The 2 R’s of fashion sustainability

The 3 R’s of sustainability... Our kids learn it at school, there is a recognizable logo for them with 3 green arrows each representing one of the R’s and I bet most people asked what those 3 R’s mean would easily answer: Recycle, Re-use, Reduce.

Unfortunately the 3 R’s are yet another endangered species . And no industry treats them worse than fashion. And with industry I mean both corporations and consumers.

RECYCLE

Less than 10% of the global textile waste is recycled and less than 1% is recycled into new clothes. There are several reasons for this but the main one is that most fabrics are close to impossible to recycle. 60% of the materials used in new clothes are plastics mixed with some natural fibers to make cheap alternatives to proper clothes. All of those end up in landfill or a big fire.

There is of course the 1% of textile waste that is recycled into new clothes and there are some companies out there going the extra mile to offer clothes that are made of recycled clothes. And there are consumers willing to pay extra to buy these clothes. Recycled clothes are growing and I can see a day when this niche market will double in size. 

To 2%.

RE-USE

Probably the biggest of the 3 R’s in fashion right now. There is pre-owned, second-hand, pre-loved, pre-used, vintage, worn-wear… fashion marketing is really enjoying this one. And this is a legitimate way to make fashion more sustainable. 

Alongside companies that fully operate in the second hand market most fashion retailers are adding second hand options to their offering and marketing those on their websites and (not so much) on their physical stores. 

All in all the second hand market in fashion is expected to grow to represent 10% of global fashion sales in 2025. And that will only continue to grow.

REDUCE

This is where fashion is failing us. And where we are failing ourselves and the environment as fashion consumers.

Fashion marketing is an all-consuming, manipulative and ultimately evil discipline. It spent trillions of dollars/euros/pounds over the last decades at repeating a narrative designed to increase consumption of fashion items that is now widely accepted.

It preys on a few of our traits and turns them into our weaknesses. It uses our desire to fit in, to belong, to express ourselves and presents buying fashion items as a solution to all our insecurities. 

Fashion marketing uses messages like Buying clothes=Pleasure / Expensive clothes=Social status / Dressing style=Individuality / Dressing style=Belonging to a group / Dressing style=Values / New clothes=Visibility / New clothes=Desirability / … to make us victims of its marketing. to make us fashion victims.

This is where ALL OF THE FASHION BRANDS are failing us. Even those who help us recycle and re-use. 

Patagonia, one of the fashion brands with the strongest sustainability credentials has 626 “new arrivals” items right now.

All of these fashion brands keep launching collection after collection. Drop after drop, capsule after capsule because newness is at the very centre of their operating model. They made themselves so big that they will not survive if we stop buying.

RECLAIMING THE 3rd R

A lot could be said about how to avoid fashion marketing pitfalls and how your closet is already full and how newness is just repetition and how all the shapes, styles and colours that are “in fashion” were already in fashion and will be in fashion again. 

But however you look at it, there is only one solution: BUY LESS CLOTHES!