we have produced small organoids, a three-dimensional mass of tissue, by growing induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs),” Pattabiraman, FUROID’s chief scientific officer, told Mongabay. “These cells have been proliferated to make hair-like protrusions coming out of them. But more extensive research needs to be performed to further this project in terms of reproducibility and to [achieve] a larger scale.”
The process uses stem cells, from which all other body cells with specialised functions are generated, which are obtained by biopsy from living mink and Merino sheep. In a next step, those cells are cultured and reprogrammed into iPSCs to make fur hair follicles.
“We use a maximum of five punch biopsies per animal, after approval from an ethics committee and under supervision of a veterinary doctor, who performs the anaesthesia. All animals are kept as pets and monitored by experienced staff. We own five sheep at a university farm in New Zealand and five minks. They are sufficient to produce an endless supply of cell lines,” said Kunz. “The life expectancy of our donor animals is high, especially sheep, and we spare no effort and costs to give them the best life they deserve.”
GENEUSBIOTECH reports that its FUROID project has received a Horizon Europe grant from the EU in excess of 4 million euros ($4.4 million), and is also being supported financially by an angel donor, family and friends. The company is in talks with industry stakeholders as possible investors. The firm intends to eventually use more species as donor animals to create its biomaterials, including sable, fox and even crocodile.
Fashion bounty from the sea
Ocean species are also becoming a source of sustainable fabrics, says Mike Allen, an associate professor in the College of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Exeter, UK
“Marine microbes … evolved in the oceans over a billion years before [they did] in the terrestrial environment. Because of that, the oceans are teeming with metabolic diversity, which can offer solutions to many of our current and future problems. You name a problem, there is a microbe out there that can help overcome it,” Allen told Mongabay.
The marine biotechnologist explained the advantages of biological modes of production over more traditional ones: “Physical [production] processes generally demand a lot of energy (heat and pressure), while chemical ones are reliant on bulk commodity synthetics [which may be toxic] … As a result, fashion textiles are restricted in their nature.
“Biological solutions to materials, on the other hand, are usually smarter,” Allen continued. “They exploit living organisms to do the hard work with a lower energetic input of manufacturing, and have properties that you can control and engineer for your particular application. Strength, grip, biodegradability, water resistance, antimicrobial, color, luminescence, fluorescence, self-cleaning, self-repairing, self-lighting: You are limited only by your [own] imagination.”
Consumers driving sustainable fashion movement
As with any business, it is consumer demand and profits that are driving the conversion from wild and domestic animal-sourced fashion materials, to plant and other biologically based materials.
This seismic shift in consumer desires has become clear in recent news: For example, in 2021, after more than 25 years of partnership, the Miss New Hampshire state beauty competition in the US ended its relationship with the New Hampshire Trappers Association, a promoter of wildlife trapping that long donated a fur coat to the winner.
“Former contestants spoke publicly against the obligation to accept a fur coat as part of the prize. That antiquated tradition helped perpetuate the use of body-gripping traps, which are still allowed in the state,” Kristina Snyder, an animal rights activist and co-creator of the New Hampshire Citizens Against Recreational Trapping (NHCART) website, told Mongabay.
At the international level, trendsetting Elle magazine announced in 2021 that it is banning fur from all its 45 global editions, printed and online. According to Elle senior vice president and international director Valeria Bessolo Llopiz, “[A] fur-free future is a great opportunity to increase awareness for animal welfare, bolster the demand for sustainable and innovative alternatives and foster a more humane fashion industry.”
This story was published with permission from Mongabay.com.
Sneakers made from banana or pineapple leaves, dresses from nettles or fish scales – the search for sustainable materials has taken the fashion industry to some wild places.
Experts warn these new textiles are not a quick fix for fashion’s enormous problems with over-consumption and waste, but may be a necessary step in developing cleaner technologies.
“You could possibly eat the final product,” said Hannes Schoenegger, co-founder of Bananatex, which uses leaves from banana ..
He was speaking at the Premiere Vision Paris conference, where industry professionals gather to find out which fabrics will dominate coming seasons.
“We only harvest the sides of the plants, and they’re already growing in the forest, so no chemicals, pesticides or even water are used,” Schoenegger added.
He was among multiple stalls presenting new bio-sourced materials.
Brazil-based Nova Kaeru offered leather made from the discarded scales of the giant pirarucu fish and another from the tropical “elephant ear” plant.
Nearby, Ananas Anam showed off some Nike shoes made from waste pineapple leaves.
Nettles are in
These textiles can be relatively niche, but some companies are determined to bring them into the mainstream.
Spanish firm Pyratex offers multiple options, from recycling the waste of corn and sugar cane production, to making fibres from Icelandic seaweed, Chinese bamboo or Austrian wood.
“It’s not about replacing cotton with one alternative crop. It’s about finding a wide variety of substitutes to make sure that nothing is over-used,” said spokesperson Pilar Tejada Lopez.
One plant getting particular interest is the nettle, which can be turned into a silk-like and incredibly strong fabric that can be used in everyday and luxury clothing.
It highlights the fact that many of these technologies are not new.
“Nettles have actually been used for clothing for centuries, but we have largely forgotten,” said Lopez.
“Part of our job is reintroducing these ideas that have been lost.”
Natural limits
Others warn of over-reliance on new materials in the drive towards sustainability.
“Replacement materials serve no purpose if we continue to make the same amount of clothing,” said Victoire Satto, of The Good Goods, a media firm specialising in responsible fashion.
They could even add to the problem if scaled up by encouraging further deforestation to make way for newly fashionable plants, she said.
That is why companies like Baananatex refuse to go beyond natural farming limits.
“Our project is part of a reforestation programme, a good way of revitalising soils and providing work to local families,” said Schoenegger.
“There’s a natural limit and we won’t go beyond that, because then it would be harmful.”
Pyratex similarly puts a lot of emphasis on partnering with responsible farmers, and avoiding the ultra-complex supply chains that make it difficult for clothing companies to know who grows their raw materials and in what conditions.
But Satto says more research is also needed on the durability of bio-sourced materials, since half the ecological damage from an item of clothing is linked to its disposal.
“If the product only lasts six months, that’s enormous in terms of environmental impact,” she said.
Iterations
Ifeanyi Okwuadi, an award-winning British designer, says his focus is on how clothes are made – not what they are made from.
“When I speak about sustainability, I’m talking about the construction – right down to using the right stitch-length for each stitch because that kind of minute detail affects the longevity of the garment when you put it in the wash,” he said.
He says many bio-sourced materials are still evolving.
“Right now, there’s a lot of buzzwords to draw you in, but eventually we won’t need to say it’s from bananas or whatever — it will just be plant-based fibres.”
“I don’t use them in my work because the tech at the moment is quite primitive. But I see them as iterations, like with all technology, and we need these innovations.”
A new bill in the state of New York could require fashion brands to disclose social and climate impacts as well as order these global companies to work toward reducing their environmental impact.
The bill, if passed, requires major fashion retailers that make over $100 million in revenue globally and operate in New York “to disclose environmental and social due diligence policies [and] establishes a community benefit fund for the purpose of implementing one or more environmental benefit projects that directly and verifiably benefit environmental justice communities,” the bill states. That includes luxury brands, like Prada and Armani, alongside fast-fashion retailers, like Shein.
Under the proposed Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act, retailers that do not disclose environmental and social policies nor work toward environmental benefit projects would face penalties of up to 2% on revenues of $450 million or higher. All fines collected from companies violating the law would go into a fund used to support projects for environmental justice.
If the new law is passed, fashion brands would need to show at least 50% of their suppliers by volume, Bloomberg reported, as well as the type and materials used to make apparel and how much of the materials are recycled. The companies must also identify impacts based on their emissions, water consumption and chemical use.
The law would also hold companies accountable for reporting wages paid to suppliers, with analyses on how that pay compares to minimum wages and living wages. All of these disclosures would need to be listed on the brands’ websites. New York’s state attorney general would then create an annual report listing any brands that do not comply with the law, and citizens could then file civil suits against the retailers.
“As a global fashion and business capital of the world, New York State has a moral responsibility to serve as a leader in mitigating the environmental and social impact of the fashion industry,” said State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, co-sponsor of the bill. Biaggi also noted that the law would make the state a leader in holding the fashion industry accountable and that the law would prioritize “labor, human rights, and environmental protections.”
As reported by The World Bank, the fashion industry is responsible for about 10% of all annual emissions globally. Fashion consumption is only speeding up, too, and experts estimate that the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions will surge 50% before the end of the decade.
The law, first introduced in October 2021, is currently in committee..
Can sustainable and luxury fashion really go hand in hand?
When we think of the term ‘sustainable fashion’, words like cruelty-free, ethical, organic, and recycled spring to mind. The word ‘luxury’ however isn’t an idiom we tend to associate with the phrase ‘sustainable fashion’. Thankfully, spurred on by consumer demand and in part the pandemic, this is all set to change.
In fact, a whole host of luxe sustainable fashion brands are sashaying their way down Paris Fashion Weeks (albeit virtual) runways, making themselves known as champions for our planet’s dwindling resources, opting instead to use sustainable threads and manufacturing processes that have less of an impact on the world and the people in it.
This guide features everything you need to know about sustainable luxury fashion today, as well as the low-down on the latest luxury lines to embrace ethical fashion and the new eco-luxe labels who have seized sustainability from the start.
Even though Paris Fashion Week has been a quieter, more virtual, affair this year, the sustainable message has been at its heart. Photo by Dimitri Kuliuk from Pexels
Can High-end Fashion truly be sustainable?
There are many ways in which the fashion industry impacts the environment. From fabric sourcing to manufacturing, to distributing, sales, and dealing with returns. Sustainable fashion brands must ensure their design journey is one that avoids exploiting the planet and the people in it.
Despite what many think, with the right motivation from designers, sustainability and high-end can go hand in hand. Top luxe brands, including the famed Stella McCartney and Vivienne Westwood, are just a handful of the high-fashion houses producing ethical clothing ranges today – creating trends that not only complement our wardrobes, but our planet too – focusing on embracing quality working standards, organic materials or the latest sustainable fibre inventions.
This isn’t purely down to a luxury brands’ good nature, of course. A greater percentage of high-end shoppers are beginning to ask questions about the sustainability and ethics behind their favourite labels. If they are paying a premium, they want to know brands are also paying the appropriate premium to the people and planet they profit from.
A greater number of shoppers are starting to ask questions about sustainability and ethics when shopping. Photo by Heidi Fin on Unsplash
Joining the dots between luxury and sustainability
If, like many, you’re failing to join the dots between a high-end brand and it’s sustainability credentials, you’re not alone. Research shows that more and more of us are willing to pay a premium for sustainable clothing, but many of us don’t know what the word sustainability now entails.
There is so much noise in the industry now, such as false sustainability claims and contradictory data on a brands eco-credentials that it can be overwhelming. Many consumers who try to do their research end up with analysis paralysis. Even Stella McCartney said recently in her latest Spring presentation that she ‘Barely knows what sustainability means anymore’. So it’s not just consumers that are getting confused!
“I barely know what sustainability means anymore” – Stella McCartney
However, whether you’re a luxury shopper embarking on a greener journey, or a seasoned sustainability pro entering the luxury market, we can all do our part to ensure this segment of the fashion industry leads the way in the fashion revolution.
Be it learning more about the latest initiatives or lobbying our favourite eco-luxe designers to embrace their ‘green game’ in the most effective manner. As consumers, we hold the power.
Consumers hold the power to influence the fashion industry through their purchases. Photo by kyonntra on Getty Images Signature (Canva)
Sustainability Issues Facing Luxury Brands Today
High-end fashion brands are now, more than ever, facing a plethora of challenges. External stakeholders in the industry have expanded their attention from fast fashion to include designer brands. Challenging them to address sustainability issues through experience, innovation and collaboration.
Because of this, more and more of the big-name brand designers are getting on the sustainability train, fashioning garments that promise to outlive the fast-fashion pieces in our current wardrobes. The top improvements in luxury sustainable fashion brands is either through an amalgamation of innovative textile inventions, progressive production techniques or taking it back to the roots of traditional slow fashion production.
However, ensuring the wellbeing of customers, employees, and supply chain communities isn’t an easy feat, especially amidst a pandemic. The pressures to seem like a sustainable brand can lead to claims that are not 100 percent honest.
With high-end fashion comes power and money, and some brands will use their ample resources on campaigns to make them appear philanthropic and eco-friendly, while often cutting corners. This is when knowing what to look for is key to a sustainable investment.
Greenwashing
Put simply, greenwashing is a method used by many luxe brands to convey misleading information about how their products are manufactured and distributed. In a nutshell, companies using this method are making you believe that they are doing more to safeguard our planet than they are.
With a huge amount of greenwashing going on, it can be almost impossible to know which ethical clothing brands are 100 percent ‘ethical’, and which high-quality labels are putting what they preach into practice.
From clothing that features eye-catching labels to clever wording that suggests the threads you are about to buy are ethically sourced – words like clean, earth-loving, quality, happy, and green are being used to trick consumers into thinking they’re doing their bit for the planet.
Misconceptions of luxury vs sustainable fashion
When it comes to high-end clothing, many shoppers are under the misconception that the higher the price, the more ethical the attire. This is far from the truth. In most cases, you are paying for the label and not the quality or quantity of the fabric.
Other factors used by powerful labels to delude buyers into thinking they are sustainable is the introduction of small sustainable ranges to make them look like they are doing their bit for the environment.
Similarly, using recycled bags or packaging is a great sustainable incentive, but of little use, if the garments being housed in this packaging are made from a poly fibre or other non-degradable material.
Many ethically-created sustainable luxury fashion brands believe one of the biggest issues preventing their growth is this sustainable smoke-screen that large powerful labels create. This leads to a lack of understanding among consumers or an unwillingness to pay more for sustainable brands if a high-street brand is selling at a lower price and also (wrongfully) claiming sustainability credentials.
However, even though the majority of eco-labels’ price margins are slightly higher, these products are likely to last a lot longer, meaning you’ll spend less in the long run on replacement garments.
Before we go into our list, it’s important to remember that the most sustainable option is to not buy anything at all! If you are in need of a new purchase however, here is some advice on keeping your carbon footprint down when buying fashion.
How do I reduce my carbon footprint through buying fashion?
So, what can we do to lower our carbon footprint? Even if you’re already shopping for ethical and sustainable labels, there are several other things you can do to lower your footprint.
These include:
Supporting ‘circular’ or zero-waste labels
Investing in labels who support social and environmental organisations
Opt for in-store pick-up options if locally based and opt-out of speedy shipping
Prolong your favourite purchases by following aftercare guides, hand washing clothes and using eco-detergents
Pick clothing created from high-quality materials like organic cotton or community silk, which cause less harm to the planet
Try to reduce your clothing consumption in general by making your clothes last longer through repair and/or upcycling
So now to the list! One more quick point, if you find the majority of luxury brands on this list a little over your price limit, don’t worry, be sure to check out our article on how to shop ethically on a budget.
Top Luxury Sustainable Fashion Brands
From low luxe to high-end, many companies are doing their bit for the environment, incorporating innovation into their manufacturing and distribution methods to embrace brand sustainability in the fashion industry.
Thanks to these sustainable luxury fashion brands, who have taken it upon themselves to tackle flaws within the industry’s manufacturing methods, it’s easier than ever to keep sustainability firmly on our radars and invest in designer, conscious attire. Change starts at the top, and these guys are definitely at the top of their games!
As well as manufacturing clothing and products that are kind to the environment and sustainably sourced, a number of these green brands also support environmental organisations and fair trade working conditions.
By investing in these eco-luxe labels, you too are doing your bit to support the environment, ensuring we’re on the right track to embracing a more sustainable fashion industry in the future.
When it comes to sustainability, this is a designer label that won’t compromise on quality, constantly pushing boundaries and embracing new technologies to create an on-trend brand that is as stylish as it is sustainable.
In 2014, Stella McCartney launched Clevercare, an easy-to-understand, five-step labelling method, helping to educate consumers on clothing care and how to prolong the life of their favourite pieces. The result? A lot less waste, and probably the reason many fashionistas own at least one vintage Stella McCartney item.
To ensure the brand is always ahead of the game, regular audits are conducted to measure environmental impact.
In addition, the McCartney label is a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative, which ensures the careful selection of ethical-renowned suppliers, as well as collaborations with several environmental conservation organisations and NGOs, including Parley for the Oceans and Wildlife Works.
2. The Social Outfit
Eco-Luxury Values | Social responsibility, community engagement, waste reduction
Sustainable Materials | Repurposed and reused fabrics, donated deadstock
Australian-based brand, The Social Outfit, are a social enterprise and charity with an amazing mission. The label provides employment and training to refugees and migrant communities in all aspects of the fashion world, from clothing production to marketing. In many cases, working at The Social Outfit will be their first paid job and the first step of integrating into the Aussie way of life.
They also take their sustainability seriously. With a focus on waste reduction, they have saved tonnes of waste from landfill, through their goal to repurpose and reuse fabrics destined for the skip. So far they have partnered with over 28 Australian brands in this mission, including Alice McCall and Bec & Bridge!
3. Vivienne Westwood
Eco-Luxury Values | Environmental and human rights campaigns, cutting-edge sustainable technologies
Practising exactly what she preaches, Vivienne Westwood’s legendary label is setting an example to fashionistas across the globe by slowly transforming her brand into a sustainable masterpiece. How? Through adopting recycled and eco-friendly fabrics and using the label’s voice to educate people on Human Rights and Climate Change.
Her latest initiative is one that embraces modern-day sustainability, using collaborations and catwalk events as platforms to create awareness, encouraging ethical fashion fans to protect Mother Earth. The campaign focuses on three areas; Quality V Quantity, Gaia and Arts & Culture.
Eileen Fisher has been creating elegant and ethical womenswear since 1984. She designs luxury sustainable pieces with a focus on minimalism and inclusivity, that flies in the face of constantly changing fashion trends.
Always leading from the front, her company started their first recycling programme back in 2009, taking back old purchases to repair, clean and sell at discounted prices. Now a Certified B Corp corporation, the brand has a strong focus on supporting women, the fair treatment of workers and creating a circular fashion economy that reuses and replenishes the resources involved.
5. Rare & Fair
Eco-Luxury Values | Sustainable natural fibres, social responsibility, community engagement, transparent supply chain
This boutique slow fashion brand focuses on the promotion of handmade clothes and accessories, created by artisans using sustainable, raw materials. Their aim? To embrace the ethical treatment of workers, use planet-friendly materials and reduce waste.
Their hand-loomed, natural clothing and products come straight from the hands of the artisans, then directly to you. Opting for this method allows Rare & Fair to fully back artisan communities and handloom weavers.
The styles, despite embracing traditional methods, boast modern designs, allowing customers to look and feel great, knowing that they’ve done their bit towards supporting these ancient production techniques.
6. Reformation
Eco-Luxury Values | Local production, carbon neutral, waste reduction
Sustainable Materials | Repurposed clothing, upcycled fabrics and salvaged deadstock
LA based contemporary fashion label, Reformation, was doing sustainable before sustainable was…well, fashionable! All of their production stages, from design to shipping and everything in between, takes place at their innovative eco-facility in downtown Los Angeles.
Each collection is made using salvaged deadstock, offcuts, upcycled fabrics, repurposed vintage clothing or new sustainable materials. Their gorgeous new leisurewear, Ref Active, is produced using recycled plastic bottles.
It’s always been a problem finding sustainable office wear, especially that also ticks the comfort box as well. Dai’s creator, ex investment banker Joanna Dai, was so unimpressed with her workwear that she decided to create her own. Setting out on collections that delivered performance, versatility and function but which she was as comfortable to wear as her yoga pants!
The brand is also big on the sustainability front. 88% of their textiles are eco-certified and their Eco Luxe Essentials range is made from trees certified sustainably managed forests, meaning biodegradable and compostable. On top of that, they pay all of their staff above the London Living Wage.
8. Acne Studios
Eco-Luxury Values | Sustainability targets and reporting, External monitoring of labour conditions
Celebrated for their contemporary, uber-cool style, Acne Studios increased their collection in 2020 with the addition of a sustainable line titled ‘Repurposed’. Using a series of discarded offcuts and recycled fabrics, which otherwise would have gone to waste, the Swedish brand has created a variety of capsule lines, which have since been launched quarterly.
Acne Studios have been a member of the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) since 2008, who supports the brand to monitor and improve labour conditions, including an external and independent ‘Brand Performance Check’. This means the brand is open to their faults and constantly trying to improve year on year, all of which can be found in their annual sustainability report.
Sustainable Materials | Recycled and repurposed demin, cotton and upcycled mixed fabrics
Re/Done, another guilt-free, sustainable brand, offers on-trend pieces made from recycled materials. They first hit the scene in 2014, and have been renowned for upscaling worn Levis into bespoke, contemporary styles ever since.
The eco-conscious brand is extremely focused when it comes to adopting the latest tech to create the best sustainable fashion results. Since its launch, their offering has grown in a big way. On top of their celebrated jeans, they now design high-quality t-shirt styles, sweats and dresses, as well as a select few suits.
Often seen hanging off celebs, this cult sustainable brand is a must buy if you’re looking for a guilt-free, chilled vibe with affordable price points.
Maggie Marilyn is a New Zealand based designer who creates glamorous luxury designs using organic cottons and ethically produced silks. All manufacturing is done in her home country of New Zealand. She is on a mission to transform the fashion industry to one that is “transparent, circular, regenerative and inclusive”.
What we love about this brand is that they don’t just talk the talk. They produce their own sustainability strategy in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as well as a suppliers code of conduct. This isn’t a box ticking exercise for the brand, with regular updates on the performance of their strategies and new targets set annually.
Hopefully you’ve managed to find your next perfect ethically-made luxury item within this list. It would be great to hear from you what is your favourite eco-luxe label or the latest sustainable initiatives from your favourite brand. Comment below!
By Maxime Ducker (Founder and Chief Editor, Our Good Brands)
“Inspired by nature and powered by curiosity, we want to discover the limits of natural materials and create sneakers that are wonder, made wearable.”
YY Nation’s sustainable sneaker collection has launched on Kickstarter and is contributing to the global clean-up of our land, oceans and waterways, with every step they take. Aiming to be the most sustainable shoe in the world YY Nation has used innovation and co-laborative partnerships to redefine sustainable footwear.
Designed in New Zealand and influenced by the wonder of nature, the high-fashion, incredibly comfortable sustainable footwear range uses natural fibers, waste and plant material in every component. Each pair is produced using innovative materials such as fishing net retrieved from the ocean, bamboo, sugar cane, recycled rubber and super-soft New Zealand merino wool.
The Wellington-based start-up company, which places the principle of environmental stewardship at its core, launched the Legacy collection on a Kickstarter campaign featuring four edgy styles in 10 colours.
Founder Jeremy Bank says the company set out to redefine sustainable footwear. “Using natural materials in a purposeful design, we believe we have developed the ultimate sneakers for everyday adventures,” he says. “Using materials gathered and grown, we have created high-performance sneakers with a positive impact. The Legacy Collection marks the beginning of our quest to design out waste.”
YY Nation shoes are stylish, odour-resistant, temperature-regulating, long-lasting, durable and, most importantly, comfortable enough to be worn in the workplace, or on outdoor adventures.
YY Nation delivers worldwide and all companies it partners with are ethical and either Fairtrade or B Corp-certified. It sources materials from New Zealand and across the world, including ocean plastics for shoelaces; sustainably-sourced bamboo and nylon thread from recycled plastic for the shoe’s second upper; and algae bloom from waterways for the insole.
“We use merino wool from Kiwi farms that are focused on producing the highest-quality merino that is ethical and traceable, with the greatest regard for animal welfare,” Jeremy says. “And, we are currently going through the process of carbon footprint assessment. We are using renewable, natural resources, like bamboo, sugarcane and algae, that capture greenhouse gases and release O2.” YY Nation also uses an eco-friendly water-based adhesive, and the shoeboxes are made with FSC-certified recycled material.
Did you know that our laces are crafted from recycled ocean plastic? With this recycled material, we’ve crafted laces that are strong, long-lasting and durable. Check it out: fb.go2.fund/yynation
The journey to launch an eco-friendly footwear company started when Jeremy was on a family beach holiday in Maui, and his daughter noticed mesmerising blue colours in the sand. On closer inspection, he and his daughter discovered they were pieces of coloured plastic. “It wasn’t there 20 years ago when I was last there, so where did it come from? ” he says. He then saw an old shoe washed up on the beach and thought there must be a better way. “This moment sparked my curiosity and eventually inspired me to form YY Nation, a collective of individuals who understand the urgency of creating sustainable alternatives. We don’t have all the answers, but at our core is the principle of stewardship and the belief that the enduring pursuit of innovation begins with asking questions.”
While the fashion industry is reorganizing for the next normal after the COVID-19 crisis, European consumers have become even more engaged in sustainability topics. That presents an opportunity for the fashion industry to reiterate its commitment to sustainability. Moreover, now could be the moment to drive less seasonality in the fashion system.
Our survey was conducted in April 2020 across more than 2,000 UK and German consumers.1 It is part of a firmwide effort to capture consumer sentiment during the COVID-19 crisis.
Sentiment toward sustainability
Amid the shock and uncertainty that the fashion sector is facing during the COVID-19 crisis, there is a silver lining for the environment: two-thirds of surveyed consumers state that it has become even more important to limit impacts on climate change. Additionally, 88 percent of respondents believe that more attention should be paid to reducing pollution.
In practice, consumers have already begun changing their behaviors accordingly. Of consumers surveyed, 57 percent have made significant changes to their lifestyles to lessen their environmental impact, and more than 60 percent report going out of their way to recycle and purchase products in environmentally friendly packaging (Exhibit 1).
Emphasis on social and environmental commitments
While the industry is reorganizing for the next normal, it should consider that consumers want fashion players to uphold their social and environmental responsibilities amid the crisis. Of surveyed consumers, 67 percent consider the use of sustainable materials to be an important purchasing factor, and 63 percent consider a brand’s promotion of sustainability in the same way.
Additionally, surveyed consumers expect brands to take care of their employees, as well as workers in Asia, during the COVID-19 crisis (Exhibit 2). That highlights the need for brands to maintain ethical commitments, despite the crisis.
Overall, it is imperative to build trust and transparency with consumers, as 70 percent are sticking with brands they know and trust during the crisis. Of surveyed consumers, 75 percent consider a trusted brand to be an important purchasing factor. However, younger consumers, particularly Gen Zers and millennials, are more likely to experiment with smaller or lesser-known brands during the crisis (Exhibit 3).
Shift in purchasing behavior
With 88 percent of consumers expecting a slow recovery or a recession, general consumer confidence is low. As a result, consumer spending on fashion is also changing. More than 60 percent of consumers report spending less on fashion during the crisis, and approximately half expect that trend to continue after the crisis passes. However, consumers are likely to cut back on accessories, jewelry, and other discretionary categories before reducing their spending on apparel and footwear (Exhibit 4).
When it comes to making changes to purchasing behavior, younger consumer segments are willing to buy cheaper versions of products they normally buy—approximately 50 percent of Gen Zers and millennials in our survey report trading down (Exhibit 5).
The COVID-19 crisis has recruited new consumers to online channels: 43 percent of surveyed consumers who didn’t purchase fashion online before the crisis have started using online channels. And that shift is unlikely to reverse, as nearly 28 percent of consumers expect to buy less at physical stores—a trend seen in higher shares in Generation Z and millennial respondents (Exhibit 6).
Mindset on fashion cycles and circular business models
The survey findings indicate that the consumer mindset is not strongly tied to the fashion cycle, so now could be the moment to drive less seasonality in the fashion system. Of surveyed consumers, 65 percent are supportive of fashion brands delaying the launch of new collections as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Additionally, 58 percent of respondents are less concerned about the fashion of clothing than other factors following the crisis, and consumers now cite newness as one of the least important attributes when making purchases (Exhibit 7).
As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, 65 percent of respondents are planning to purchase more durable fashion items, and 71 percent are planning to keep the items they already have for longer (Exhibit 8). Additionally, 57 percent of respondents are willing to repair items to prolong usage.
Particularly among younger European consumers, there is interest in purchasing secondhand fashion items following the COVID-19 crisis. Of surveyed consumers, around 50 percent of Gen Zers and millennials expect to purchase more items secondhand (Exhibit 9).
Overall, consumer sentiment suggests that the COVID-19 crisis could serve as a reset opportunity for players in the apparel, footwear, and luxury sectors to strengthen their sustainability commitments and accelerate industry-wide changes, such as reduced seasonality and scaling of circular business models.
About the author(s)
Anna Granskog is a partner in McKinsey’s Helsinki office, Libbi Lee and Corinne Sawers are associate partners in the London office, and Karl-Hendrik Magnus is a senior partner in the Frankfurt office.
The authors wish to thank Poorni Polgampola, Nadya Snezhkova, and Jan Vlcek for their contributions to this article.
