Fashion brands on the long trek to increased sustainability are on a complicated journey.
While some brands and retailers have been working together to lower their environmental impact (with events like the Global Fashion Agenda helping to unify commitments to decarbonise and realign supply chains), high-profile legal cases accusing brands of greenwashing are on the rise and have resulted in industry–wide caution when sharing environmental efforts, ELLE reported.
The fashion industry is rightly being held to higher account for its sustainability claims, but it's creating a backdrop of uncertainty and weariness, and so, Quiet Sustainability has emerged. After years of brands espousing their green benefits from the rooftops, the most exciting sartorial sustainability developments are now taking place at fashion houses and independent labels on the QT.
During Paris Fashion Week's SS22 schedule, now-departed creative director Gabriela Hearst showcased Chloé's collection on the banks of the Seine. Full of artisanal details and balmy hues the nouveau boho collection was warmly received by journalists and buyers alike. Fashion activists swooned over the collection, too, albeit for different reasons: of the 31 looks that walked the runway, 60% were made from low-impact materials. Moreover, the previous October, the French fashion house achieved B Corp status, an accreditation awarded to companies with a very high levels of environmental and social accountability.
As the first luxury maison to receive the certification, Chloé set a new bar for what could be achieved at a luxury level: committing to a long-term ethical, social and environmental mission company-wide. Amanda Nguyen, a respected social entrepreneur and civil rights activist, and Elisabeth Laville, founder of Utopies (France's first sustainable development strategy consultancy) were recruited to the brand's dedicated sustainability board. Chloé's governance mission, Women Forward For a Fairer Future, was enveloped in its corporate status, legally binding the fashion house to its commitments.
Looking at Hearst’s designs, you would never think they were at the cutting edge of sustainable fashion development. It was a quiet revolution.
And Chloé isn't the only brand doing good work on the 'DL'. Last September, at Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, Gucci made its own green mark by winning the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Award for Circular Economy at the CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards. The Italian house had already been acknowledged in 2022 for its commitment to regenerative farming, but this award recognised its long-term ambitions toward circularity through its 'Denim Project'.
The collection, due to be released in 2024, combines 74% regeneratively grown cotton (a farming method that preserves long-term soil health) fibres with 26% post-consumer recycled (PCR) fibres collected and re-spun in Italy. Each item is durable, made to last, and can be recycled easily at the end of its life—all features that align with Gucci's longstanding commitment to creating the highest quality products.