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a definition of sustainability
has to include an understanding of both
people and planet i'll never forget
going into beacon's closet in new york
and i couldn't believe that i could go
in there and they're like what are you
where are your pieces that you want to
exchange for credit and i was like what
do you mean so they're like oh no it's a
circular thing that was a new concept to
me it's really the consumer who can
create this demand for brands to change
another word i would bring in here is
power work with brands that you can
stick behind that you're genuinely
passionate about
today we'll be turning our attention to
the world of sustainability i'm emily
chan sustainability editor british vogue
and today i'm joined by three wonderful
panelists my colleague naomi smart
commerce director at british vogue alice
aidy documentary photographer filmmaker
and co-founder of earthrise and manuela
gesselbauer marketing manager at tencel
let's begin what does sustainability
mean in fashion so alice maybe you could
kick off with you know what your
interpretation of sustainability is i
guess from my perspective i'm a
filmmaker and photographer and i yes
focus on climate issues but mainly on
human stories
and for me
the big transition into covering those
climate issues was realizing this
intersection that climate change is a
human rights issue it's it's a social
justice issue we know that
the fashion industry has a
disproportionate impact on the global
south on women a definition of
sustainability
has to include an understanding of both
people and planet yeah for sure and i
think people are often kind of left out
the conversation because of the focus on
the environment i think for us
sustainability is really in our dna just
to give you a little bit background
about densely so tensile is a branded
fiber it's a wood-based fiber and we use
wood from responsibly sourced wood for
sources and i think what is really
important for us is to give transparency
to consumers that don't know what we are
talking about because the supply chain
of fashion is so huge and i think to
really understand each step what it
takes to get a garment into the shops is
very important from a consumer level
nowadays the word is used so much i
think it is totally overused like
the amount of
press days or showroom appointments i do
to when i look at new collections and
the pr will go through and say oh it's a
this is a sustainable delhi line and
then they'll move on to the next thing
so it's like they've ticked that box
and i have started to go well how is it
sustainable and quite often there's a
kind of a panic because they're like oh
no you're delving deeper it's like no
don't green wash it and also that's
what's so important about where we come
from a publisher and a media
element is that we have to be asking
those questions because they need to be
reporting back to the brands being like
okay it's coming from every angle yes we
can't just have a sustainable
area of our
collection we all have to think about
everything we're producing in a
sustainable way so another buzzword
that's used a lot in sustainability
circles is this idea of regeneration so
the need to give back to the environment
so alice i wondered what your thoughts
were on that regeneration this idea of
giving back i think is fundamentally
inspired by nature and i think you know
the more i learn about nature the more i
realize it can itself be our greatest
teacher i remember reading once there is
no waste in nature
waste disposability have been so long
embedded in the fashion industry
with little thought to where that waste
is going the people that it's impacting
the environment that it's impacting so
i'm inspired by the idea of regeneration
of giving back to leaving
not just treading lighter on the planet
but actually leaving
the planet in better shape and the one
we left and that can be a really
positive
legacy of the industry not just to be
carbon neutral and but carbon negative
yeah for sure and i think that that is
where the conversation is heading in the
fashion industry actually to make the
industry not less bad but actually for
the industry to be able to have a
positive effect on the planet so linked
to this idea of regeneration is the idea
of a circular fashion economy so
biodegradability is a really important
part of that our fibre so tensile fibers
are 100 biodegradable and compostable so
the circularity topic is such a huge one
at the moment because i mean there's so
many areas of it there's obviously
vintage which has been you know
people talk about vintage like it's a
new thing it's not um it's been going on
for like you know
that's how i got into fashion and how i
bought into fashion when i was a
teenager was the most affordable way for
me to buy fashion and actually
unfortunately we've got point where now
fast fashion is you know those price
points are something that has uh
kind of maybe overtaken
i think with resale i think what we're
going to see in the future is
at what point do the brands start taking
over their own resale market
so you know the big fashion houses are
they again going back to vintage like
i'll never forget going into beacon's
closet in new york and i couldn't
believe that i could go in there and
they were like well are you where are
your pieces that you want to um exchange
for credit i was like what do you mean
so they're like oh no that's a circular
thing so come in bring your pieces that
you don't want anymore you'll get a
credit at the store and then you can buy
vintage again and that was a that was a
new concept to me but it'll be very
interesting to see whether the luxury
houses start to build upon that concept
because actually that's such a fun way
of shopping as well i think i think we
are seeing brands embracing this
opportunity too
a lot of brands are as you say embedding
resell into their operations we've seen
the likes of gucci and valentino talking
about selling vintage pieces now and
really embracing the up surgeon and
vintage that we've seen of lake tencel
has been around for 30 years
what sort of progress have you seen in
the industry when you look back 30 years
in tune the first fiber left our
factory site so it's very exciting
moment for us which we really want to
celebrate with our partners when it
comes to brands what we are also
offering is with the 30 years we have
such a knowledge when it comes to fiber
when it comes to sustainability the
supply chain and everything we have the
best people in our organization who can
also help brands to do this
transformation in a more sustainable way
in recent years we've seen a lot of
brands that maybe weren't talking about
sustainability in the past really kind
of wanting to talk about it and making
these commitments alice i wondered if i
could maybe ask you about what you have
made of some of these commitments that
we've seen from brands today um i think
when they mean them they're really
exciting i think clearly there's a lot
of green washing and i think in a way
climate delay is the new climate denial
kicking the can down the road
and making false promises is really the
new danger and the new threat and and as
we've mentioned people like you emily um
doing that journalism asking the tough
questions and really holding these
companies to account
is what is absolutely crucial right now
i wondered if we could maybe talk a bit
about some of the younger designers that
are leading the way and naomi obviously
in your experience you've seen a lot of
young designers coming through that are
really embracing sustainability and
embedding it in the work that they're
doing there was a new brand called sassy
and they work on the ground they work
with amazing female artisans in
afghanistan and india and they really
give back to their local communities and
so i think the human aspect and
understanding that supply chain is just
it's that it's so important for those
designers to think about that at the
beginning of their career you know
obviously the big big fashion brands
have got they've got to work backwards
to work forwards to like reset all of
their processes whereas if you're a new
brand
you can start at the beginning and you
know all of those processes and an
approach
has to come from a sustainable outlook
that's also for us important because
when it comes to communication we want
to open it to really get the people into
our factory that they see where it comes
from where the starting point is and
also brands we are already in the
business since decades it's important
that they start already at the beginning
of the design when they start designing
a product to think which fabric will i
choose which fiber do i need do they get
this look and i think that young
designers are doing it um very good
already when we really are consulting
also brands large brands how they can
get to change from polyester more into
the biodegradable fibers and it's not a
change you can do within a year within
five years it needs to start somewhere
but it leads to a more sustainable
future the role of the consumer is
crucial if we're going to see change um
within the industry and so naomi i
wondered from your perspective what what
do you see the role of the consumer
being when it comes to really
accelerating change
pressure
really you know at the end of the day as
the consumer the power that you hold is
you know if you don't if you if you
don't agree you're not going to buy it
we have such a communication system now
whether it's you can dm them you can you
can
instagram and social and tick tock about
you know your um
your opinion on on certain brands
products and that can go viral i mean
obviously
you know it shouldn't be about a cancel
culture but there's definitely like
accountability you know with accounts
like diet prada from tencel's
perspective what are some of your hopes
for the future for the fashion industry
i think for us as tencel it's really
important to stick to our targets so we
are the only cellulosic fiber producer
which has science-based targets when it
comes to sustainability in general we
are ranked as one of the 14th most
sustainable companies in the world which
i think it's massive i think it's all
about having a more considered approach
to fashion and the way we produce
fashion and also the way we consume
fashion i wondered you know in terms of
what what else brands could do do we
really need to
look at the solutions that exist and
really kind of
focus on the solutions so that brands
can have a more
positive impact on the planet this
conversation around sustainability
around what's best for the planet and
for human rights can no longer happen in
a vacuum in the unfashionable hemp
corner of fashion week it has to be
front and center
and that's about values it's about
behavior change you know do we as we've
kind of discussed before do we need
legislation yes there has to be faster
action within government because that's
where the regulations are actually going
to come from people will not police
themselves the level that we need them
to be
i mean that sounds very kind of you know
no but it's true we can't expect
profit-making companies to hold
themselves accountable yeah um it would
be deeply naive to do that so of course
we need legislation yeah and obviously
one thing that brands can really do is
choose more sustainable fabrics and you
know these vogue tencel t-shirts are
obviously a prime example of that i
think also you know we've just launched
um a sustainability page dedicated into
in our issue that we we do every month
now so it is completely woven into
our like our our monthly
ideas meetings it's like it's it's there
it's like it's so important so i think
that is a really really good step thank
you everyone for such an interesting and
insightful conversation on
sustainability
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