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Writer's pictureJEWEL LITTENBERG

Sustainability in fashion as a concept and practise.

We are all well aware of the depressing news that reaches us daily in different

ways. Each new cycle of news seems to herald further adversity: wars, disasters,

terrorism and rumors that go viral, such as Donald Trump's claim that

Springfield, Ohio's local pet population is now under threat from dog-eating

migrants. If that is all, it would be a sad and depressing world. And a truly

frightening one.

Fortunately, this rather gloomy news cycle is punctuated by more upbeat and

good news from the world of sport, culture and, last but not least, fashion. For

example, Business of Fashion recently published an encouraging article about

NYC Fashion Week: 'NYC Fashion Week is not dead... yet'. Thank God. Ralph

Lauren also seems to be in high spirits after presenting his latest collection in the

Hamptons. Certainly a lot of 'creative', 'exciting' and 'provocative' has been

presented on the world's many catwalks in recent weeks. And what else?

LVMH's Givenchy has a new creative director in Sarah Burton. Great. It sounds

counter-intuitive. But perhaps the reason for the seemingly never-ending stream

of good news from the world of fashion and the fashion industry is that there is

actually not much good news to report.

And actually, there is much more interesting news. Like the $8.5 billion mega-

merger of Tapestry and Michael Kors Capri, now under investigation by the

FTC. But do we ask ourselves why the FTC is looking into the deal and whether

these mega-mergers are a good thing for the industry? We may not like it, but we

accept the trade and manufacturing practices because we tell ourselves they can't

be abolished. We don't really want to listen and look closely, so we just scratch

the surface.

But wouldn't it be useful to look at and analyze the stories behind the news? We

would realize, for example, that the claim about pets on sandwiches in

Springfield is completely unfounded and factually inaccurate, while at the same

time 5 million dogs are slaughtered for food every year in Vietnam and no one

cares.

This is also true for the news from the world of fashion. If we finally start to

take the stories behind the news seriously, we will be able to understand the

multitude of sustainable projects in textile and fashion production as a response

to the huge problems of the fashion world and its industry. And, it is in this

niche, away from conventional clothing production, that we find the good news:

trousers made from old Coke bottles, leather from tree bark and even hair (but

please not from dogs) recycled into new shirts. The desire to 'go green' and the

urge for 'healthy clothing' is more than understandable. After all, no one knows

the exact number of illnesses caused by toxic dyes in jeans or scarves.


But cynics, some call them realists, will argue against it: globalization and

uncontrollable global supply chains, liberal dreams, inefficiency, appeasement of

conscience and feasibility, to name but a few of the catchwords. It seems to me,

too, that the sometimes overly idealistic world of sustainability enthusiasts is in

need of a reality check. Seemingly every week, a new product promises to solve

centuries-old problems. But if you look for that celebrated product or solution

six months later, you won't find much.

But must we start by conquering, saving or even reinventing the world? Must it

always be big politics and cutting edge? Half of it would probably be enough to

start with. Shouldn't we be more sustainable here too? Pursue ideas longer,

develop them into concepts and also look back into the past. Maybe we don't

need to reinvent the wheel all the time.

As a former fashion journalist, always looking for the stories behind the news, it

was my job and my work to put the news into context and perspective. So I have

always tried to find the connection between fashion and its history. And I have

always been quite irritated by the fact that the fashion industry in particular does

not look at its own history.

Coming from Europe, I started here. Especially in Germany. After all, Germany

is the only country in the world that managed to completely destroy its own

excellent fashion industry. In 1933, thousands of Jewish fashion designers were

driven out of the country or murdered by Hitler and his many willing helpers.

Fashion schools were closed and Jews were banned from fashion shows. Clothes

were sewn by prisoners of war and Jews in forced labor camps in German-

occupied Eastern Europe. Those who did not succumb to this murderous slave

labor, or fell ill, were sent to concentration camps to be murdered. At home,

especially in Berlin, profiteers enjoyed the expropriation of Jewish fashion

companies until the 1980s. The fashion industry has still not come to terms with

this. It has built a wall of silence around its own sordid past. Yet the tradition of

fashion that was destroyed by the Nazis could have been a good example of

alternative methods of production and of new, creative ideas. What good,

beautiful, exciting, fair and sustainable fashion can achieve, and what happens

when these conditions are destroyed, is shown by looking at this history. It also

helps to explain why London and Paris continue to be seen as important fashion

cities, still drawing on their own past and long traditions to develop couture.

Using the past to inspire the present. In Berlin, people are still busy suppressing,

forgetting and ignoring.

And today? Sustainable Fashion Week Atlanta, especially Tanjuria Willis from

SFWA, showed us how to do it. Here, too, tradition and history - the good and

the bad - are combined with new ideas that create space for diversity.

Sustainability is practiced here in an exemplary manner because it is understood


holistically. And no energy is wasted in forgetting and suppressing. We know

that fashion that inspires can only flourish in a liberal, tolerant, non-

discriminatory and democratic environment. But that means understanding your

own history and incorporating it into your practices and concepts. This is the

only way to achieve true sustainability.

This is what makes Atlanta and the fashion designers who work here so special.

For this reason alone, we need a student exchange between Berlin, Paris and

Atlanta. If we work together and embrace sustainability holistically, it can also

become a counterpoint to the loneliness of the mass market, whose only measure

is profit. Sustainability is about more than just a product. We need to recognize

the social and historical processes in which sustainability is embedded,

especially in our daily lives, in our daily practices. I would like to thank all those

who are doing this: the designers, the photographers, the creatives from all

fields. This is the good news that we are all in need of and can be part of. I

would like to thank everyone involved.

Uwe Westphal, Journalist/Author

London/Berlin

Sept. 2024

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