Feel-good fashion
TIPS ON HOW TO CHOOSE STYLISH AND SUSTAINABLE OUTFITS
Fast fashion is on the out as Australian customers increasingly look to fashion options that make us feel good as well as look stylish.
Just like we factor in the effect of a meal at a fast food chain, picking up a cheap and easy outfit is now making us consider whether manufacturing that Must
Have item is polluting the environment and also the working conditions of those sewing it for us.
As it stands, the $1.3 trillion fashion industry accounts for 10 per cent of global carbon emissions while 85 per cent of all textiles go to the dump each year.
As conscious consumerism has grown, brands have responded with a focus on sustainable fabrics, ethical practice and circular fashion.
Among the leaders in Australia’s sustainable fashion movement is Gold Coast label Outland Denim, made famous by the support of Meghan Markle in 2018.
Co-founder James Bartle began with the social cause of human trafficking and created the fashion business to address it, with 750 at-risk families so far benefiting from stable employment and education through its factories in Cambodia.
“As we researched human trafficking, we realised this was an economic problem. That’s why we chose fashion, 1 in 6 people work in it, and it became the vehicle,” Bartle says, adding that the clothing still had to be a key focus.
“We are giving people the opportunity to be part of the solution rather than the problem.”
“But if you don’t create a product someone wants just for the product you aren’t creating a sustainability movement - you’re really just a charity.”
A lack of transparency, however, means sorting the good from the bad brands,
many of which don’t disclose their manufacturing process or publish claims that oversell their commitment – known as greenwashing – can be difficult for the average Australian customer to spot.
Brands including Outland Denim and
Peony Swimwear, which uses recycled fabrics such as regenerated nylon made from abandoned fishing nets, are among those now publishing their approach to social and environmental issues on their websites, with Peony factors.
Australian platform Good On You, which is also available as a phone app, reaches 700,000 users each month, including recruiting Hollywood actor and advocate Emma Watson.
“Generally speaking 80 to 90 per cent of people say they are interested in making choices that are more sustainable … and half of us feel bad when we don’t do it, and there’s a barrier stopping us,” says co-founder Gordon Renouf, a consumer advocate for 30 years.
“The question is about how to make it easier for people to find products that are both suitable for what they’re looking for, but ticks the boxes on the sustainable issues that they care about.”
“Good On You exists to make it much easier at a glance to find out where a brand stands on what you care about, and discover new brands that might be better.”
Renouf says shoppers should look out for certifications by reputable agencies such as fair trade or certified organic, avoid fabrics such as polyester and regular cotton, and reframe their approach to cost.
“Sometimes we can’t find the choice we need from the brands that are ethical and one of the advantages of Good On You is it helps you figure out among the rest which are doing better and which are doing worse,” Bartle says.
“But if you want three different pieces of clothing every week then that’s a problem whether it’s fast fashion or not because it’s going to go to waste. Think about the cost per wear.”
Bartle urged consumers to be cautious of brands that had limited information on their websites, focused particularly on one factor, such as giving to charity, used vague terms such as “natural materials”, or made promises for the future but not what they were doing short term. “The point we want to get to is it should be just as easy to know whether it was made ethically or not, or whether it has carbon impact or not, as it is to know it cost $60,” he says.