"Talking Heads: Views around fast fashion are changing at a rapid pace. Which brands are leading the charge?” by Tilly Broke-Smith

It sounds like a bold claim to state that the future of fast fashion is uncertain, when companies like Zara and H&M dominate our everyday lives. However, with the powerful Gen Z community on the rise and with sustainability an absolute must for the fashion world now, it really does seem like brands that continue to use cheap, eco-damaging materials could be on the way out. 

Fashion products are responsible for 10% of the world’s carbon emissions - that’s even more than international flights and maritime shipping combined. What’s more, the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of the world’s total water pollution. It’s currently predicted that if nothing radical is done to change the fast fashion industry, it will produce 26% of the world’s carbon footprint by 2050. Clearly, something needs to change…cue Gen Z!

A recent survey by OnePoll questioned 1,500 people aged between 16 and 35, and found that an incredible two-thirds of them want to get rid of fast fashion completely. It’s hard to imagine that this would be the current case when looking back to even just two years ago in 2019, Boohoo consumers bought over £1 billion from the company; a tenfold increase in five years. But sustainability really has been changing attitudes, and rapidly. Analysts at major bank UBS stated earlier this year that in the following five to ten years, the consumers’ increased focus on sustainability could cause large corporations such as Zara, H&M and Primark to lose up to 30% of their profit.

Fashion brands now are realising that they need to be acting quickly in response to this swift shift of attitudes, and large brands have been pledging their support to be more sustainable. Zara, one of the largest names in the fast fashion industry, has committed to use 100% sustainable fabrics by 2025. Whether or not this actually happens, is another question.

Recently, social media and the rise of influencers have made it hard to ignore what fast fashion is doing to our planet. For me, despite selling and purchasing (large!) amounts of clothes from second-hand platform Depop, it has only been over the past year or so that I have truly understood the impact of fast fashion and how my sustainable purchases really can make a difference. But what I’d say is that it is a truly amazing feeling to know that you’re doing something good for the planet with your personal choices.

It would be remiss to not discuss the topic of money when discussing sustainable fashion. Many people still think that you have to have money to shop sustainably, and that this prohibits you from taking a step back from fast fashion. However, online marketplaces or second-hand platforms like Depop are all available to help you make more eco-friendly options while keeping your costs down, and also encourage less purchasing from fast fashion retailers.

So what does this mean from a PR perspective? Well, working with brands like Pantys, which has been created with sustainability at its core, and has a carbon label on every product, means that sustainable communications with both consumers and press are both easy and authentic. For other brands which may not have such an intrinsic sustainable core, but are striving to get there, we need to be on hand to help guide them carefully in their communications to avoid being accused of ‘greenwashing.’

It’s an exciting time to feel like we can make an impact, no matter how small, with our fashion choices. I’ve enjoyed researching and discovering new sustainable brands - and let’s be honest, in terms of the reward-factor, it feels great to know that the t-shirt you’re wearing used to be a water bottle. 

For those wanting to find out more, I would recommend checking out the fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/venetialamanna/?hl=en