How Luxury fashion is more sustainable in ways that Fast fashion is not

Sustainability is the consumption and production of fashion with minimal wastage of natural resources. Fashion is divided into sectors such as luxury fashion and fast fashion. Luxury fashion is meant to be exclusive and expensive as well as having their own identity in their styles. On the other hand, fast fashion brands cater to similar styles and products and are priced low. Since luxury brands have a premium price they can afford to be sustainable. Price place a huge role in the luxury fashion industry, that fast fashion does not have.
Traditional luxury fashion brands such as Gucci, Prada, & Louis Vuitton maintain strong positions within the industry where fast fashion brands such as H&M, Zara, Forever 21 are storming the globe with their versatile style and low price. 

Sustainability practices technology ,materials are comparatively more expensive than those of regular fashion.Fast fashion brands cannot afford high pricing strategies as luxury brands,.Therefore they do not have the financial capital necessary to be invested in sustainable practices.
Luxury fashion and fast fashion have two different types of consumers so they cater to different styles of clothing. 

The term luxury in the fashion sector is described as unique, intriguing, and known for its longevity. The world\’s second most polluting industry after oil is fashion. Luxury brands are also considered as prominent than fast fashion brands as they provided means to the lifestyle this triggers deep psychological emotional needs. Luxury brands have an identified status, exceptional quality, creativity, after purchase service and other significant benefits. 

Online luxury brands such as Selfridge & browns, Matches Fashion and Net-a-Portre are examples for sustainable brands. According to Selfridge & browns, 60% wants sustainability while 90% wants to buy less and according to Matches Fashion, 60% are trying to live sustainable. Luxury Brands are attempting on campaigns based on used clothes, for example, the brand Farfetch partnered up with an organisation called thrift. When customers donate old clothes they get credits in return to use at Farfetch.

Stella McCartney is one of the most leading sustainable luxury brands. The brand uses vegetarian- friendly design labels as well as sourced fabrics such as recycled nylon, polyester, organic cotton lines of skin- free skin, and fur-free apparel. They also recently challenged students to create eco- friendly textiles that can be used instead of wool. As this brand doesn’t use any animal products such as fur or leather they are more focused on using recycled clothes and over the years has partnered up with not-for-profit-organization such as Parley for ocean & fashion positivity. 

Gucci also has a proactive role in sustainable fashion Gucci’s first attempt toward sustainability was to create 100% traceable handbags collection they collaborated with sustainability advocate Livia Firth. In 2010 they started using recyclable packaging with the FSC citification paper. Eyewear was made with eco-friendly material in 2011 and in 2012 they introduced their plastic sandals which were sustainable and biodegradable that Gucci went fur-free in 2017and now doesn’t use any animal fur such as fox or rabbit. Gucci launched Gucci Equilibrium to aim sustainability and transparency. Kering group brands, that own Gucci, Stella McCartney, Saint Laurent use their own raw materials that are renewable to improve on their sustainability. Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s chief sustainability officer stated that “Our ambition is to redefine luxury to help influence and drive these positive changes.” Alyx, Matthew Willams founder of an Italy based brands uses CO2 to dye their leather to help towards sustainability. Marine Sure , a brand started in 2017 uses up-cycled materials such as bedspreads, silk scarves, and makes dresses, sweatshirts and sells them for thousands of dollars. Sandra Sandor, founder of Nanushka, is a fashion brand that uses vegan leather and uses up-cycled materials to create bags, shirts, and dresses.they are more focused on reducing environmental damage and providing a good working environment for the laborers. Eileen fishers recycle and use organic fibers and natural dyes. She also created a signature fabric – silk georgette crepe, this is made of refined and relaxed silhouette its dyed without hazardous chemicals and worlds only dye house to produce bluesign certified silk. The brand also collected with environmental conservation initiatives, supports artisans, and empowers women through the Eileen fisher leadership institute. She has established a social consciousness department with her company. So that the company can focus on addressing human rights, sustainability, etc. Vivienne Westwood a British Luxury fashion designer and activist. She has emphasised that changes should be made in consumer spending to address environmental problems. Her AW17/18 show “Ecotricity” which was collaborated with the Mayor of London, British fashion Council and there British companies educated all the other luxury brands to use green energy instead of fossil fuel.“Buy less, choose well, Make it last” a famous quote by Vivienne Westwood.
Brand Waste Not designs playfully aesthetic materials with an ethereal approach using the concept ‘Waste Not’ using unused materials from other designers. 

According to business insider, research has shown that many companies will be spending $15 billion on the influencer market by 2022 had it has been seen as rising from the last research in 2019 which the companies spend $8 billion on it. 2017 Federal Trade Commission Guidelines that an influencer should show their clear moral dilemma as well as being transparent about their corporate relationships. Most influences now push their fans toward buying more products than showing them how to be sustainable. Leah Thomas the blogger behind Green Girl Lean and is an employee at Patagonia Corporate focus on sustainable fashion and green beauty tips on Instagram and blog account. Stephanie Ann Shepherd , former assistant of Kim Kardashian West balances influencer and luxury tastemakers with her online activism. As she is a plastic-free columnist she aims at educating people and giving sustainable advice like the micro-plastics in our laundry.
Influencer Dolly Posh also known as Tolmeia Gregory, 19 years old advocate informs her followers about the climate crisis, she doesn’t accept gives clothing from anyone. Her blog is filled with sustainable fashion and also has GIF stickers. Zeena Shah, art director, and stylist says “The most sustainable thing you can do is to keep things in your wardrobes and make sure you are wearing them,” she also has stated that she loves shopping but if u can layer up, mix and match the clothes u have its the way to make a brand new outfit as well as encourages the audience to do so, not only that she’s isn’t focusing on the category influencer but is motivated educated her followers.
Emma Slade Edmondson sustainable fashion retail and marketing consultant. Her Instagram is filled with thrift & rental outfit inspirations. She even said, “Sustainability is a journey we are all on.” Recently reports have shown that three-quarter of the Gen-Z and Millennials follows influencers on social media than the other generations also these two generations have stated that they trust their influencers than their favourite celebrities. 

Both fast fashion and luxury brands work on supply chains. While fast fashion brands try to work on a low-cost budget for a specific time frame and they don’t care who, how, where the garments are produced as long as the outcome is good. This can be seen in the True Cost Documentary on how fast fashion finishers work in a short period. In contrast , luxury brands care about not only their outcome but care about everything starting from the design process to manufacturing and to the outcome they also have well-trained employees with highly trained experience as well as a sustainable workplace.Fast fashion find it difficult be sustainable because there is environmental damage in every stage of the production. 

Fast fashion is known as the industry that has new products multiple times every year. Their goal is to sell more products and decrease the trend cycle so that the consumers will have something new every week with the latest trends so that their customer base won’t drop. These consumers spend more every year with regular low-cost products than spending it on a more exclusive piece that they would fall in love, this has caused the luxury brands customers to buy less. It shows that people are more into the price and the style of the clothing but they aren’t interested in how or where its made. 

Clothing is a basic human necessity and people buy so many every year. Since 2012, the purchase of clothing has gone up from 10% in the UK alone. According to recently gathered data, over £30 billion ( $38 billion) of clothing not worn over a year are sitting across the wardrobes in the UK. Ethical brands believe that consumers are one of the main reasons why it’s hard to be sustainable. 

However , plethora of surveys and market has mentioned that when the consumer knows that the brand has sustainable products , the fashion-conscious consumers tend to choose them over regular products. A 2018 study conducted by McKinsey & Company has found that 66% of millennials say that they are willing to spend to pay more on sustainable brands, but according to the research done by LIM College in New York, only 34% of the millennials purchase sustainable products. 

Many people think fast fashion is the main reason why the fashion industry is not sustainable. In 2015 fashion revolution started a campaign at Alexanderplatz in Berlin to test whether people will buy or donate the money when they see how the t-shirt has been produced. They placed a bright turquoise vending machine, offering t-shirts for 2 Euros. according to the data they collected, eight of ten shoppers disapproved the process and donated money. They also ran a social media campaign with the hashtag #whomademyclothes. 

About 1.2 million clothes that have fibres are sold every year in the UK, about half of it is cotton and a third of it was synthetic where the rest is animal products such as leather or viscose, these fibers are the trickiest according to Mark Sumner, a lecturer in sustainable fashion at the University of Leeds. As t-shirts are made with cotton and Tencel it is shown that most fabrics have a mix of contrasting kinds of threads. It also is shown that recycled thread can’t be recoloured as strong dies are very difficult to remove also it is predicted that in 2030 the fashion industry water consumption will rise from 50%. Less than 1% of material is recycled into new clothes whereas 12% of the materials are recycled and used to stuff mattresses to as insulation. Mary Creagh MP, chair of the parliamentary environmental audit committee (UK) says that cheap fashion comes with a social as well as an environmental cost with low-paid workers overseas unable to provide for their families.

However , at recent times there can be seen a trend where even the fast fashion brands try to adapt sustainable largely due to the influences of the government, activists and self-realization.
Leading fast-fashion brands have started new projects to empower their workers and support communities, in Bangladesh and beyond. More and more brands are trying to move to use organic cotton as well as new dyeing technology to reduce the consumption of water. Fast fashion brands such as M&S, Primark, Asos are given a clothing action plan by the government to reduce wastewater that\’s been sent to landfill water by 15% by 2020.
Therefore as explained above ,it is clear how luxury fashion brands have an advantage when trying to be sustainable considering their premium prize and high income customer base. They have enough financial capital to invest in sustainable industry practices and promotion of sustainable products . However it can be fast fashion brands have also started to adopt sustainable practices given the demands by government, influencers, activists and industrial survival. 

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