The Fashion Of Sustainable Development Is Very Fashionable, But It Is Not So Easy To Do.

From fast fashion to luxury fashion, all brands want to build an image of caring environment in the minds of consumers.

Last week, Inditex SA, the parent company of the world's top fast fashion brand Zara, announced a set of sustainable development goals, including the commitment to use recycled polyester only, while ensuring that cotton, linen and rayon were produced in a more sustainable way by 2025. Meanwhile, French luxury fashion giant LVMH hired Stella McCartney as a consultant and gave the eco friendly designer a minority stake to strengthen support for tackling climate change.

In addition, a large number of similar commitments and investment activities took place last year. They also considered the treatment of workers in the fashion industry. The reason for this is that consumers and regulators are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of the fashion industry. How to achieve long-term sustainability and long-term profitability has become a major problem facing the fashion industry. In essence, more sustainable fashion is less fashion.

Despite this, the brand is increasingly committed to supporting sustainable development, trying to attract young consumers who care about the way and place of clothing production. According to the 2019 annual report on global fashion format published by BoF and McKinsey Co, 42% of the millennials expressed the hope to know the raw materials and production methods before buying.

The brand realizes that this responsible consumer has huge short-term potential, and more wholesalers begin to build shelves in physical stores and online stores with more environmentally sustainable products and more ethical products.

Earlier this year, The RealReal emphasized in the prospectus that "increasing consumer value awareness and the desire to embrace sustainability" is a crucial consumer trend and is conducive to business development. From H&M to Farfetch, major companies have begun to set foot in the fast-growing secondary market, and the leasing mode is also attracting increasing attention.

But in the long run, this trend constitutes a core issue: consumer awareness is rising and increasing attention is paid to the burden of heavy consumption on the earth and its resources. In this context, can brands continue to maintain growth while achieving sustainable development?

The whole discussion of sustainable development in fashion industry has not yet touched upon a basic problem, namely, how to balance the improvement of environmental footprint and the realization of business success. Selling more clothes, bags and shoes will eventually consume more resources. To truly achieve sustainable development, brands may have to consider reducing production. This may be part of the slowing down of the sustainable development process.

The latest climate change report released by Kering SA, the French luxury fashion giant, highlights the inherent contradiction between growth and sustainable development. Kai Yun group has many large brands led by Gucci, which has long been regarded as a leader in promoting sustainable development in the fashion industry. But despite years of efforts to reduce environmental footprint, the environmental footprint of Kai Yun group has increased since last year, because the rapid growth has offset the effectiveness of sustainable development initiatives.

Consumers are not affected, and their enthusiasm for Gucci does not diminished. This will prompt Gucci to vigorously promote its sustainable development initiatives.

More brands are beginning to cope with the environmental and moral challenges faced by the fashion industry, which will ultimately produce positive results, but the outcome depends on whether consumers really start to express their attitudes in the purse.