Transparency is the starting point of the circular fashion road map
Greetings!
How are you?! I often wonder how all these emails are being received…feel free to drop me a line or reply to my weekly emails with YOUR thoughts on the matter at hand (or any matter on your mind…).
Our discussion of circular fashion continues this week. So far we’ve learned that the fashion industry is currently flat and that the promise of recycling plastic has not been fulfilled…and that 70% of our clothes are made of plastic…
Today we wonder – how can we create circularity in fashion if we don’t know what our clothes are made of, who is making them, or where they are made (and under what conditions). What we need is *information* – accurate information that creates a true picture of how clothing is made. A real account of the global fashion industry from growing the cotton to donating the jeans and all that happens in between.
This information and a clear picture of clothing production remain elusive for most of the fashion industry. What we need to create circularity is transparency. As consumers become more educated and demand more information, brands are looking for ways to increase transparency and share information – some of them are just looking to map their own supply chains in the first place.
This NY Times article highlights two brands that are trying to create transparency for consumers. I personally love the sustainable facts label (attached) from Nisolo (also one of my favorite sustainable brands) – this label is a more digestible way to understand how our clothes are made – but there is still work to be done.
Similar to the food industry, the fashion industry needs standards. Common language and measures make a tool like the sustainable facts label more useful to the average consumer. Tools like these will make it more obvious what our clothes are made of, who makes them, and where they have traveled before they arrive in our closets – all the information we need to determine how to create a circle out of that flat production line.
Until next week,
Kevin xo