Style Industries London: Paris With A Conscience

Printemps London Mania catalogue

Meadham Kirchoff sweatshirt at www.printemps.com

Printemps London Mania window display in Paris

On my recent travels to Paris I was struck by the sheer volume of product available per collection as I researched the prestigious stores of Paris for my design and trend forecasting business. "Do we really need all this stuff" I found myself saying, and not for the first time. Frankly the excess we have seen in fashion over the last twenty years has been slowly ebbing away at my conscience. Interestingly the designer collections have reduced in size quite considerably over the last few decades, but while this is a step in the right direction you have enormous high street retailers covering every conceivable trend in a bid to increase sales year on year. Their stores are packed out with thousands of styles to entice customers. Is this the right message we want to be receiving? Buy more rather than buy better and less of?

I buy better by picking a selection of key current trends and I mix and match with wardrobe favourites from the last two seasons. A few charity finds are thrown in for good measure and generally I have the seasons looks with minimal calculated investment. Basically I think very carefully before I buy so most of my wardrobe is worn on a sustainable rotation basis.

My savvy shopper checklist consists of:

1. Has the item got a sustainable lifecycle? This means will I get more than one seasons wear from a fashion and quality perspective.
2. Will it fit in with other items I own to create my fashion story of the season?
3. Does the brand have a sustainable conscience? Has the item been made sustainably either local to the brands business, or using fair trade fabrics and or labour? Has the item be made using recycled or up-cycled fabrics?

Shopping with a sustainable ethical conscience is complicated for many reasons, price, choice and transparency being the main culprits. While I endeavour to adhere to my rules, I struggle to tick off all the above with each purchase. If I cannot solely buy ethically sourced fashion I do my best to shop with a conscience at all times hoping that eventually I will have the full choice to shop ethically without contradiction.

There are many reasons why the ethical, fair-trade and sustainable market is not quite ready for the average shopper.

1. Design and fashion choice are more limited.
2. True transparency of the supply chain is murky.
3. Price is prohibitive in some areas.
4. Brands are not strong enough in the marketing of their sustainable and ethical credentials which leaves customers unaware of the benefits and that they may already be buying sustainably.
5. Poor understanding of what ethical, sustainable and fair-trade products stand for are rife throughout the consumer market. The consequences of producing fashion without a conscience are vast and far reaching, having a huge knock on effect for our planet. In general consumers are poorly informed and do not really care about how fashion is made and the impact it has on our environment.

Here are a few shocking facts that may get you thinking about how you buy.

1. It takes 22,000 litres of water to produce 1 kilogram of cotton lint making it the most fresh water intensive crop in the world. That is a huge amount of water! (source: www.kickstarter.com)
2. It takes 8,100 litres of water to grow enough cotton to produce one pair of denim jeans. And more water!
(source: www.treehugger.com)

While out and about trend researching I discovered Printemps department store had an exhibition on called London Mania celebrating British fashion designers. I promptly bought a limited edition sweat shirt by Marios Schwab, the Art Nouveux inspired print an instant clincher with added bonus of ticking my sustainable wardrobe box as I know I will wear it over the next two to three seasons. In retrospect and on closer inspection I found the other credentials of the purchase a bit concerning. It's 100%cotton, armed with the additional knowledge about cotton I have to admit my purchase did not sit as comfortably. It is made in Portugal so not too far away for the carbon footprint to be too shocking. I have no idea if the cotton is organic or fair trade or indeed if it was made in a fair trade factory? It's not easy to shop fully sustainable and ethically when you see one off pieces that you just have to have!
Being responsible is a mindset that has to run through every day life, asking questions about what we do and how we live unearths a whole catalogue of contradictions. That said I am determined to make small changes to my lifestyle in order that I will see the bigger impact in time. "Be the change you wish to see in the world" Mahatma Gandhi