Camilla Sharpe-Neal

To quantify what sustainability means, LCF Fashion Business School has identified four distinct yet interlinked pillars; Planet, People, Profit and Purpose. The environmental pillar, Planet, assesses how consumers treat the earth’s resources and ecosystems. Humankind has been known to have two innate desires; sufficiency and longevity (Singh 2017)  consequently causing conflict between how one treats the planet and how the planet should be treated. This builds upon the 1987 Brundtland Report defining sustainability as, ‘meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’. This definition is renowned, yet it fails due to a lack of a perfect example of how to achieve this model of sustainability. Brundtland’s broad definition of “needs” is subjective to one’s standard of living (Kashani et al, 2021) and fails to account for the disparity between first and third-world countries. Undoubtedly, this created confusion about how individual consumers are able to achieve sustainability, shifting responsibility onto larger corporations to create change. To challenge this belief system, consumers should become accustomed to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals developed in 2015. The SDG’s are a policy framework calling for action to end, ‘poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity,’ (United Nations 2015). Sustainable development is the only viable path for humanity (Sachs, 2012) meaning it has become increasingly urgent for these SDGs to achieve success. In relation to how the fashion industry can become more sustainable, one goal, in particular, stands out – this being Responsible Consumption and Production. Promisingly, conscious consumerism is thriving with 62% of millennials claiming they are conscious about purchasing from local, sustainable or ethically sourced brands, (Mullen, 2021). Millennials are tasked with confronting the impacts of environmental degradation, providing hope for genuine consumer progress towards sustainability and the planet. On the other hand, fast fashion has progressively become more popular, thriving on the idea of more for less (Bick et al, 2018).

Fig 2. Clothing in landfill (Spring, 2017)

Consequently, this encourages the mass production of low-quality, cheap resale-value clothing which is detrimental to the environment. Increased consumer demand means brands are producing almost twice the amount of clothing today compared to before 2000 (Kirsi Niinimäki et al (2020). Countries need to actively adopt a circular economy, a model of production and consumerism emphasising reusability. A circular business model leads to less demand, production and consumption paving the way for a more sustainable planet.  

Fig 1, Circular Economy (Cohen 2022)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Rachel Bick et al (2018):The global environmental injustice of fast fashion

Naomi Cohen (2022):Making the Linear Circular: a short guide to the circular economy

Mohammadhadi Hajian et al (2021): Evolution of the concept of sustainability. From Brundtland Report to sustainable development goals

Caitlin Mullen (2021):Nearly 6 in 10 consider themselves conscious consumers

Kirsi Niinimäki et al (2020): The environmental price of fast fashion

Jeffrey Sachs (2012):From Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals

Tej Vir Singh (2017): Is our planet in peril? The imperative of sustainability, Tourism Recreation Research

Alexandra Spring (2017):Landfill becomes the latest fashion victim in Australia’s throwaway clothes culture

To quantify what sustainability means, LCF Fashion Business School has identified four distinct yet interlinked pillars; Planet, People, Profit and Purpose. The environmental pillar, Planet, assesses how consumers treat the earth’s resources and ecosystems. Humankind has been known to have two innate desires; sufficiency and longevity (Singh 2017)  consequently causing conflict between how one treats the planet and how the planet should be treated. This builds upon the 1987 Brundtland Report defining sustainability as, ‘meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’. This definition is renowned, yet it fails due to a lack of a perfect example of how to achieve this model of sustainability. Brundtland’s broad definition of “needs” is subjective to one’s standard of living (Kashani et al, 2021) and fails to account for the disparity between first and third-world countries. Undoubtedly, this created confusion about how individual consumers are able to achieve sustainability, shifting responsibility onto larger corporations to create change. To challenge this belief system, consumers should become accustomed to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals developed in 2015. The SDG’s are a policy framework calling for action to end, ‘poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity,’ (United Nations 2015). Sustainable development is the only viable path for humanity (Sachs, 2012) meaning it has become increasingly urgent for these SDGs to achieve success. In relation to how the fashion industry can become more sustainable, one goal, in particular, stands out – this being Responsible Consumption and Production. Promisingly, conscious consumerism is thriving with 62% of millennials claiming they are conscious about purchasing from local, sustainable or ethically sourced brands, (Mullen, 2021). Millennials are tasked with confronting the impacts of environmental degradation, providing hope for genuine consumer progress towards sustainability and the planet. On the other hand, fast fashion has progressively become more popular, thriving on the idea of more for less (Bick et al, 2018).

Fig 2. Clothing in landfill (Spring, 2017)

Consequently, this encourages the mass production of low-quality, cheap resale-value clothing which is detrimental to the environment. Increased consumer demand means brands are producing almost twice the amount of clothing today compared to before 2000 (Kirsi Niinimäki et al (2020). Countries need to actively adopt a circular economy, a model of production and consumerism emphasising reusability. A circular business model leads to less demand, production and consumption paving the way for a more sustainable planet.  

Fig 1, Circular Economy (Cohen 2022)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Rachel Bick et al (2018):The global environmental injustice of fast fashion

Naomi Cohen (2022):Making the Linear Circular: a short guide to the circular economy

Mohammadhadi Hajian et al (2021): Evolution of the concept of sustainability. From Brundtland Report to sustainable development goals

Caitlin Mullen (2021):Nearly 6 in 10 consider themselves conscious consumers

Kirsi Niinimäki et al (2020): The environmental price of fast fashion

Jeffrey Sachs (2012):From Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals

Tej Vir Singh (2017): Is our planet in peril? The imperative of sustainability, Tourism Recreation Research

Alexandra Spring (2017):Landfill becomes the latest fashion victim in Australia’s throwaway clothes culture

Stussy was founded in 1980 and since then has consistently prospered gaining the reputation, from many consumers including myself included, as today’s leading streetwear brand. The founder, Shawn Stussy aged only 24 initially aligned his brand with the rise of rap culture, curating clothing that was designed to be worn for rappers as they performed on stage. I admire Stussy’s longevity, continuing to stay mainstream by following trends whilst staying loyal to its roots resulting in affordable up to date versatile pieces. Recently Stussy has made a resurgence, gaining traction through social media, specifically Tiktok, in which users produce outfit clips featuring the brand or videos showing recent Stussy purchases influencing viewers to do the same. Over the years, the brand has fluctuated in popularity facing competition in the mid 90s from an influx of flashy new streetwear brands such as Avirex leading Shawn to sell his stake to Frank Sinatra, his co-founder. Despite Stussy’s departure, consumers have remained loyal to the brand supporting it as Stussy makes notable advancements towards becoming more sustainable. This is illustrated through ethically conscious and financially profitable/marketable collaborations with major brands such as Our Legacy and Nike. Conscious consumerism has gained lots of popularity recently making it now a business imperative for clothing brands to incorporate sustainability into their collections and I think Stussy did this in a way that was on brand and well executed. Overall, I believe Stussy redefined the ideology of casual wear paving the way for other brands to follow which I believe to be a notable success.