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In the fashion industry there is a term called fast fashion, which means a source of quick production in order to meet the needs of the ever so changing fashion trends, as well as a production system that requires replacements often called, planned obsolescence. These are implemented in most company’s production strategies because the fashion industry rapidly updates its trends and styles, and in order for a company to remain successful, they need to keep up with these changes (Annamma, Sherry, Venkatesh, Wang, Chan 2012). This article will address how these styles of production correlate with the environment, sustainability and quality of fashion.
Over the last couple of years, sustainability and ethics have become a discussion in many corporate business meetings. With climate change trumping a lot of our news feeds, and fast fashion creeping its way into our everyday clothes, this is something that needs to be addressed (Maguire, 2015). In my research I ask the question, what companies are making the pledge to sustainability, actually doing so, and how? I have found a major contributor,
Zady who virtually illustrates each aspect of their process and how they make sustainability and the environment an essential factor in their production process. There is also the question of sustainability in the physical production, not just the fabric.
Fast Fashion Production: A study on fashion and sustainability researched that the (more recent) average turnaround time from the catwalk to the consumer store is only a matter of weeks. This is new compared to the former six months. In order to have a positive retention rates, companies need to adapt to quick production, swift transportation, and presentation ready products. If we are making clothes this quickly, how put-together can they be?
Fashion and Sustainability:
Sustainability means creating systems that are built to last. It is being future minded and including long term planning. Some of the aspects of fashion that make sustainability not possible include fossil fuels, toxins, carcinogens, and hormone disrupters (Greenpeace). Now, consumers will go shopping almost every three weeks to update their wardrobes (Barnes and Lea-Greenwood 2006).
I did an interview with one of the Co-founders for the company Zady and got a lot of information about they began such a fashion forward company. This company is a prime example of how clothes can be made to not hurt the environment and how peoples passions can change their worlds.
Maxine Bédat is the CEO & Co-founder of the fashion company Zady. Originally from Minneapolis, the now New York native has become one of the top leaders in the sustainable fashion movement. While attending Columbia Law School, it was never the plan for Bédat to begin such a journey.
While Maxine Bédat was founding the Bootstrap Project, which was dedicated to improving the lives of small enterprises and helping them to preserve their traditions, she slowly discovered how things worked. It was the handmade art of the people around her in the Middle East that enlightened her passion for the natural craftsmanship. She was amazed at the skill these people had with simply their hands and felt that it needed to be expressed to the world. While speaking with her high school friend, Co-Founder Soraya Darabi who has a digital design background, they came to discuss how things are made. It was then that the realized the importance of a production process and that lead them to wonder how things such as our clothing is made. It all started with keeping track of what they learned on a google doc. They continued to collect information and statistics about how bad clothing was for the environment.
Initially, the New Standard was information, it was a source of information for the fashion industry to take into consideration and use to their advantage. Their vision did not include clothing, they just wanted to make their research public. It was then that they began to learn more and more about clothes and how the production process could be improved that they began their own line of clothing.
What inspires Bédat “is the role that people can play in making the world better.” She sees the power that we have to gain information, understand it, and then do something about it. “Every time we buy something we are voting,” says Zady Co-Founder. We can use this power to “create beautiful clothing.”
I asked Maxine Bédat if she felt that what she and the company is doing is successful and if people actually care about this as much as we think they do. In the sense of success, the fact that people are learning and being exposed to what they now know is what the initial plan was. The website gains attention through social media. It allows for people to engage in the sustainability, and if that triggers interest, than that is one more person who is interested in making a difference.
“There are some people who look for the page because they have a genuine interest in sustainable fashion, and there are people who come across us because we are in Vogue magazine, but regardless it starts a conversation. Social media allows for our messages to travel faster and deeper. You can have personal relationships with these people”
It is important that words such as “ethical” and “sustainable” are explained when they are used. I explained that my blog illustrates people and companies who say they are making a change, but do not show it. These words lack meaning when there is nothing to stand by them. Going to the Zady.com website completely exemplifies what they are doing and shows you step by step how each product is made. The focus is bring this to light and connect people to what they are wearing.