The Price of Excess (Article)

EXCESS THE PRICE OF

The excessive consumption of fashion leads to waste and pollution beyond what our planet can sustain, but not necessarily greater happiness or satisfaction. The price of excess is undeniable, and it is time we embrace greener options which are kinder to our planet and our society.

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he word ‘luxury’ derives from ‘luxus’ - the latin word for ‘excess’. High fashion has all but traditionally been true to these historical roots: from the production of the most refined fur coats, to the retail techniques involved in distributing such products worldwide, few words can describe the luxury industry as well as opulence. As well as excess.

However, with excess always comes a price. As the word itself suggests, a state of excessiveness will never last forever, and cannot ever be eternally sustainable. We are now beginning to breach the point where, indeed, this delicate line is being crossed, with the UN suggesting we may have as little as until 2030 to reduce our CO2 emissions before the damage to our planet from climate change becomes irreversible.

Nevertheless, while the fashion industry has been a beacon of unsustainabilty for years, things are starting to look brighter- with classic brands reinventing their traditional characteristics in favour of more sustainable alternatives, to young up and coming designers and brands ready to build new chapter for the luxury industry, we are now entering the future of sutainable luxury.

Earlier this year, Zalando’s Robert Gentz, the cochief executive of Europe’s largest online fashion retailer spoke up regarding the wastefulness of fast fashion. He emphasized how “the fashion industry [ . . .] is part of a global sustainability problem,” highlighting the fact that up to 40% of clothing bought in the west is never worn.

Fast fashion - the mass production of cheap clothing, often produced in regions where respect for workers rights is minimal, if not non-existent - has radically changed the way we approach fashion retail in the past two decades. The coming of online retail stores, with their accessibility and worldwide reach, has exacerbated this effect. According to Greenpeace, the textile production is responsible for 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions, “outweighing the carbon footprint of international flights and shipping combined”.

The production of clothing involves thousands of different materials, some undeniably more sustainable than others. A common assumption is that leather, as a by-product of meat, is a sustainable material to harvest and use in clothing production - better that, it is assumed, than leaving it to decompose in a landfill, and releasing methane in the process. However, it has been suggested by research that the use of chemicals during the process of refining leather to turn it into a wearable material suitable for the production of clothing and accessories is far more environmentally damaging than the creation of an alternative would be. Indeed, the production of fur and exotic skins has suffered similar backlash, not least because of the animal cruelty involved in their sourcing, which directly relates to the unsustainable nature of the facilities where, and the methods with which, these products are harvested.

While it is indisputable that the traditional rhythm at which the luxury industry has been operating is unsustainable, awareness has undoubtedly been increasing within the sector over the years.

Fur has steadily been ruled out by landmark brands – with the likes of Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren vowing against the use of fur over a decade ago, and Gucci being the first Kering brand to publicly pledge to avoid using fur in 2017. Kering’s announcement earlier this year that it would do the same came as a welcome follow-up to that, and Mytheresa and Oscar de la Renta have followed suit within the past month. Burberry, Coach and Micheal Kors have recently committed as well. “Modern luxury is also ethical luxury,” says Marie-Claire Daveu, head of Kering’s sustainability and institutional affairs practice. While the same has yet to be done with regard to exotic skins, PJ Smith, fashion policy director at the Humane Society of the United States, views this as the next step towards more ethical practices – a step driven by consumers.

Up-and-coming brands, too, deserve the spotlight for their efforts. Stacy Anderson’s Kent – slogan “soft on skin, gentle on planet” – produces “the world’s first verified compostable underwear,” through its Plant Your Pants initiative. The briefs are designed to be cut up into pieces and buried in the ground, so that they can break down into the soil in the span of three months. Kent is not, however, the first brand to design compostable clothing – Swiss bag-maker Freitag and Swedish sportswear company Houdini have both designed compostable articles in 2014 and 2017 respectively. The latter went a step further, using the compost to grow vegetables to serve as part of a fine-dining experience. While composting textiles at a larger scale is still some time away, it is seen as “definitely possible” by composting organisation Earth Matter’s co-founder Marisa DeDominicis.

Perhaps then, luxury does not have to be exclusively about luxus. Sustainable practices have been widely recognized as the future of the industry – a future driven largely by young consumers striving for a greener, kinder world.