Micheal Jackson’s song Earth Song 1995
Nature has been suffering a lot in these last 20 years for different reasons. We all remember last year the giant fire on the amazon rainforest.
In these last weeks I have been wondering about what will come next in the industry I belong to and recent events have touched my country and the rest of the world.
It came across my mind one of those beautiful and remarkable song of my youth idol, Micheal Jackson. Earth song was written in 1995 and was addressed to us, the earth and what we have done to pur planet.
The song says so
Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we’ve shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying earth these weeping shores
7 years after the collapse of Dhaka’s garment factory a pandemic is under way that seems to have a no end.
Unfortunately even the fashion industry has been causing lots of damages to our environment.
The democratization of the clothing sector caused an opportunity for low budget hconsumers but created a big impact to the planet.
Since the giant Spanish company Zara landed in New York in 1978 with its huge warehouses nothing has been as before.
On one hand the masses got the opportunity to buy more suits at a cheap price but on the other hand it marked the end of good quality clothes and the beginning of waste.
The global apparel market earned 1,5 trillion $ in 2020 and with an increase on demand of clothes and shoes across the world.
Do you know that 80% of the garments will end up in the lanfield?
Do we really need all that waste?
10% of the carbon output in the world comes from the clothing production.
Most of the clothes are made from materials as polyester and cotton.
Polyester is an artificial material made from polluted plastic, it is not biodegradable and every time we wash a gown it leaves microplastics in our oceans. That’s the reason why food as fish, can be affected, as well as our health.
The energy and water consumed is also very high.
The other common fabric is cotton that comes from nature but it needs a lot of water and chemicals before it becomes a textile.
As a designer I have always been advocated silk for my collection as a natural material that respects the environment and your body.
Don’t we think is time for a change?
Customers have the power to change the system.
I think that we should all try to buy less and just follow some tips:
Check the tags
Check the seams
Love what we buy
Ask the question about the fabric, if it is organic..
Think of your purchases in terms of cost per wear.
Minor working in Bangladesh
Traceability and transparency in the garments industry.
I made your clothes is the campaign supported by Fashion Revolution.
I have been promoting slow fashion since I started my brand in 2015.
Slow fashion should be supported by new fashion consumers and most of all after this pandemic.
Time for lustful, addicitive, fast moving fashion is over.
Slow fashion encompasses values of responsabilty, flourishing, patience and care.
In these last years all these good values have been lost unfortunately.
The 90ies has been the richest and frivolous time in the fashion industry.
My hope is that fashion will embrace an holistic approach after this pandemic and that consumers would be more aware and conscious on how and what a they buy.
There are now many brands which recycle plastic from the sea as the Spanish Ecoalf whose campaign is pretty clear – BECAUSE THERE IS NOT A PLANET B-
Over the last five years of my career I supported Kusuma Rajah’s ahimsa silk, a vegan silk from India, that respect silkworks in their cocoon stage without killing them. I think this is the way of giving a small contribution to society, nature and the clothes themselves.
This is La Cles ahimsa collection campaign in 2017
In my vision I think fashion needs to be transparent in the supply chain, using technology, using sustainable fabrics that help disadvantaged communities by giving a living wage and health coverage.
The family of the 1100 people who died in the Dhaka collapse of 2013, the deadlist garment factory disaster in history, has been paid by Primark out of a further 10 milions $. This tragedy and lost of workers should have been prevented respecting good rules and condition of the establishment.
The time to be greedy is over. We should all approach the idea of thinking on a long period and most of all respecting people and planet.
We need more mindful fashion lovers and more people who can stitch with a needle and thread.
Some traditions need to be inherent as a big value system and creativity is a gift that towards fashion collections tell stories and have high impact on the masses.
The millennials got the habits to buy second hands and to swap clothes with friends.
The take make waste model has to come to an end.
We should live as our grandparents used to, few suits and dresses, when the quality is there a good garment can last more than 10 year.
I really hope the after the pandemic new ideas and a new concept of clothing will be blooming.
Let’s be green, conscious, ethical and sustainable!
