Business of Fashion

“The narrative we’ve told ourselves around win-win solutions has deceived everyone into thinking there are no trade-offs,” said Kenneth Pucker, a senior lecturer at the Tufts Fletcher School and an advisory director at Berkshire Partners. “There are huge trade offs.”

* Decoupling = green growth. Attractive conceptually. Very hard practically. Especially post elimination of easy waste.
* Conceptual win-wins = eco efficiency, fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, creating shared value, circularity, regeneration…have yet to yield much, beyond rhetoric. Patagonia’s Worn Wear = < 1% of revenue.
* New Business Models = rental, reuse, repair …are not yet sustainable …meaning profitable. Hard to fund especially in an environment when profits matter.
* BioBased Materials = often replace less environmentally destructive processes, face valley of death funding challenges and often rely on scarce feedstocks. Also, harder to fund when profit matters.

Net. Change the rules. Make excess consumption less profit rich. Pass the NY Fashion Act.

https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/fashion-lower-climate-impact-selling-less-products-degrowth-decouple-grow-sustainability/

“Market based solutions in fashion have proven ineffective.”

In reality, consumers had little to no influence over the business direction of fashion brands, leaving companies to operate as they wished with minimal oversight or accountability. Pucker explained that carbon emissions in the fashion industry have more than doubled in this timeframe. In 2000, the fashion industry produced around 50 billion units of clothing. Today, they produce more than 100 billion. Due to a lack of disclosure requirements, the exact number is still unknown.

http://20830773.hs-sites.com/decar?ecid=ACsprvs235MtwQ5nhySFfqNdUOMtET9eZiJC6ywaplDcztCaw0CfcLEFOYoRgNqYyusGGMNHNslP 

The Nuance ISSUE 08 – JULY 6, 2022