Paradigm shift – Will Covid-19 force a ‘new future of fashion’ that is needed?
With our global headlines being currently dominated with the immediate threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, the daily concerns of governments and businesses have shifted towards the outbreak, leaving the urgency of climate action to descend far lower on their agendas. The Coronavirus is indeed stifling sustainability progress, with those responsible for driving the transition towards sustainable change facing substantial interruptions in their roles. Investment in sustainability and energy projects are being paused by many, but when we come out the other side of Corona, which we will, the world will still be under enormous pressure to tackle the greatest existential crisis of our time - climate change. The World Economic Forum has named climate change as the number one threat to the global economy four years in a row (Solving the Climate Crisis: An Evening with Al Gore, The Conduit (2019), Florence Robson). Major corporates remain adamant that Net-zero remains the top green policy priority, urging the EU to put ‘net-zero’ at the heart of the Covid-19 recovery plans. Many believe that it is evident that the common roots between the two crises is human activity, namely industrial production, and that the “Coronavirus outbreak is part of the climate change crisis, therefore climate action should be central to our response to the Covid-19 pandemic” (The Coronavirus outbreak is part of the Climate Change Crisis, AJ Impact (2020), Vijay Kolinjivadi). With the pandemic being a clear and imminent threat, public policy changes and formation have happened virtually overnight, demonstrating for the first time, government decisions made based less on profit, and more on public welfare. This brings to light the question: Will governments, societies and businesses use this resolve to directly tackle the existential questions of climate change, which pose far greater and longer lasting problems? And if so, what will the new disruptors in sustainable innovation look like in the new world to come?
Before the Coronavirus pandemic sent our world into a full 360’ spin, ‘sustainability’ was the fashion industry’s biggest catchphrase. Climate advocacy was being abundantly witnessed and the movement was gaining the world’s attention through climate strikes, big-name brand pledges, collaborative innovation, changes in business models and calls for government intervention. The devastating environmental impact of the fashion industry, the second most polluting industry in the world, was at the forefront of conversations, with an echoing call to create a better future, and for a ‘decade of delivery’ from industry leaders, innovators, educators and active citizens. HGA Group had the pleasure of attending the Drapers Sustainable Fashion Conference 2020 on 11 March, where these sentiments were reiterated. The event brought together fashion brands and retailers, clothes manufacturers, supply chain experts, innovators and anybody for whom sustainability matters. The day was filled with hard-hitting talks, projects showcasing sustainability in action, and start-up innovation that is pushing the boundaries of the possible. After engaging in many interesting, inspiring and educational conversations, we left the event optimistic and ready to step up towards creating positive change.
But just a few days later, these conversations radically took a backseat, with the world now focusing on their immediate survival due to the outbreak of Covid-19. As of yet, no brands and retailers have reverted back oninitiatives combatting these environmental issues, but looking ahead, they may be less of a focus for future investment as ‘balancing the books’ and preserving core functions becomes a priority. Although businesses will be predominantly directing their efforts to recouping losses incurred by the lockdowns, the inevitable transformation in consumer demands and behavior resulting from the dramatic global impact of the crisis will optimistically hold businesses, societies and governments accountable for their decisions going forward in the post-pandemic world. Consumers perceptions on sustainability were already changing for the better before the pandemic, and this crisis looks set to heighten these shifts in thought as the world is forced to slow down by the lockdown. With having the time to now consider and contemplate the issues of the industry, consumers will become far more aware of how their behaviour impacts society and the environment. The world as we know it is dissolving, and business will not be ‘as usual’ going ahead.
This is now an opportunity for the fashion industry - brands, retail, consumers - to do better and change how they operate, leading towards a more sustainable future. 30 years on from when the official and blatant warnings from scientists began, humanity’s response to climate change has been nonchalant and ineffective to date. Now more than ever, the industry needs to reset and recalibrate towards protecting and sustaining the health of our planet. The future of fashion is in need of a monumental paradigm shift in the way it produces, purchases and disposes of clothing. Dutch founder of New York City forecasting agency Edelkoort Inc., Li Edelkoort, regarded as one of the world's most influential trend forecasters, believes that the coronavirus offers “a blank page for a new beginning”. The world is being transformed before our very eyes, and she believes there will be an eventual resetting of values and expects the virus to cause a “quarantine of consumption”. Consumers shopping behaviors and consumption preferences will shift, and part of that will be that people get used to owning fewer things, forcing the fashion industry to make much needed changes to the fundamentals: a slower pace, fewer seasonal collections, less discounting, in-season clothes to match the needs of the consumer.
Before Covid-19, there was a growing trend of consumers correcting their trajectory towards living lower carbonlifestyles, carrying out more conscious purchasing and rethinking what it means to ‘live well today’. This trend will undoubtably continue to grow, especially in the wake of the global pandemic where consumers are now truly reevaluating their needs. Around 300 000 tonnes of clothing ends up in household bins every year, with 80% of this incinerated and 20% sent to landfills (Why millennials like me have fallen back in love with the milkman, The Telegraph (2019), Claire Cohen). The biggest trend driving these colossal numbers and impacting so heavily on our physical environment is fast fashion - a linear consumption model with no circularity, no recycling, and no re-use. The result: environmental degradation and climate destabilisation with real sustainability always remaining a mission impossible. The fashion industry produces 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions, is the second-largest consumer of the world’s water supply and pollutes the oceans with microplastics (Fast Fashion Environmental Impact, Business Insider (2019), Morgan McFall-Johnsen). As consumers worldwide began in recent years to put sustainability into focus, a greater societal awareness arose with people beginning to lead a more minimalist lifestyle and saying no to overconsumption. While total ethical spending in the UK has increased almost four-fold over the past 20 years (Twenty Years of Ethical Consumerism, Ethical Consumer (2019), The Ethical Consumer Markets Report), a growing group of consumers are choosing to consciously buy less. Extending the life of the clothes you own is the best way to reduce your 'fashion footprint', which has increased the demand for second-hand and vintage clothing, clothes-sharing apps and rental services. The fashion industry is worth 2.4 trillion dollars. And, up until recently, it had undergone very few major shake-ups, even though it is an industry of measured disruption by nature.
Cue the radical rise of the billion-dollar clothing rental market.
The concept was pioneered by ‘Rent the Runway’ a decade ago, by co-founders Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss. Proclaimed as ‘The Real Sustainable Fashion Movement’, Rent the Runway is a subscription-based circular model service that allows women to rent rather than buy high-end clothing. It allows customers a low-risk rotation of stylish clothes and with it, more closet space, room in their budget, and the freedom to wear a 'nicer' level of clothes or a riskier trend than they might otherwise usually choose. And, it has the accompanying benefit of sustainability in an industry plagued by copious waste. “Our goal is really to create the Amazon Prime of rental.” The company believes that renting is the ‘future of fashion’ and are on a mission to tackle the throwaway society by building a better future for fashion. Rent, Reduce, Reuse - "Basically, everything in our business was designed around the concept of sustainability.” Recently, Rent the Runway was named by CNBC as the 9th most disruptive company in the world, right alongside Uber, Airbnb, and SpaceX (Meet the 2018 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies, CNBC (2018), CNBC.com staff). Having just received a new round of financing, the rental company’s valuation has now increased to the unicorn level of $1 billion, with the profitable $100 million revenue e-commerce company already having eight million customers (Rent the Runway Price Page Teardown: How their Business Model Maximises Profit, Price Intelligently (2020), Patrick Campbell). Rent the Runway’s immense success has inspired the startup of some of the world’s leading brands in the fashion rental market such as Chic by Choice, Lending Luxury and Le Tote. And, with the global online clothing rental market estimated to attain a market value of $2,817.8 Million by the end of 2027 (Global Online Clothing Rental Market Review 2017-2018 and $2.8+ Billion Industry Forecast 2027, Globenewswire.com (2019), Research and Markets), retailers are following suite to capitalise on this lucrative industry, with Urban Outfitters, Macy’s, Banana Republic, American Eagle, and Bloomingdale’s having announced their own rental subscription services – whether or not sustainability is at the core of their missions, is another question.
A recent survey of nearly 16 000 consumers in the US showed that over 17% of millennials have rented clothing or accessories, and over 11% have tried a clothing subscription service (Rent the Runway Price Page Teardown: How their Business Model Maximises Profit, Price Intelligently (2020), Patrick Campbell). So, with clothing renting sitting at the intersection of both a growing fashion market and a growing subscription market, as well as its link with promoting a more sustainable fashion industry, it seems to be a great time and place for businesses to be involved in this sector. But with business booming (pre-covid-19), many questions have been raised about the validity surrounding claims of just how sustainable borrowing clothes really is. Rent the Runway asserts that their eco-friendly practices go beyond just wanting to curb fast fashion, claiming that their practices - eco-friendly reusable garment bags, recycling plastic coverings and hangers, sustainable packaging, stores to pick-up/drop-off/exchange clothes instead of shipping, responsible dry cleaning - have saved more that 900 tons of shipping waste since 2015.
On a surface level, the clothing rental industry does present a simple and obvious solution to address fashion’s biggest environmental crime which lies in overproduction - of the 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalents generated by the apparel industry every year, the majority are emitted while making more clothes, clothes that mostly end up in landfills long before their useful lives are over (How Sustainable Is Renting Your Clothes, Really?, Elle (2019), Elizabeth Cline). But without an in-depth environmental study of these companies’ operations providing unified data to measure the sector’s impact, we cannot say for sure that renting clothing is helping us to tackle climate change. What we do know though, is that when we look at all the processes involved in rentable fashion, experts spot a number of environmental pitfalls in the business model, specifically of the energy-consuming dry-cleaning procedures. With Rent the Runway boasting that they are the US’s largest dry-cleaner, they are undisputedly generating an enormous carbon footprint through their dry-cleaning processes (even with their claims of being 100% non-toxic to the environment), that which would not commonly be incurred in a standard purchasing scenario. While we don’t know the collective environmental effect of the dry cleaning industry, we do know that dry cleaning requires more energy than our own laundry rooms, and that industrial dry cleaning facilities are packed with all sorts of energy-consuming equipment, from steamers and pressers to temperature-controlled storage (Does Use Matter? Comparison of Environmental Impacts of Clothing Based on Fibre Type, MDPI (2018)). So, with renting definitely being a step in the right direction, yet still not inherently sustainable, the question posed is, ‘What next?’.
In the midst of the current global pandemic, the scale of job losses and furloughing in the fashion industry has been severe and vast. Yet, during this time of great uncertainty, we are witnessing determined individuals and businesses whom are creatively innovating and pioneering new solutions to help our environment. Common Objective - an intelligent business network for the fashion industry that matches members with the connections and resources they need in order to succeed in building successful businesses, with a positive impact for people and the environment – are seeing a huge influx of new companies seeking advice on creating sustainable businesses. “Many people who have left work or are in furlough are now pursuing new ambitions. The majority of new businesses we see starting up are building sustainability into the core of their models. So, looking ahead, we will see a groundswell of sustainable businesses emerging after this crisis.” With technology set to be the antidote in fashion’s Covid-19 recovery by productively challenging the system to accelerate social, environmental and economic change, many signs point to the dry-cleaning sector being set to next disrupt the fashion industry as it works hand-in-hand with the rapidly growing rental clothing sector.
Professional dry cleaners around the world need to capitalise on the gap in the market presented by the new generation of environmentally conscious consumers. There is a critical need for dry-cleaning that ‘doesn’t cost the earth’. According to the survey by Electrolux Professional, 55% of high street consumers would request a chemical-free way to have their clothes cleaned if they realised such a service was available. With 43% aware of the environmental damage that can be caused by chemicals such as Perchloroethylene, dry cleaning businesses are under increasing pressure to respond to consumer demands. The majority of dry-cleaning businesses around the world still make use of these carcinogenic solvents, and those that don’t, use hydrocarbon alternatives which are still not exactly green, especially if not handled correctly. There is no such thing as non-hazardous dry cleaning, and the far more sustainable option today is ‘wet cleaning’, essentially a souped-up version of home laundering that uses gentle soaps and water and is safe for most dry-clean-only clothes. It also allegedly uses less water and electricity than home machines.
“The results of our survey show just how great an opportunity there is for dry cleaners to offer an efficient wet-cleaning system as an alternative option for customers. We live in an age when the average consumer is becoming much more environmentally conscious, and this is something laundry operators and businesses really ought to consider when investing in new equipment. The fact that so few people have actually heard of wet-cleaning shows just how much work there is to be done by the industry as a whole in terms of raising awareness. If manufacturers and operators all play their part in promoting wet-cleaning as an alternative to solvent-based cleaning, the industry has huge potential to become more productive, more efficient, and more sustainable.” (Over half of Brits would prefer to use sustainable alternative to dry cleaning, Cleaning Matters (2019), Chris Shaw).
So, as we grapple with the notion of a new world and a new normal, we are choosing to concentrate on the positives and the immense opportunities that we are currently presented with as an industry. Climate advocacy and sustainability will inevitably be at the forefront of conversations again, and this time with far more people backing the movement. We believe that society will reach the other side of this global crisis far stronger than before, and with a deeper determination to consciously create a more sustainable future for us all.