Size matters!!!Especially, with sustainability

Why is it simply impossible for big brands to claim they're sustainable? Understanding the supply chain for dummies…

To address this issue adequately, I’ve already discussed sustainability and its levels throughout the industry, but to begin with, I will truly define what it means to be sustainable.

The first thing to note is that being a fully sustainable brand is not possible, but applying sustainable practices is. Sustainability is trying to use the most ethical practices in terms of human and environmental consequences throughout the whole supply chain until the garment's death, being accountable for the garment's entire life. The supply chain includes everything from fabric to production to product sales.

Knowing the core definition is crucial to understanding why large brands cannot succeed. 

Large brands like H&M, Zara, Garage, Simons, etc, claim sustainable initiatives or fully sustainable lines within their stores. The main issue here is that you can’t make a line just for its purpose to be sustainable. Sustainability aims to ameliorate your practices with the environment and human consequences in mind, striving at every step to improve, not make and sell more clothes….

That’s the first big thing!

Second, there is no way to ensure sustainability in your production on such a large scale when so many subcontractors are being used: those who don’t know a fashion brand will subcontract for manufacturing, packaging, and shipping. Who then all subcontracts themselves? So, there's no way to obtain actual sustainable practices even in those claimed sustainable lines. Maybe practices with sustainability in mind, not like the greenwashing on their tags saying made 100% sustainably. 

So what’s the alternative, right? And how come small brands are making sustainable garments?

Small brands control the whole production line from start to finish, giving them a certain level of control. They can ensure that everything is as sustainable as possible because they complete most of the steps themselves. This comes back to vertical integration which we’ve seen before in my article about Sheertex. 

A small brand can ensure its fabric is sustainably sourced, the workers are fairly paid in good working conditions, and all waste is tracked and reduced, from the labels in the clothes to the paper waste at the atelier. You see these small brands with amazing transparency quotas, and you can tell that genuinely, in each step, they have the planet in mind. Sustainable small brands ensure they operate ethically, trying to obtain regular margins.

When the production line starts getting longer, it becomes impossible!

This process can be greatly explained by vertical integration which I cannot stress how positive that is for fashion here’s a little video explaining the concept that inspired this post.

https://youtu.be/RbMp9blfvuU?si=uKjdRIfYkhVz7Fnu

Yet there's an often forgetten step in this process and we as a society need to improve on it also, its the garment afterlife. 

Thrift stores are simply overwhelmed and do not have the resources to deal with the amount of consumer goods donated. So most of it ends up in landfills anyway! Brands need to be accountable for the garments' whole life. Small brands are finding new and innovative ways to tackle the production of the garment, but the afterlife is not so much. Yes, these brands encourage slow fashion and under-consumption, but they don’t have buyback programs or garment recycling programs. This is because it would be an enormous overhead that would bury these companies under modern-day business structures. It's incredibly difficult to start a small brand successfully.

More prominent brands are doing slightly better on that front, but it’s not saying much. Garments' afterlife is where they’re the most polluting and will have the most long-term effect on our bodies. There are collection programs with brands such as La Vie en Rose, AE, Lululemon, etc. that will give credits for returned garments so that they can be disposed of safely or recycled.

It’s definitely a step in the right direction, but it’s the least big brands can do to be accountable for their role in the environment, which, at the end of the day, small brands can’t because of the massive overhead 

The whole point of this article is to say you cannot buy sustainable from big brands, it simply isn't possible. Big brands being semi sustainable is the bare minimum. Shop local sustainable brands!