M: Model behavior

What do Lily Cole, Lonneke Engel and Emma Watson have in common? Well, of course they are all green & gorgeous! And for anyone who hadn’t noticed before: they’re not the only celebs embracing fair fashion. Check out my favorite ecofashionistas and be inspired to become an ethical follower of fashion yourself.

Gisele Bundchen
Why sexy: Well, that’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?
Why sustainable: It’s not just her fipflop brand Ipanema that make Gisele worthy of the term eco warrior. She’s also an Environmental Ambassador for the United Nations and an avid supporter of Earth Hour. And there’s also that Seeja Pure Skinline cosmetics that help make our planet more beautiful. And make our faces look good too, I assume.

Livia Firth
Why sexy: Erm, because her husband is?
Why sustainable: Well, you’d better ask: what’s not sustainable about this woman? Livia’s London store Eco Age is all about sustainable fashion and so is her shop in store on Yoox. She also designs her own line of ethical clothing and walks the red carpets worldwide in sustainable gowns. Plus she’s convinced the likes of Armani, Gucci and Valentino to design sustainable dresses and then makes actresses like Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Cameron Diaz wear these ethically made outfits during their red carpet moments. Sigh. It’s all so impressive that one wonders: doesn’t this woman ever get tired of all that green fashion stuff?

Stella McCartney
Why sexy: Possibly the best-looking mother of four alive today, Stella McCartney is also a top designer whose fashion house is owned by luxury mogul PPR.
Why sustainable: In her collections, Stella never uses leather or fur and she prefers organic cotton over other fabrics. Head offices are fitted with leds, recycling programmes, CO2 compensation and what not.
And maybe the best part of it all is that the Stella McCartney label has made sustainable fashion available to celebs, stores, catwalks and magazines that have traditionally been reluctant to associate themselves with environmental issues.

N: New luxury

The luxury fashion sector does not excel in sustainability. Ever changing trends and a widespread love of fur make designer brands rather unlikely proponents of green fashion. What’s more, the democratization of fashion has diluted luxury brands’ traditional commitment to handmade, high quality collections. As Dana Thomas has eloquently written, a designer label is no longer a guarantee that a bag, scarf of pair of trousers will last a long time.

There’s no reason to become depressed about this development (or bury your credit card). So-called new luxury promises to be the green frontier to Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton et al. Even though new luxury does not always promote itself as sustainable, the trend has some seriously green features. Take the focus on craftsmanship, limited editions, trans-seasonal designs and classic shapes. All this high quality clothing can support a slow and hence sustainable fashion consumption.

According to the prominent Dutch etiquette book on clothing, 'Het Blauwe Boekje', personal comfort, individual style, care and quality are central to new luxury. New luxury is trendy with a hint of classic style, keeping a balance between vintage and forward fashion. You’ll never end up in a business look or mousey grey outfit if you choose new luxury design, Roel Wolbrink says. High quality fabrics are used by young designers to offer a luxurious yet modern look. Now, who would really need a traditional luxury brand then?

N: Naming & shaming – and beyond

In October 2012, Textile Exchange put the spotlights on ten companies that are committed to organic cotton. Anvil Knitwear, C&A, Dibella, Ethicus, Gossypium, H&M, Hess Natur, Nike, Patagonia and Veja all received a Future Shapers Award, a reward for their growing use of organic cotton and for their ambitions to adopt more biocotton in their future collections.

Textile Exchange is a non-profit organization that aims to accelerate sustainable practices in the textile value chain. It was founded in 2002 in the United States and works with clothing brands as diverse as Adidas, H&M, Patagonia, Anvil and Lenzing. The Future Shapers Awards ceremony was part of the annual Textile Exchange conference, which took place in Hongkong in October and celebrated the organization’s ten year anniversary.

Handing out awards to companies that have demonstrated a willingness to adopt sustainable practices seems to be more popular nowadays than the naming & shaming strategies that labour associations and organizations like the Clean Clothes Campaign have traditionally adopted. For instance, in 2012 a number of Dutch consumer groups launched the Push Fashion Forward campaign, which rewarded companies that publicly admitted to improve environmental and social standards in their supply chain. After critically reviewing brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, DIDI, Steps, Zara, Esprit, Mango, Only, Pieces, Jack & Jones and River Island, those that pledged to commit to more sustainable practices were surprised with a visit from a group of enthusiastic consumers. In the end, three Dutch brands – Hema, Sissy-Boy and Protest – received a Push Fashion Forward Award to celebrate their increased commitment to sustainable fashion.

Cynics will be quick to point out that it remains to be seen if mainstream brands such as Hema, C&A, H&M, Nike and Adidas will live up to the expectations that have been created by their elaborate CSR policy reports. I’m sure that organizations such as Textile Exchange and GoedeWaar.nl will keep an eye on that. And of course, let’s not forget that consumers can stimulate sustainable change as well, both through their buying behavior and by consistently pestering their favourite stores and brands about environmental and social standards.

O: Overconsumption

In 2008, humans used up the equivalent of 1.5 planets to support their daily activities and consumption. Qatar, Kuwait and the United States have the biggest ecological footprints, ranging from well over eight times the earth’s resources to more than ten times. The World Wildlife Fund calculated this in its 2012 Living Planet report.

The ecological footprint indicates the area that people use in order to sustain their lifestyle. Clothing takes up a relatively small part. According to a Dutch study, 8% of greenhouse emissions are related to clothing, which is significantly less than those associated with food (30%) or tourism and leisure time (22%).

All this does not necessarily mean that our consumption of clothing is marginal. Textile waste takes up 5% of the global landfill space. According to a study by journalist Elizabeth Cline, the average American buys a new item of clothing every week. In 2012, a UK study found that in the average British household 30% of clothing has not been worn for a year. This equals a staggering 1.7 billion unused items taking up closet space in the UK alone.

It’s easy to blame our overconsumption on advertisements and the media. As Annie Leonard showed in the unequalled anti-consumerist video Story of Stuff, the average Western consumer is confronted with 2000 to 5000 advertisements every day. Each of these ads tells us that our hair isn’t good enough, our faces aren’t pretty enough, our clothes aren’t trendy enough, our cars aren’t big enough, etc. – and they promise that all will turn out OK if we just buy that new must-have.

Writers such as Lucy Siegle and Neil Boorman have suggested another explanation for our consumption patterns: lifestyle behaviors that come frighteningly close to addictions. We have become used to the fast, cheap fashion that is available in every shopping street. And we are rewarded with an adrenaline boost every time we manage to purchase this week’s must-have for a bargain.

So how do we get rid of this unhealthy (and, frankly, sad) consumption behavior? Economist Cecilia Solér from Gothenburg University suggests we need to come to understand why we shop the way we do. Then it becomes possible to find other, more sustainable ways to spend our free time and express our identities. This may not be as easy as it may sound. Psychological studies have shown that it takes an average of 66 days to change a habit.

As Ellen Ruppel Shell, author of the revealing book ‘Cheap’, writes: “We can choose to buy or not, choose to bargain or not, and choose to follow our hearts or not, unencumbered by the anxiety that someone somewhere is getting a “better deal”. No longer slaves to the low-price imperative, we are free to make our own choices.” Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful prospect?

P: Paper magazines

No more tabloids or trashy magazines. It was one of the changes Vanessa Farquharson made in the 366 days that she attempted to greenify her life. There’s no denying it: one simple way to keep your fashion obsession eco-friendly is to cut out magazines. At least, the print ones. Needless to say, all those trees being killed and print chemicals being used to deliver the monthly trends on fashion lovers’ doorstep are not so green.

In April 2012, Fashionista.com (bless them) presented some of the best ways to read fashion magazines online. Thanks to a growing number of online mags, numerous apps and a host of magazines available for e-readers, there really seem very little reasons to bother going to the bookstore and drag your monthly dose of fashion news home (not to mention the ever unfashionable task of bringing last month’s editions to the paper recycling bin).

'Oh, alright', I hear die-hard ecofashionistas calling out already. 'Why bother with keeping up with the latest fashions, trends and must-haves anyway? It’s so unsustainable to revamp your entire wardrobe every six months or change your style every month!' Well, maybe... But please don’t forget that there’s a growing amount of news on fair fashion in the mainstream fashion mags nowadays. And we wouldn’t want to miss that, would we?

Q: Quotes

Are you in dire need of some green inspiration? Check out what some of ecofashion’s pioneers are saying.

We worship chefs but we also worship the home cook – I’d like to see the same thing happen in the world of clothing. – Elizabeth Cline.

Cheap fashion means disposable fashion, and encourages more consumption, creating a vicious circle. – Sandy Black.

Making a product last is very different from making a long-lasting product. – Kate Fletcher.

How we consume shapes the future of the planet. – Katherine Hamnett.

Our planet and workforce are already stretched at the seams; to go faster is not the option. – Jessica Robertson.

People have never looked so ugly as they do today. We just consume far too much. I’m talking about all this disposable crap. What I’m saying is buy less, choose well. Don’t just suck up stuff so everybody looks like clones. – Vivienne Westwood.

We want every fashion consumer to look at garments in a different way – to see the recyclable potential, the quality of cloth and durability of design. – Annika Sanders & Kerry Seager.

As appealing as it may seem at times, what we need to do is refrain from fast fashion! When we buy a £3 t-shirt, we don’t see the true cost of fashion because the producers don’t sit on our doorstep to remind us. – Jen Marsden.

I think that sustainability is a trend that is really about going back to basics: you know what you’re wearing, eating, playing with, who you’re working for. You’re being conscious about your life and the way you live it. – Lonneke Engel.

The idea that second-hand and recycled items pass on their life experiences is what imbues redesigned clothing with its sense of value. When wearing a pre-owned item of clothing it is as if you inherit a history of lived experiences. – Sass Brown.

And not only the supergreen have sensible things to say about the sustainability of our wardrobe (or the lack thereof). Read some inspiring examples here.

To continue to buy clothes that cost about the same as a piece of gum, and then to express shock that they were not woven by contented couturiers, hand-sewing the goods while reclining on satin quilts in a Paris atelier, seems more than a touch naive. – Hadley Freeman.

So many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like. – Will Rogers.

So much of fashion is inspired by nature and in turn, we must respect its delicacy. – Diane von Furstenberg.

True fashion is about non-toxicity. If fashion pollutes, it should no longer be called fashion, it should be called pollution. – Horst Rechelbacher.

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. – Oscar Wilde.

R: Recycling

Discarded cans, plastic bottles, car tyres, fire brigade hoses, TV’s, fake suede car seats. The fashion industry has been able to recycle lots of unlikely products into new must-haves. In many cases, those bags, belts or shoes don’t even look like they were made from waste materials.

What’s more, with rising cotton prices, an increasing number of mainstream brands and discounters (including Puma and H&M) have come to opt for recycled fabrics, such as recycled cotton and recycled polyester. Those are not bad options for the environment, as the re-use of textile waste reduces the need for new fiber production and decreases the use of energy resources. For this reason, the Made-By environmental benchmark on fibers favors materials such as recycled nylon, recycled polyester, recycled cotton and recycled wool alongside sustainable materials such as biocotton, lyocell, organic linen and organic hemp.

Recently, even fashion retailers have come to embrace recycling. Marks & Spencer proclaimed shwopping to be the new shopping. The retailer encourages its customers to donate an old item of clothing to charity every time they come into the store to buy something new. M&S works together with Oxfam to resell, reuse or recycle these donations. The retailer aims to develop a closed loop system that reduces textile waste to a minimum. That would certainly be no luxury as every year, approximately 1 billion clothes in the UK end up as landfill.

Are other retailers likely to follow into the footsteps of the M&S shwopping initiative? Perhaps the introduction of the Swop-box will persuade them to do so. This recycling bin, designed especially for fashion stores, enables consumers to hand in their old clothes in exchange for a discount coupon for a new purchase.

And there are other recycling initiatives in the retail sector. In 2012, Puma claimed to have opened the first sustainable store on earth. The Bangalore shop has been furnished with recycled wood. The building uses recycled steel from old electronics, bicycles, and tiffin boxes, along with porotherm blocks made using waste from the annual desilting of the lakes in Kunigal.