The United Nations Appealed To The Fashion Industry Not To Sell New Clothes Only.

In February of this year, the night before New York fashion week was opened, one in Manhattan. Art Space There is an activity that has nothing to do with fashion shows, but guests gather together. The Arcadia Earth exhibition and the United Nations partnership Office jointly invited representatives of brands such as Gucci, Theory and Mara Hoffman to attend. During the meeting, influential personages like Sierra Quitiquit and Marina Testino participated in discussing the relationship between the fashion industry and the sustainable development goals of the United Nations.

The main message that the United Nations has to convey is that the fashion industry has the responsibility and the creative appeal to help the United Nations achieve these sustainable goals. The goals they put forward in 2015 are for the well-being of the planet and all the people on this planet. These objectives are also known as "global goals" or "sustainable development goals" (SDG), covering marine health, gender equality and sustainable consumption. Non profit organizations and national development agencies are closely involved in the realization of these goals, but to achieve them, private enterprises are inseparable from them. The weight and influence of the fashion industry are very large. They play an important role in all walks of life. It is very necessary for them to act.

Valentino Vettori, founder of "Xanadu", has been in the fashion industry for twenty years. In his view, there are many contacts between the fashion industry and the United Nations. "Do we need to talk about women's rights? Shall we talk about slavery? That's obviously related, "he said. Industrial consumption and pollution of water resources may be the most obvious of all problems. "Water will be the most precious material, but can we use 2000 gallons of water to make a pair of jeans? I don't agree."

The United Nations believes that the fashion industry's approach in these areas needs to be improved, and the fashion industry can also serve as a platform to connect more people to these challenges. The United Nations appealed to the fashion industry to act. At the same time, they also provided resources for the transformation of production habits through the efforts of individual brands, cross industry alliances, and public services. At the same time, consumers could consciously make a responsible choice under the premise of getting enough information. "In our view, the potential of the fashion industry is enormous, and energy is extraordinary in advocacy, education and creativity. We need to better inform the public about the idea of sustainability, and fashion is an excellent platform, "said Lucie Brigham, director of the United Nations partnership office." we need creative industries to help us educate consumers. "

　 The fashion industry has a very strong appeal.

The goal of "sustainable development" was established to promote the progress of the United Nations agenda for sustainable development in 2030, and was also drafted on the basis of making up for the deficiency of the "Millennium Development Goals". Many action appeals were put forward, including elimination of poverty, protection of the oceans, mitigation of climate change, ensuring quality education, and providing clean water for all. It is not difficult to see that the most directly related aspects of the fashion industry include poverty eradication, gender equality, rational work and economic growth, sustainable development and consumption, climate action and the common goal of partners.

These goals will help companies in some fashion or related industries to establish their priority development plans. A spokesman for Kai Yun group said that their company designed its own 2025 strategy according to the "sustainable development goals" to ensure that they could cope with all the global challenges, including a package from climate change to employee benefits. Textile Exchange, a non-profit organization, collaborate with brand suppliers to adopt fiber materials that are more sustainable. They have been implementing the "sustainable development goals" since 2016. As an action framework to promote organic fabrics and low impact fabrics, they say that these goals can serve as tools for risk management and control, and also contribute to innovation. Investors and companies are increasingly integrating these goals into their risk and importance assessment process.

The guidance provided by the United Nations also helps to set more ambitious goals for brands, not just to meet the minimum requirements. For those brands that have already covered the issues covered by these objectives, "sustainable development goals" can help them consolidate their priority strategies or consider some aspects that they have not yet considered before.

Founded in 2002, the British luggage and accessories brand Bottletop has begun to explore the use of natural rubber as a new material. Cameron Saul, co-founder of the brand, said that this is out of the fifteenth goal of "sustainable development goals": protecting organisms on the planet. Last year, the United Nations chose this brand to produce bracelets and launched a larger public awareness campaign.

"The United Nations came to us and told us," you have to believe that unless everyone in the streets and streets has such a strong sense and works together to achieve these goals, we will not be able to achieve them. " He recalled the situation at that time. Saul said that this activity has sold fifty-five thousand bracelets, which are made of upgraded illegal weapons and marine plastic waste. The social media browsing volume of this activity is as high as nine hundred million.

Saul points out that although consciousness does not necessarily translate into action, it is an important first step. This industry has a huge impact on the planet. "If you can make it change this time, then we will have an impact on people and the planet, and the fashion industry can also help this process. Fashion industry can drive people's hearts and call them. This is an unparalleled advantage in other fields. We all can't get away from fashion.

During the #TOGETHERBAND campaign, Bottletop and the United Nations jointly designed bracelet to promote the realization of global goals. 0 Bottletop

The "sustainable development goals" are also contributing to the formation of partnerships between companies and working together on a particular issue. The United Nations launched the "sustainable fashion alliance" last year to promote and coordinate relevant forces from within the United Nations. The office of the United Nations partnership is trying to expand cooperation with other organizations and departments of the industry, because they discover that these forces may not be spontaneous.

One of the actions the United Nations supports is called One x One, launched by SWAROVSKI and Slow Factory Foundation, and supported by the United Nations Office for partnerships, which enables designers to work with scientists or environmentalists to explore possible solutions for different challenges. For example, New York designer Mara Hoffman has worked with Custom Collaborative, a workforce development program, to set up a training program for clothes replacement.

There are many other problems in the fashion industry.

These goals have also attracted the attention of some areas of progress and especially slow progress. Ayesha Barenblat, founder of Remake, a non-profit organization in California, thinks that the most backward aspect of the fashion industry is that it is impossible for everyone to enjoy gender equality and get a safe and integrated employment opportunity with reasonable salary. "From the perspective of ambitious designers or clothing workers, this industry is mainly composed of women, while the carriers are mainly men," which is very unusual. She said so. "We are talking about an industry with a total value of three trillion, but most of it is based on exploitation and low wages."

These problems are traceable. Barenblat further pointed out that in view of these problems, the practice of large companies is usually only to organize some training activities. What she called these "facade projects" is not a substantial change at all. Barenblat added, "this is only a woman's empowerment and no structural problems."

Some of the problems included in the UN goals, such as gender equality, poverty eradication, reasonable work and economic growth, have already been explored by some fashion brands. Able and Nisolo, an American clothing and footwear brand, has participated in a campaign called the "minimum wage challenge", which encourages every brand to share their minimum salary and promote transparency. The Cowboy brand Nudie Jeans has always paid the lowest wage for the workers, while the factory set up by the clothing brand Alta Gracia in the Republic of Dominica has been certified by the association of workers' rights (Worker Rights Consortium) to pay the minimum wage for the employees.

　 Changing consumer behavior is a prerequisite.

In the final analysis, to make these efforts successful, it is absolutely necessary to change consumer behavior. Kevin Moss, global director of the World Resources Institute business center, said that the goal of sustainable consumption can be regarded as the intersection of all other goals. "In my view, this goal is the intersection of three aspects of human behavior, consumption and environment."

The United Nations's description of sustainable consumption is to protect the future generation by minimizing emissions, garbage, toxic substances and natural resources while meeting people's basic needs and improving their quality of life. This problem has been neglected in many previous sustainability and development initiatives. According to data released by international agencies, the world's material consumption reached 921 billion tons in 2017, a 254% increase over the 270 billion tons in 1970.

He pointed out that the solution to this problem is to find new growth models, while providing employment opportunities and economic well-being, "do not rely on selling more things to more people." This includes more emphasis on selling services instead of physical goods, and on the other hand, let more brands turn to the mode of merchandise re sale, and abandon the mode of selling new products only. These practices also require changes in the behaviour of consumers, but he thinks this is worth looking forward to as long as we make considerable efforts.

"I think it is not human congenital behavior to keep having more items. In my view, fashion brands and industries are driving us to demand. " This is his view. Every fashion company can take the initiative to change the behavior of consumers, thus reversing this mentality. In the process, they can also find out the business models suitable for them. "If you just change the pattern without changing your behavior, you will fail. If you change your behavior without changing the business model, your customers will flow elsewhere. The way to do business is to achieve both at the same time. Do not wait, you must act at once.