Livia Firth’s 10 values ​​for the new season at a time when hopes for sustainable fashion are slipping away

At a time when hope for sustainable fashion seems to be disappearing, here are 10 values ​​for the new season.

Photo: Francesco Scottiluc

A cursory glance through our trade media headlines in recent weeks suggests that – despite the pledges, launches and commitments of Earth Month – this sector is far from having set fashion for good. As my friend and mentor Lucy Siegle says: “There are a lot of pearls: cotton standards have proven unreliable (see: the Better Cotton Initiative and Inditex), brands and retailers are falling short on climate targets, and the collapse of one major new material savior in Renewcell has caused panic and despair.”

The Better Cotton Initiative works in developing countries to make cotton farming more sustainable and beneficial to local communities

Lucy and I have known each other for 16 years – she was there when I started the Green Carpet Challenge in 2010 (in fact, she’s the one who challenged me to do it) and I always turn to her when I have existential questions. Knowing that in times of crisis, according to tradition, we have something to blame, I pick up the phone to clear my head: should we blame the insane business model based on overproduction for overconsumption, should we blame the rampant greenwashing, or should we blame sustainable action? Lucy is used to my crises, and she is good at soothing them. “You’re right, things aren’t looking great, and we know the fashion industry tends to cling to defunct models. It is therefore not surprising that in some circles it is loudly proclaimed that sustainability should be abolished or weakened.” We both decide that there is no escaping the fact that we must be morally and pragmatically committed to solving the twin crises of rising climate emissions and nature loss – so the only possible solution is to ‘stay with the problems’ of deep sustainability. Because, as we know, there is no fashion on a dead planet.

Livia Firth and Lucy Siegle

The problem is that, as I have written before in these pages and confirmed by recent research published by McKinsey, two-thirds of fashion brands will not meet their sustainability targets unless they miraculously accelerate emissions reductions. And therein lies the problem: 40% have seen their emissions increase since making the pledges. To put it succinctly, it’s high time to stop listening to fairy tales and engage in deep work with great people.

Apologies if I sound super frustrated, but this is important to me. For millions of people on the frontlines of a climate disaster, this is real life. With my Eco-Age hat on, I have been guided by this framing for 16 years. We cannot tinker at the margins, or pretend to act, or take performative (yet meaningless) action. We must cut through the noise and move forward – bringing with us a coalition of the willing (and brave).

Photo: Courtesy of the Better Cotton Initiative

This new season should be all about relationships because that’s what it comes down to. The company you keep has never been more important. We are indebted to indigenous leaders and young climate activists, to lawyers and architects of sustainable communities, and to those with ideas about developing democracy. Instead of browsing around fairs for dyes with a little less plastic in them, the real exchange of ideas happens somewhere in a community, with those rarely recognized in these value networks. What we need to create are true partnerships based on respect, economic viability and future-proof values ​​that anchor resilience.

I share this because as I scroll through the discontent, bickering and maneuvering in our industry, I recognize so many of these recycled problems and I know they can be solved by emphasizing real values ​​and real sustainability. That’s why I asked the Eco-Age team to distill the ten most important values ​​on how we can chart a course of change in a world where you can’t do everything, but you have to be effective:

1. Complicated standards will never replace the trust and knowledge of your farmer and plant manager. This should be about human relationships.

2. While certifications are useful if they are independent of industry interference and bias, they are always open to lobbying.

3. The highest standards can collapse in response to pressure from industry and the oil and gas industry.

4. New fossil-based synthetic textiles must be stopped.

5. There are no quick fixes, only deep work and high ambition.

6. The business model must change radically. The idea that you can keep all the research, development and smarts in the rich countries and delegate all the messy, polluting and exploitative parts of the supply chain to the developing countries is over.

7. It is a value web, not a chain, with equal relationships between each part.

8. To those who are moving diagonally ‘towards circularity’ with the ever-increasing plastic supply, we ask: when do you plan to get there?

9. The carbon dioxide “cuts” are not actual cuts that will help end the climate catastrophe. You have to work twice as hard for that.

10. The abundance of fashion waste, which is visible from space, cannot be reduced by a miracle plastic material.

And one final thought: don’t let size dictate change. The giant retailers and brands can be part of the conversation, but we need a biodiverse ecosystem of change, not a monoculture.

Originally published in the May 2024 issue of Vogue Arabia

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