IS NEW YORK FASHION WEEK LIVING UP TO THE NEW STANDARDS OF THE FASHION COMMUNITY
Photo: @eckhaus_latta ss22
by Azucena Melchor
As NYFW came to a close this September, I started wondering whether the fashion people around the world were truly represented by one of the most high-profile fashion events of the year.
As a community, we’ve been talking a lot about sustainability recently, but as I was looking into the brands represented and their sustainability practices (the numbers of designers with NYFW shows who have expressed a commitment to sustainability has definitely risen, but it’s not everyone), another issue caught my attention:
Photo: @staud.clothing SS22
WHAT CAN WE ACTUALLY CALL SUSTAINABLE?
Though many designers represented during NYFW have sustainable collections, use vintage fabrics, hire ethically sourced labor and more, almost none can claim to be fully sustainable. Even the most committed designers acknowledge that the quest for sustainability is not even close to over. Like many, Hilary Taymour of Collina Strada includes a clause on her site laying out a dedication to “becoming a fully sustainable and radically transparent brand in the future.”
Photo: @collinastrada SS22
Some even seem to think that complete sustainability is an impossible goal in the fashion world. Designer Mia Vesper is quoted in What’s Next for Mia Vesper, written by Layla Ichi for Women’s Wear Daily, saying that “Sustainability is a buzzword and fashion, in my opinion, is inherently sustainable.”
This makes sense to me. There’s a lot happening in the production and selling of clothes, from cultivating crops and livestock necessary to make textiles all the way to shipping packages out to customers. Even shopping vintage can take an environmental toll depending on the methods.
After some thought, I think that knowing designers are trying and seeing their efforts is enough for me, for now, but I would encourage everyone to think about what you’re okay with now and what you’d like to see going forward, because we all play a part, however small, in the future of the industry.
MARC JACOBS
