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UK Edition Spring/2019

The Sustainable Luxury Report by Yasmin Jones-Henry

Presents Sustainable fashion According to:

Christopher Raeburn Priya Ahluwalia Mother of Pearl Katherine Hamnett MBE

Spring

Edition

Héritier Frères is sold exclusively in the UK, at Harrods, London and online via www.workinfashion.me 2

HERITIER FRERES

Héritier Frères is sold exclusively in the UK, at Harrods, London and online via www.workinfashion.me 3

Birdsong, London

#WorkinFashionPresents

‘Sans Filter’: The Visual Diet by Yasmin Jones-Henry ‘Sans Filter’ is the best way to describe Marine Tanguy. ‘Woman On a Mission’ is another. Our conversation is the equivalent of an adrenaline shot. For those of you who have read “When The World is Not Enough” and “Influencers Are So Last Season”, you will be well versed on what I think about the dark side of ‘influencer marketing’ and the toxic content often found on social media. So, when Marine first contacted me to arrange a time to speak, I was excited to learn more about a campaign she has inspired through her work in raising awareness about the relationship between mental health. visual content and social media. “I wanted to talk to you, because I know you get it” Marine explains. When I answered her call she was running between meetings, breathless as

this campaign begins to gather serious momentum. This first week in February has brought her so much media attention already. The front cover of the Sunday Times newspaper, multiple reposts on social media with the hashtag #VisualDiet trending in all directions. The initiative is being led by Mimi Gray, Head of Visual Content at M&C Saatchi in partnership with Marine Tanguy (CEO of MTArt Agency, an awardwinning agency for up and coming visual artists) and world-renowned British Photographer Rankin, who believes that selfie culture is both monotonous and dangerous. The health of our visual diet and its impact on our mental health will be explored

using this campaign as a case study. In a public statement Rankin said: “Imagery, like anything else, can be healthy or harmful, addictive or nutritious. And now, more so than ever, this has become a massive issue with the huge cultural impact of social media. Every platform is full of hyper-retouched and highly addictive imagery, and it’s messing people up. As a photographer, I feel like my medium has been hijacked by people that are misusing and abusing its power.” The Visual Diet project also includes an in agency exhibition of five inspiring artists throughout January, plus an Instagram account and a website, visualdiet.co.uk, where people can vote for which >

#PERSPECTIVE It’s the difference between going to the arcade, and having a PSP (Plays Station Portable). It’s the difference between posting your prom pictures in a photo album on Facebook or sticking them into an actual photo album. It’s the difference between being in a group chat with your school friends, and actually having to go to a park or a ‘place’ to play with friends. It is true, as a result of camera phones, social media, 3G internet –the Millennial’s social experience as an impressionable child walking into teenagehood is a very different experience to their elders… But the fundamentals throughout history seldom change. When selling anything, it’s a cardinal sin to presume. What do people want? What do Milllennials want? Has anyone actually asked us? Well, I’ll tell you. We want to live well. It’s that simple. For those of us who were in our early teens when the world plunged into the financial crisis of 2007-2008, many of us would have been sitting in classrooms, preparing for exams in the hope of future employment – without any security that there would even be a future, as we watched footage of grown ups in suits, walking out of offices with boxes containing all their earthly belongings. In London, property prices came crashing down. In England, we have a saying, ‘an Englishman’s home is his castle’ – well with the castles under siege, we were left feeling vulnerable, unsafe and uncertain as to how long this instability would last. Then of course let’s not forget climate change…the Iraq war, Afghanistan… When I think back to 2000-2010 – I reflect on the transition from an 8 year old to an 18 year old, trying desperately to make sense of a world that was evidently going through an existential crisis. So is it any surprise that now, this same demographic have entered the job market, can vote and have some measure of consumer power, they are using their power to champion the very essence of stability itself.

#Sustainability. Veganism is a symptom of a growing conscience and awareness that if we, the next generation do not break with the toxic habits of our predecessors, we will have no planet to call home. The dietary revolution is part of a wider movement often referred to as #wellness on Instagram. Wanting to live well, to have good mental health, pleasant surroundings and nothing but positive vibes – amounts to an industry estimated to be worth 26 billion Euros in the UK (Wellness Institute, 2017). So whoever keeps touting that line that ‘Millennials don’t care about lifestyle’ clearly has no relationship with reality or no internet access to research the data. Sitting among my peers last week, this topic came up over coffee. One friend laughed as she confessed she picks restaurants and venues based on the decor and the ‘vibes’. We might not be able to furnish country homes, but interiors – the aesthetic is still a big influencer when it comes to our senses and our spending habits. If we are more fiscally challenged than our parent’s generation, then we want products that are well made – with the best materials. Name brands don’t move us. Heritage? How about merit? It’s true, the actions of our parent’s generation, the state of the economy and the current job market we have inherited means we will be less prosperous than the Baby Boomers. But, that doesn’t equate to being poor. We are less profligate. There’s a difference. We care about the environment. We care about ethics. Strap yourselves in folks! 2019 will see more ethical and sustainable luxury lifestyle brands and designers featured on @WorkinFashion.me and in the next edition of #TheCollective. If they won’t give the people what they want… then I will. [END]

SPRING 2019

The

Sustainable Luxury Report by Yasmin Jones-Henry

“Sustainability is about common sense and efficiency” – Orsola De Castro (Fashion Rev, 2019)

#TSLReport

The Sustainable Luxury Report “Fashion is identified as one of five key industries implicated in modern day slavery.” (Global Slavery Index, 2018)

After food and shelter, clothing is next in line for the necessary essentials for human survival. Fashion wasn’t designed to be a frivolous affair. 2018 brought with it a host of hard hitting documentaries revolving around plastic waste and the use of slave labour in the fast fashion supply chains. The power of television was reaffirmed in the millions of viewers reacting in horror to the nation’s consumption of plastic goods. Nothing has been more effective in bringing home the environmental impact of plastics on the environment than footage of a sea turtle choking on a straw. People will continue to go back and forth arguing whether fashion is the biggest polluter, whether it’s in first place on in the top five, the fact the industry, globally contributes more pollution than aircraft and sea vessels combined, is indicative of the scale of environmental damage we are dealing with. The Environmental Audit Committee’s report that was released 19th February 2019, delivered some home truths that place the host of fast fashion retailers and manufactures who had been summoned to give evidence under the spotlight of public scrutiny. After interrogating the decision makers for firms such as Boohoo, MisGuided, Sports Direct, ASOS, Marks and Spencers and a host of other high street brands, the EAC’s verdict has sent tremors through the industry.

The opening line of the report declares that the current business model is ‘unsustainable’. In her introduction, Mary Creagh MP, Chair of the EAC, declared:

“Our biggest retailers have chased the cheap needle around the planet”(EAC,2019) By commissioning production in countries with low pay, little trade union representation and weak environmental protection—the industry had essentially built it’s foundations on sinking sand. Eventually the consumer would grow a conscience, or, sickened by the excess and gluttony, grow fatigued from the churn and burn cycle of cheap consumption. Unfortunately for these retailers, both eventualities have come to pass—simultaneously, leaving these sleeping giants vulnerable to the abrupt changes in consumer tastes. We all witnessed the early signals before Christmas 2018 when ASOS posted a 40% drop in share price. A hiccup? Or an early smoke signal. Later that day Boohoo and M&S also posted drop in their share prices too. Could be pure coincidence that these were the firms also hauled before the Parliamentary Committee for their use of plastics and dodgy supply chains tainted with slave labour? One of the biggest shocks of 2018, came from the Financial Times report on slave labour in Leicester where workers were being paid below the minimum wage, while being forced to work in unsafe conditions.

“Fast Fashion’s over production and over consumption of clothing is based on the globalisation of indifference towards manual workers” (EAC,2019

The public’s startling realisation that the sweatshop fashion model is not just occurring in countries like Bangladesh, China and Taiwan, but here in the UK, has brought with it further cries for government intervention in order to hold these firms to account. Cries for more data, more information and further transparency for consumers has been met with a wave of stats. Here’s the highlights:

“More than $500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing under utilisation and lack of recycling.” Ellen MacArthur Foundation

What about Luxury? One of the biggest lies the industry has promoted, has been the illusion that the luxury sector is exempt from the crimes committed by fast fashion retailers. When it comes to incinerating excess stock, unsold items for the sake of ‘preserving brand value’ some of the worlds most respected fashion houses have led the way in this practice—thinking nothing of the environmental impact, or the social implications that they would sooner set fire to an unused item than donate it to homeless charities or to be recycled. >