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Fashion review
The world is buying more clothes than ever before but wearing even less. Gone are the days when our mothers used to pack their clothes to pass on not only to the next season but also to the next generation. People care less about clothes and are more eager to jump on the bandwagon than stop at the next big trend. This has led to the relentless growth of the high street fashion sector, at least in Pakistan – explaining the relentless consumption obsession of a society where there is little discussion and debate about ethical, sustainable fashion.
Global fashion is more about ethics these days. Engaging in buzz words like eco-friendly and ethical sustainability in fashion. It simply means an approach where fashion maximizes benefits to people and communities while minimizing the harmful side of production. It covers ethical fashion design, production, retail and procurement, as well as issues such as working conditions, exploitation, fair trade, sustainable production, the environment and animal welfare.
Internationally, the high street is struggling and has seen better times. Higher rental costs and the shift to online shopping have affected brick-and-mortar stores. A recent report monitoring the health of Britain’s top 500 high streets revealed 2,500 shop closures in 2018, up 40% on 2017.
Issues of sustainability, sourcing, ethics, labour, consumption and all the nuances in between are now woven into their visual experience of fashion.
In Pakistan, we wonder how the high street is doing. It’s hard to ignore the fact that an equal number of stores have opened as they have closed. Within the last year, Coco by Zara Shahjahan and Crescent stores have closed while Chapter 2 and Zaha have opened new branches. The latter opened stores this week, with a grand launch at Gulberg Galleria in Lahore, replacing Elan, which has moved to a nearby building. The fast fashion sector certainly seems to be on the rise, but when will sustainability in fashion be addressed?
The high street of fashion in Pakistan can be divided into a few categories. There are unsown lawns, which are overgrown and purchased as such, rarely making it the next season. Some of the brands performing well in this category are Elan, Zara Shahjahan, Sana Safinaz, Khadi, Gul Ahmed and Al Karam. Then there are western wear brands like Outfitters, One and Breakout to name a few. And then ready-to-wear with Khadi, Generation, Chapter 2, Beech Tree and Ethnic Buy Outfitters, among others. Additionally in the local sartorial landscape there is what we call luxury pret, which teeters between high street and luxury wear depending on the business model a brand chooses to follow.
Sana Safinaz, Misha Lakhani, Sania Maskatiya and Elan will produce more in quantity than Shamail, Zaheer Abbas or The Pink Tree Company, but are any of them responsible for sustainable fashion practices?
Hammad Sohail, former head of marketing at Outfitters and former marketing manager at Levi’s, says, “The high street in Pakistan is thriving as long as no one is importing goods. The fluctuation of the dollar has affected everyone. affected whose supply chain does not originate locally.” Asked about sustainable practices, he explains, “The industry landscape isn’t implementing sustainable fashion nearly as well as it should, whether it’s using plastic or recycling clothes.”
As far as the outfitters are concerned, the leftover clothes are sold to resellers who take the leftover clothes from the brands and sell them on. What those vendors do with the clothes is not something the brand is usually concerned with.
Levi’s, on the other hand, has launched its range of waterless products that reduce water consumption by up to 96% in the finishing process. “Levi’s is using it locally but that’s because their orders come from their sourcing company overseas, where the rules are strict. Outfitters are still lagging behind in terms of being eco-friendly because the govt. There are no laws passed or enforced about it, and water scarcity, plastic wastage, etc. have not been addressed by the government in the same way as abroad. “, he explains.
ELO, Export Leftovers, a recent addition to the market is buying waste garments from export quality producers in Pakistan and has created a brand out of it called Polo Republic. They also sell a few hundred surplus goods from companies that might otherwise contribute to the more than 60 million kg of waste generated by such activities in Pakistan in a year.
Generation, one of the oldest fashion retail brands, has always been on the right side of the social awareness debate. When creative head, Khadija Rehman, was asked how sustainable her business practices were, she said that she had recently replaced her plastic shopping bags with cloth bags and was looking to reduce her carbon footprint. Forestry is being planted in the premises of the generation for
“We also tackled tree planting and water scarcity in a campaign and then another zero-waste wedding where everything was made from second-hand items. The jewelery was made from gutta, paper, bottle caps – Topics like pollution and recycling are very important to us.”
Among the brand’s several lines are those that use indigenous crafts and techniques, including indigo dyeing and rally, which Rahman finds to be the most sustainable because they don’t use new technology but instead rely on artisans in their homes. Employ.
Rehman agrees with Sohail that fast fashion is on the rise but one wonders if something that is produced so quickly and at such a low cost can really be sustainable, ethical and environmentally friendly. Ethically minded brands believe that the single biggest issue holding them back from becoming more sustainable is consumers, either a lack of awareness of the issues facing the industry or a willingness to pay for sustainable products. Without because everyone wants the cheapest product. So, does ethical consumerism really exist in the mainstream fashion market?
Our behavior is more selfish than we like to believe. Rational models of consumption are based on the idea that individuals make choices that balance costs and benefits. An ethical consumer will make rational purchasing decisions on the best outcomes in terms of costs and benefits for themselves and the environment. But consumption, and particularly fashion consumption, is quite irrational. Purchase decisions, for fast fashion, are driven by desires associated with pleasure and excitement. Therefore, this issue has to be approached in different ways. The onus is on brands, consumers and governments to create a more sustainable environment for fashion to thrive.
