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Fashion brands’ sustainability and social goals
by Modem – Posted May 05 2021
© Modem

The fashion industry started in recent years to embrace an ethical business model making sustainability a priority. Leading names have launched a series of projects oriented towards inclusion, respect for the environment, and recycle, combining their style with a more conscious approach and supporting social causes. Modem selected the most interesting initiatives.

Vivienne Westwood
Over the past 10 years, Vivienne Westwood has worked with the Ethical Fashion Initiative of the International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the United Nations and World Trade Organization. The collaboration with the EFI through the social organization Artisan Fashion has facilitated collaborations with local artisans, from the Kibera slum to Kenya, Nepal, Burkina Faso, and Mali, intending to ensure a sustainable stream of work, instead of charity. The British fashion designer has celebrated the tenth anniversary of her Made in Africa project with a special capsule featuring limited-edition tote bag and bucket hat on bright tones of the red, created by the artisans in Kenya, with each piece screen printed by hand with the Westwood art and culture manifesto graphic Mirror the World. The graphic of the logo has two doves and hearts in white, printed on 100% East African cotton canvas.

Chloé
Since she arrived in Chloé, Gabriela Hearst has affected a strategic change in the luxury company, placing the values first, both at a social land ecological level. The goal is to create beautiful products with meaningful impact, following four pillars: fair & equal opportunities; fair sourcing; positive impact on communities; and impact on the planet. The last initiative in this regard is the first capsule of Chloé basket bags in partnership with Mifuko, a social enterprise and guaranteed member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), a roomy tote and compact bucket style, in solid raffia or striped. Each piece of this new collection of hand-woven baskets is unique and embellished with Woody logo ribbon straps, putting sustainability at the forefront of design and production.

Yatay
Yatay is an Italian brand that creates 100% eco-sustainable and green sneakers with high-quality manufacturing and using wood, corn, rubber and, bio polyols as the main ingredients. Yatay has teamed up with the non-profit foundation No More Plastic to reinterpreting their classic Irori style. The first celebrities who are involved in this sustainable capsule collection are Cindy Bruna, Helena Christensen, Azza Slimene, Amelia Windsor who personalized Yatay sneakers making them an exclusive product.
The shoes are produced 100% free of traditional plastic and relying entirely on innovative bio-based materials. Indeed, half of all profits from this collection will go to No More Plastic actions and campaigns.

Sézane
The French label supports the philanthropic program Demain, in favor of access to education, culture, and equal opportunities for children around the world through four concrete actions. On the 21st of every month, Sézane donates 10% of the day’s profits. On the 21st of every month, a new design is created and 100% of the sales go to Demain. In addition, the brand has opened in Paris a charity boutique for collecting and recycling, where there are Sézane pieces leftover from photoshoots or old collections. Finally, the Sézane team devotes their time each month to volunteer for charities supported by Demain.
For the third anniversary of Demain program, Sézane created two eco-responsible t-shirts in special edition, with Demain logo and a poster by artist Hôtel Magique.

Vestiaire Collective
The platform Vestiaire Collective joined By Far, the brand of luxury accessories, to create a partnership based on a circular fashion, to give a new life to the garments and transforming the fashion waste into unique pieces. The result of this collaboration is a series of bags made of fabric scraps, damaged tissues, and used pieces. Moreover, this project also includes a sale of the By Far archival pieces. All profits will be donated to the Women for Women International association.

Balmain
Balmain launches exclusive limited-edition sneakers in support of RED’s fight to end aids, the initiative to finance Hiv/Aids and Covid-19 programs in Africa through the international organization The Global Fund.
The 25% of the profits from the sale of Balmain RED B-Court sneakers, designed by creative director Olivier Rousteing, is donated to The Global Fund.

Stella McCartney
Since its debut in 2001, Stella McCartney based its brand Dna and business model on sustainability, developing new ways to reduce the environmental impact over the years. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, which coincides with the 50th of Greenpeace, the British brand launched a capsule raising awareness of the association’s campaign to stop deforestation in the Amazon fuelled by industrial meat production. It includes four organic cotton sweatshirts and t-shirts inspired by vintage eco-activist designs and the McCartney A to Z Manifesto.
The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest and is home to 400 billion trees, 10% of the planet’s animal species as well as 30 million people. It is also Earth’s largest land carbon sink, absorbing and sequestering 90-140 billion metric tonnes of carbon. Around 17% of the Amazon has already been deforested and some scientists believe if 3% more is destroyed, all this would have a devastating impact on biodiversity, animals, and climate. But the forest destruction also threatens the homes, livelihoods, and lives of Indigenous peoples. It’s a cause that means so much for Stella McCartney, the designer who founded her brand by committing to never using leather, feathers, fur, or exotic skins.

Canada Goose
Sustainability has been a relevant part of the Canada Goose business model for more than 60 years, starting with its unwavering commitment to making best-in-class products using the highest quality materials and craftsmanship. The Canadian brand publishes its Sustainability Report, in collaboration with Bill Nye, the world-renowned science educator and leading voice in the science community and an environmental advocate. This includes new goals and commitments again this year. Among these, the use of 90 percent of recycled and organic materials and sustainable solutions in 100 percent of its packaging by 2025. “Our aggressive goals that address social, economic, and environmental challenges,” said Gavin Thompson, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship, Canada Goose. The Toronto-based label accomplished several initial goals to the present day. In fact, the brand has achieved ­­carbon neutrality for company operations, joined the bluesign raw materials, and is in the process of getting Responsible Down Standard (RDS) certified, a global standard recognizing the best practices in animal welfare and excludes those that violate the animal’s well being.

H&M
H&M announced a new partnership with Maisie Williams as global sustainability ambassador to lead a worldwide initiative towards a more sustainable fashion future, encouraging reusing, remaking, and recycling unwanted garments in a united effort to close the loop in fashion. “The long-term goal is to use 100 percent recycled or other sustainably sourced materials for textiles across the full H&M Group brands by 2030. It’s time to take action and create more viable production circuits in fashion to protect our planet for the next generation,” said the American actress Maisie Williams. Celebrating this partnership, H&M created in collaboration with Goodbye Kansas Studio a digital twin of the actress called Avatar Maisie. Maisie Williams and Avatar Maisie will appear several times throughout the year, engaging with H&M customers and inspiring action. The first date was the 13 April with the launch of H&M Looop Island in Nintendo’s game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Named after H&M’s recently launched garment recycling machine, which takes old clothes and recycles them into new ones, H&M Looop Island has been completely designed with a sustainable theme, in which players can explore the island and recycle their game outfits into new ones in the clothing recycling station, the Loop machine.

Alexander McQueen
For the second year in a row, Alexander McQueen has donated sunused fabric to young creatives who are studying fashion and textiles at universities, colleges, and community education projects throughout the UK. An initiative introduced in 2019 by Alexander McQueen’s creative director Sarah Burton to support young students from fashion schools, by redistributing excess materials.
It’s our responsibility to extend our programme of practical help and encouragement to students and fashion schools,” said Sarah Burton. “The fabric donations build on the relationships we’ve made with educationalists across the U.K. who are teaching students from school age to graduate level and are broadening out to reach further in 2021. When times are so much more difficult for young creative people, taking action to share our resources and open eyes to opportunities have become a central in-house commitment at Alexander McQueen, which we all take very seriously.”
The surplus stock has been used in many graduate collections in 2020, and in term course work and workshops, and to date, fabric donations have been delivered to over twenty institutions and fashion education community projects throughout the UK.

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Text by Anna Rita Russo@modemonline

© Modem