“How Did You Go Bankrupt? Two Ways. Gradually and Then Suddenly.” – Ernest Hemingway
Most everyone reading this newsletter will have seen the news that Victoria’s Secret was sold to a private equity firm for a fraction of what it was once worth.
There will be hundreds of post mortems analyzing what went wrong. There’s the obvious stuff (too many stores; overly sexualized; Epstein) but, at the core, they just didn’t evolve when the entire market was telling them they needed to. Their problems were no secret, and neither were the answers. They just were too heavy and slow to adapt.
Regarding sustainability in fashion, things feel kind of the same as they did with digital. In the few months I’ve been writing this newsletter, the volume of announcements and articles has exploded. In the first few editions, it was hard finding good articles on the topic. Now it’s hard to choose which ones to include. The pace of required change will only accelerate and, with it, companies will have to adapt and reinvent themselves.
Make sure to check out the Harvard Business Review piece below on Leading a New Era of Climate Action. It’s a fantastic look at how to build a company that can succeed in an era where climate change comes to dominate all aspects of business. It provides the type of lessons that could’ve been valuable for the management at Victoria’s Secret.
P.S. It seems like VS courted controversy right until the bitter end, with the Guardian reporting that someone found hundreds of bras thrown out in a dumpster. Perhaps, if people were on Reddit, they would have discovered this practice long ago.
How Can New Technologies Help Make Fashion More Sustainable?
Synthetic diamonds. Bioengineered fabrics. Designing virtually to avoid plane trips. Controlling air quality in retail outlets. These were all ideas discussed at a recent BoF Voices Salon on leveraging technology for fashion sustainability.
Depop and Farfetch on digital sustainability in fashion
“Fundamentally if you want to solve the problem in the [fashion] industry, we have to push to remove atoms as much as possible. From the moment a designer starts to pick up a pen, to the manufacturer at the end of the chain – that is the only place where physical [should] manifest… there should be no samples that have to go back and forth, no materials that have to be stopped [and checked]… and digitalisation of manufacturing.”
– Remo Gettini, CTO of DePop
Gap is the latest retailer to try to fix its business by selling secondhand clothes
This CNBC piece is a very good look at the overall resale market.
The overall resale market in the U.S. today is valued at roughly $20 billion, with the potential to reach $33 billion by 2022, according to a report by Cowen & Co. in November.The resale market represents a meager 6% of the total apparel and footwear industry in the U.S. today, Wells Fargo analyst Ike Boruchow said. That should grow to roughly 10% by 2022 by his estimates, stealing share from traditional apparel players. “The consumer’s willingness to transition to resale is in the very early innings,” Boruchow said.
The UN set 17 sustainability goals. It needs fashion’s help meeting them
To kick off NY Fashion Week, represents from the UN Office for Partnerships hosted representatives from Gucci, Theory and Mara Hoffman, at Arcadia Earth to discuss the connections between fashion and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Zalando’s private label Zign launches SS20 collection ‘fully dedicated to sustainability’
I’m still not sure exactly what Zign entails:
All products in its SS20 collection are manufactured in the top 50 percent of Zalando’s supply base when it comes to social performance, according to the company.
Want to know if your clothes are ethically sourced? Theory’s new labeling system is for you
In this piece on Theory’s new “Theory for Good” labeling initiative, an interesting perspective on their approach to sustainability:
Siddhartha Shukla, Theory’s chief brand officer, explains that the brand was founded on material innovation, which all depends on thoughtful sourcing. The brand debuted nearly two decades ago when the founders found a mill that incorporated stretch into wool.“Sourcing the best materials is part of our DNA,” Shukla says. “So this was the lens through which we considered sustainability.”
Leading a New Era of Climate Action
This is a, dare I say, epic Harvard Business Review piece that I’ll be keeping as a reference point for a long time to come. It’s one of the better looks at just how radical the leadership challenges and requirements will become in a time of climate catastrophe.
The High-Fashion-ification of Reusable Water Bottles – Fashionista
A new line for Adore Me?
As of the last two years, the global reusable water market was valued at $8.1 billion, according to data from business consulting firm Grand View Research. By 2025, it’s expected to reach $10.6 billion.
This edible blob filled with water means you don’t need a plastic bottle
If not high-end water bottles, then maybe this new innovation from a startup called Notpla.
Reusable Coffee Cups Being Tested for McDonald’s and Starbucks
Even the giants are thinking of creative ways to cut down on a disposable mindset.
