Multi-stakeholder Initiatives: The business case for human rights
As an activist for human rights along the fashion supply chain, it is easy to label corporations, governments and factory owners as “the bad guys”. They are the ones perpetuating unfair labor practices, right? In many ways, yes, but it’s too simple to stop asking questions there. Digging deeper into the situations causing them to exploit people, and understanding exactly how these powerful players are able to skirt systems put in place to protect workers is at the crux of solving this issue. Addressing these oversights and bringing everyone to the table to find pathways for mutually beneficial change is crucial to building better businesses that are able to navigate the apparel supply chain in a way that incorporates human rights at every level.
At NYU Stern, the Center for Business and Human Rights is working on research to tackle exactly these issues in the garment industry in Bangladesh. Stern established the Center for Business and Human Rights in 2013, the first of its kind. Forming right after the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, the center decided to take a close look at how the government and brands address this tragic loss of life in the sector. After their first report, they identified a major issue causing human rights violations to be transparency in the Bangladeshi supply chain. To shine a light on the breadth of the garment industry and how different factories operated, they created an interactive mapping tool to track all the factories in the country. Their latest report, Five Years After Rana Plaza: The Way Forward – released just this month, assesses this critical juncture in the Bangladeshi garment industry where the Accord (mainly comprised of European brands) and the Alliance (mainly comprised of American brands) are gearing up to transfer their responsibilities to the government and outlines recommendations for moving forward.
Although we are five years out from the Rana Plaza disaster and some improvements have been made, the industry is still on the verge of a major disaster in the Bangladeshi garment sector due to the drastic inequalities between factories that have emerged. Instead of lifting up the industry as a whole, the Accord and the Alliance groomed select factories to raise their standards for foreign export, while other factories lagged behind and even decreased in standards as they produced for countries with more lenient standards, the Bangladeshi domestic market or even served as subcontractors for these larger sanctioned factories. In effect, they managed to create a bifurcation between factories and further engrained subcontracted work as a necessary component to meeting foreign brand’s demands.
After reading the report and talking with April Gu, the Associate Director of the Center for Business and Human Rights, I learned how the center is advocating for steps forward that will help to raise accountability with the Bangladeshi government, create a shared responsibility over worker’s rights and funding for remediation, and provide more transparency throughout the web of factories operating in the country. Stressing the importance of mitigating risk across the sector, brands don’t want to invest so much money to remediate factories just to have their garments show up in a subcontracted factory with major fire or structural problems and cause a media frenzy. The next steps for the center are to start forming a task force and build the timeline for their Shared Responsibility model.
This is not the first organization to preach the necessity of shared responsibility and accountability across all parties involved, but their neutral stance and ability to bring different stakeholders together helps them accomplish this better than other advocacy groups. When given a platform to come together and collaborate on important social and environmental issues in a non-competitive space, brands are able to learn from each other and discover ways in which they can collectively change the industry for the better. Since the center is housed in a business school and is approaching the problem from that mindset, they are able to bridge the gap between workers rights and business strategy.
Beyond their research and advocacy work, the staff at the Center for Business and Human Rights also teach courses at NYU Stern in the Business and Society Program, embedding this into the core business curriculum. A speaker series is also put on for all NYU students to explore careers in Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Innovation to encourage them to follow career paths in these fields.
I’m happy to see programs like this emerging within a business context and hope to see more. One of the recommendations from the center for the way forward for Bangladesh is to shift the way in which brands purchase from suppliers. They are encouraging companies to consider including a social component into the cost of good. Having worked in the industry managing production and negotiating pricing with factories, I am acutely aware of how ingrained this mindset of driving down the price of the garment at all costs and the pressures brands feel from consumers to keep their pricing low. The idea of disrupting the industry in this way, and being able to change the way in which fashion businesses interact with their suppliers through education would certainly be revolutionary. I hope to start seeing this shift as more business students are taught to address issues of human rights and ethics along the supply chain.
Multi-stakeholder partnerships were my reason for returning to graduate school, how are they formed, how do different members work together, how are the goals decided upon when everyone has a different approach? Last semester I studied Race to the Top‘s structure in Vietnam and their perspective of setting standard auditing systems throughout the country and also collectively raising money for creating a sustainable garment sector. The Center for Business and Human Right’s approach in Bangladesh focuses more on stamping out subcontracted work and raising the industry as a whole, as well as a system for collective funding. These initiatives are in their nascency and it is too early to measure the positive impact they’ll have in the industry, but it’s great to see the big players taking the first step and start to work together on these pressing human rights issues.
Grassroots Organizing: Student led initiatives
Playing off of the last post, this one will be zeroing in on building a grassroots coalition and army of supporters to move your cause forward. I’ll explore this through the efforts of an NYU student group eager to learn about and solve the issues of the sustainable fashion industry.
Wanting to learn more about student groups on campus passionate about sustainable fashion, I jumped on a Facebook invite I saw to Earth Matter’s clothing swap last week. Earth Matters is an undergraduate led environmental student club at NYU and thought I’d go check it out their event to see how students were talking about issues of sustainable fashion and what they were doing to fight back. Once I arrived at the event and put down the pieces I brought to contribute, I looked around the big conference room, people were casually pursuing the clothing, trying on pieces and chatting with friends. The selection was largely fast fashion but that’s to be expected in a college clothing swap. It was encouraging to know that these pieces would stay out of a landfill and the students were shifting their mindset about how to consume fashion.
Although there seem to be some champions in colleges around the US, undergraduates are a difficult group to turn onto the sustainable fashion mindset. Having small budgets and wanting to stay on trend usually drives their clothing consumption habits, not curating a one of a kind style or buying pieces that will last. I spoke to Liv Chai, an executive board member of Earth Matters passionate about sustainable fashion, to get her perspective on how NYU students feel about these issues and what students can do to make a difference (pictured in the middle below promoting the Earth Matters Clothing Swap).
We sat down to chat in the student center last week, where she explained her motivation for starting the sustainable fashion campaign with Earth Matters and why she thinks that her generation has a responsibility to step up and take action. Having grown up in an environmentally conscious household, she’s always cared about sustainability but it wasn’t until her first year in college that she came to realize that fashion is a major perpetrator of environmental issues. Wanting to do more, she approached Earth Matters to start up her own sustainable fashion campaign, organizing sustainable fashion shows, panel discussions, and clothing swaps.
Liv explained her motivation for starting the campaign with me – “I wanted to educate myself and start a proactive dialogue, especially as a part of fast fashion’s main consumer base…they don’t think that young people are conscious of what’s going on behind the scenes, but the young people are the ones fighting for these causes.” She explains that younger generations are stepping up and taking action where others are falling short. Take the Parkland shooting, for example, students are the ones who were able to start a movement and push for actual change in the government, policymakers were listening in a way that they hadn’t before. This has encouraged students like Liv to step up and take action on issues that they care about, knowing that their voices are powerful and can truly make a difference.
I asked Liv about how she can help influence her classmates and their consumer behavior to become more sustainable. She tells me that “it’s all about showing, not telling…showing them that there’s value in second-hand clothing and helping them realize the value of that.” She goes on to say that she’s learned a lot from Youtube and social media and has seen a trend for people to talk about becoming a more mindful consumer and including thrifted items in their lookbooks. It is clear that as we become an ever more connected world, online platforms and social media are key to shifting behavior and mindsets around how we shop.
Oftentimes sustainable fashion brands ignore younger generations who cannot afford their clothing, but I think this is a huge oversight. Like Liv mentioned above, her generation is the generation that will grow up to be leaders in sustainability. Furthermore, this is the demographic that fast fashion companies predominantly market to, and they are not offered many alternatives to the fast fashion model. By giving college students outlets to buy sustainable and ethical fashion, at a price they can afford, you can bring major disruption to the industry. Even if this means introducing updated consumption models like clothing swaps, upcycled clothing, or systems for renting more expensive sustainable brands, it is imperative that we don’t assume this generation doesn’t care because they are largely shopping at Forever 21 and H&M. They are shopping at these stores because we are failing to provide an alternative accessible model.
Now that I am back in school and surrounded by undergraduate students at NYU, I love to hear how excited they are about getting involved in sustainable fashion and what they can achieve. They are dreaming big, and I can’t help but feel hopeful for the future of the industry.
Policymaking: A way forward from advocacy
Since I’m currently pursuing a Masters in Public Administration, policy-making seemed like a good place to start this Fashion Revolution series on ways in which we can drive change in the fashion industry. I started the MPA program at NYU Wagner in the fall of 2017 and have been pleasantly surprised by the school’s attention on human rights issues along the supply chain. From learning about the start of the labor rights movement and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 to reading case studies about the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013, even though they are 100 years apart, the root causes and issues seem to be the same. Exploitative and forced labor of garment workers in lower Manhattan has merely moved into communities further and further away, where laws and regulations do not protect them.
Advocacy and disruption go hand in hand with radical shifts and policy change. This was true with the beginning of the labor movement during the era of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and it is still true now with the rise of the widespread and quickly growing #MeToo movement. How can we take lessons learned from these cases and apply it to improving labor standards along the global supply chain? Admittedly, the process of international policy change has different layers and intricacies from a local state legislature, but the methods of building a movement, laying the groundwork and telling your story remain the same.
Last week, the NYU Wagner Women’s Caucus held a policy formation workshop that centered around the partnership between Assemblywoman Nily Rozic and Founding Director of the Model Alliance, Sara Ziff and their efforts to pass a bill protecting models against sexual harassment. Due to the way in which models are hired as independent contractors, they have few legal protections and no human resources department to turn to when they are harassed on the job. The workshop served as a tool for students to understand how advocacy and policy-making work together to build new laws to shift industries.
In a quote from a New York Times article on their partnership, Ms. Ziff explains that “There has been a sense that simply speaking out is enough” and goes on to assert that “It’s an important first step, but it does not solve the problem. If there aren’t basic legal protections in place, then real change does not occur.” This sentiment was echoed in the NYU event and underscored the importance of taking action and partnering with organizations and people who can drive change through altering the legal structure and governance. As the #MeToo movement has gained traction, many have wondered what about the next steps and how the movement could result in an actual change in behavior. For Ms. Rozic and Ms. Ziff, the answer is through policy-making and establishing laws to protect workers from a harmful and toxic workplace.
The case of the Model Alliance’s partnership with Ms. Rozic is a great framework for looking at how to move the fashion industry forward towards a more sustainable future. Now that the Fashion Revolution movement has raised awareness, and educated consumers on the reality of the garment industry, it is time to find opportunities to impact change from a policy standpoint.
During the workshop last week, Ms. Rozic recommended four steps towards introducing new legislation.
1) Find your allies – who will be the sponsor to shepherd the bill through the process?
2) Build a coalition – who will back you up and lobby legislatures?
3) Get committee members to sign on – who will join in to support you once you have the bill together?
4) Push it on the agenda so you can vote for it.
In addition to these steps, the role of media and communications is crucial to galvanizing support and getting the bill on the agenda. The timely breaking of the Weinstein scandal allowed for their work addressing sexual harassment in the modeling industry to come to the forefront. Just like how the Rana Plaza disaster brought labor rights issues in the garment industry to the forefront. In order to take advantage of these unexpected situations, I think it’s important to have a two-tiered approach. Firstly, have an arsenal of policies backed by research and key influencers ready to mobilize when these situations arise. Second, building relationships with media partners and those who will champion your story when the timing is right is crucial.
This workshop challenged me to think about solving fashion’s sustainable and ethical problems through policy-making, especially in countries and regions where the government is receptive to protecting workers rights and where there is a coalition of supporters to engage governments, factories, and brands in supporting their cause. We saw an outcry from the apparel industry after the Rana Plaza disaster that resulted in the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, the Accord on Fire and Safety in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi government’s National Initiative. Five years later there are some improvements, but a lot of work is left to be done. These initiatives brought the industry in the right direction but we need to continue to fight for better laws and regulations to protect garment workers. Hopefully, it will not be another factory collapse to shake the industry into acting again, but an advocacy and awareness campaign ready to take action that can continue to move these efforts forward.
Top-down Change – Building a Sustainable Fashion Industry in Vietnam
Thus far in my look at how to impact change in the ethical fashion industry I analyzed a grassroots middle school project to decrease overconsumption, and systematic change in Cambodia that caused waves globally. Now, I turn to look at a multi-stakeholder organization that aims to impact the garment industry from the top-down.
Changing business practices and altering people perceptions of how to succeed in the fashion industry is a big task. Organizations like the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) and Fashion Revolution have been taking on this task from the producer and consumer side respectively. The SAC in particular has been able to penetrate the market and build a standard around what sustainable and ethical fashion should look like, and more importantly, how companies and factories can achieve and prove these standards. They’ve been able to achieve this by establishing the Higg Index, an industry wide auditing tool to measure sustainability practices and labor standards. Even with the prevalence of this tool and the growing trend of sustainable fashion, the garment industry still struggles to raise standards.
One recent multi-stakeholder initiative that has caused waves in the industry is Vietnam’s Race to the Top program. A collaboration founded in 2015 and boasts big name brand participation, including Nike and Gap Inc., in large part due to its association with the SAC. Race to the Top was founded to answer the question: “What if, rather than a system characterized by a race to the bottom framed by tragedy there was a race to the top with a sustainable system of apparel characterized by measurable progress both in environmental performance and the well-being of workers.” To do this, they needed the help of all parties involved, brands, governments, NGOs, and nonprofits.
The program has effectively brought together all the pieces and put them together to work as one, from encouraging sector-wide use go the Higg Index, to working with Better Work to maximize their efforts in the industry. With the multi-stakeholder approach, large scale problems like climate change and human rights violations cannot be solved by one company alone nor the perfect government policy, there needs to be a collaboration between all stakeholders to converge on common goals for all organizations.
After a pilot program with three mills, the Race to the Top initiative was able to produce drastic cuts in electricity and water usage. This not only is beneficial to the environment but also saves money for bottom line driven corporate leaders and ultimately results in lower costs for fabrics. These systematic changes are tedious to implement, but in the long-run, lead to a more reliable and cheaper supply chain. It is important to consider the long-term benefits when forming these programs, and look beyond quarterly earnings.
Vietnam’s Race to the Top program has lofty goals such as streamlining assessments, lean manufacturing to facilitate worker-manager dialogue, incentivizing better buying patterns, and creating capital for improvement activities and sustainably operating factories. I’ll be keeping an eye on the group to see how these goals play out, for now, they have made some headway in raising sustainability standards in local mills. These top down approaches can take time to trickle down and make impact. Also, with so many factors at play, it’s near impossible to control for every factor, requiring flexibility and frequent readjustments to strategy. I look forward to following up on their progress in the following years.
As I continue my graduate studies I will be analyzing different approaches to shifting the fashion industry and identifying when each approach would be most impactful. Each situation is unique and requires different solutions. From small scale grassroots projects that grow into global movements to having the right policy lined up at the right moment in time, to shifting mindsets from the top down, it’s an energizing time to be a part of sustainable and ethical fashion. There are a growing number of opportunities for people to step in and drive change in the industry, as companies open up to the idea of sustainable fashion, consumers demand a better product, and tools are made available to help us achieve this. Regardless of which approach you gravitate to, there will always need to be some degree of top-down change in order to make drastic shifts within our corporate structures and government policies, it’s a continuous process.
Systemic Change – Better Labor Standards in Cambodia
When you start looking into the world of fashion corporate social responsibility, it is not uncommon to stumble upon big game changers that somehow haven’t trickled down to the media. These are often actions taken by corporations out of necessity and have good timing to thank. International trade negotiations in Cambodia during the rise of their garment manufacturing sector are a clear example of this case, which I like to call “accidental ethical fashion”.
One thing I’ve learned since starting graduate school at NYU is that policies may seem to sometimes pop out of nowhere, but there is often a long history of hard work that is goes unseen. Interest groups and activist are waiting to pounce on those perfect, unpredictable opportunities to push forward their initiatives. It’s our job to be ready, and know how to mobilize quickly when those windows open.
In the case of Cambodia, and confluence of multiple factors led the country to be the first to partner with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to monitor labor standards in garment factories. This partnership resulted in working conditions in factories being directly tied to how many garments they were able to export. The pilot program sparked a new era for the ILO and Better Work organizations were formed in other countries to continue the program around the world.
Cambodia has grown from being completely a closed market from 1975 to 1989, to now having 32.65% of the global garment sector share. The country’s entry into the market in the early 1990’s allowed them to sidestep export quotas allowing their garment sector to flourish. The rapid growth in the industry led to growing pains in the workforce and when stricter trade regulations needed to be put in place in 1998 this allowed for the perfect climate to create the first ever trade laws developed to incentivize ethical labor standards.
During the 1990s when Cambodia was stabilizing, the government saw garment manufacturing as a low capital plan for economic development in their country. Cambodia looked to their neighbor’s economies booming after establishing successful garment manufacturing sectors and wanted to reap the same benefits. The state had a large population of unskilled workers looking for jobs and the garment industry’s low barrier to entry was ideal. Minimal capital investment and training were required to get the industry started, so Cambodia jumped on the opportunity to bring economic prosperity to their people.
Seeing the opportunity to work around the Multi-Fibre Agreement (which set strict export quotas in other countries), investors from Taiwan, China, and South Korea descended on Cambodia to build garment factories and attract foreign brands who were limited by quotas system in other countries. This served Cambodia well, and the market grew rapidly from $80 million in exports in 1996 to $6.8 billion in 2015. The rise of Cambodia’s garment industry owes its success to their opportune timing of market entry. The lack of restrictions allowed them to thrive as other developing countries’ manufacturing sectors were dampened.
In 1998 when the US government faced growing pressure from domestic apparel manufacturers to impose restrictions on Cambodian garment imports, simultaneously Cambodian factories were experiencing increasing discontent from their workers leading to strikes and protests. News of the conditions in factories abroad prompted American supportive labor groups who in turn petitioned the US government to take action and review the claimed abuses of workers’ rights in Cambodian factories. This created the perfect climate for US and Cambodian governments to collaborate on a trade incentivized structure for monitoring working conditions in apparel factories.
With acknowledgment from all parties that government monitoring of factory labor standards was not credible, the ILO was approached to step in as a third party auditor. This was an innovative and groundbreaking partnership, at the time the ILO had never monitored private sector operations, nor had they been involved with on the ground audits of workplaces. The Director-General of the ILO at the time, Juan Somavia, cautiously accepted the proposal after much debate with the ILO bureaucracy and governing body. This agreement would prove to be successful and spark the Decent Work program at the ILO, which protects workers and advocates for fair wages and safe working conditions. The partnership also created a more cohesive ILO, and some would argue, more relevant in the increasingly globalized apparel supply chain.
The monitoring system faced some problems at the beginning, but they were amended quickly to ensure transparency and credibility. Firstly, the quotas were set for the entire garment sector in Cambodia, not by the individual factory, and it was not mandatory for factories to participate in the ILO workplace monitoring. This did not incentivize manufacturers to partake in the program, instead, they would be more likely to try and get a free ride off of other factory’s good efforts. Once this problem came to light, the Cambodian government limited availability of the export quota to the US to only factories participating in the ILO program.
Secondly, transparency of information was imperative for the industry but whether the ILO should name all factories by name or produce an aggregate report was left unresolved. In order to address this issue, the ILO came up with a two-step approach to their reporting. First, they would release a synthesis report of all factories, highlighting overall trends and problems that need to be addressed in the industry. Then, after a re-inspection for compliance, the ILO would name factories that weren’t complying by the ILO standards for labor rights and working conditions. This allowed for the transparency needed and did so in a more impactful way than comparable private monitoring programs.
The private sector responded positively to the ILO monitoring program, which allowed for risk mitigation for operating in Cambodia. Nike, for example, had left Cambodia due to labor rights scandals tarnishing their brand image. Once the ILO started their monitoring of labor conditions in factories, Nike returned some of their production to the country.
There have been debates whether these private sector fashion brands should financially support these initiatives since they are largely benefitting from them. This idea, however, raises issues of incentives. If the private sector is funding the monitoring, they could be driven by driving profits and improving public image, not necessarily by ensuring fair and safe working conditions. That being said, there is a trend in the market for brands to invest in complying with labor laws, so there is some hope that brands may become more invested in this effort in the future.
As the program continued to grow and response from the private sector was highly supportive of their efforts, Better Factories Cambodia was created to manage and oversee the monitoring program in apparel factories. This monitoring agency was founded in 2009 and has grown to offer training programs to help factories reach the ILO standards.
Although this ILO partnership was revolutionary for it’s time, we are still left wanting more. Working conditions in garment factories are still lacking, as seen by the mass faintings occurring in Cambodia in the summer of 2017. Now that we are creating better systems for monitoring and change, how can we inspire a higher level change in the way we conduct business?
Grassroots Change – A Middle School Robotics Team’s Efforts to Decrease Overconsumption
While visiting family outside Boston during the holidays, I got to catch up with my cousin about her robotics team project to reduce t-shirt consumption in Lincoln, Massachusetts. They had consulted me as an expert for their project back in October and I was anxious to hear if they were able to persuade their town to stop automatically handing out t-shirts for events.
After spending a semester researching large scale multi-stakeholder initiatives to drive change in the fashion industry, it was refreshing to hear about a successful grassroots campaign led by a 6th grade robotics team.
When I jumped on a call with the team back in October, I was excited to hear what kinds of questions they would ask about sustainable fashion. At 11 and 12 years old, I wondered what would resonate with them, and how they would think of solving the problem.
For their robotics competition they were tasked with conducting a research project to decrease water consumption. After doing some research, the team was startled by the 2,700 liters of water needed to produce a t-shirt, and decided to focus on how to reduce this waste. Understandably, a lot of their questions revolved around what I think we can do to reduce water consumption, as well as what I thought of their solution. They had come up with a plan to work with local organizations that give out a lot of t-shirts for events to instead encourage people to reuse their t-shirts and add appliques for subsequent years.
The team reached out to the principle of the local school, Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department, Parent Teacher Organization and the Lincoln School Foundation. Their pitch was well received at all groups, but the most impactful connections were with the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department and the Lincoln School Foundation. Both groups committed include messaging to encourage people to reuse their t-shirts from previous years, and opt to add an applique. The concept reminded me a lot of earning badges in girl scouts or adding stickers on luggage for different cities visited.
The Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department gives out a lot of t-shirts for sports competitions and camps, and the Lincoln School Foundation runs the town spelling bee, which also generates a lot of new t-shirts. Not only was the idea to prolong the use of each t-shirt attractive to help make the town greener, buying less t-shirts meant saving money as well.
After describing their solution, questions on the call soon turned to how best to promote their idea and encourage people to choose the appliques over the new t-shirts. I laughed and said, “well now that’s a marketing problem.” The team is lucky that they are promoting their idea in a tight knit community that cares about environmental issues. Yet, even in a town like Lincoln there are barriers for a project like this to get off the ground. When people expect a t-shirt for every event, activity or competition they participate in, it could potentially be a turn off if they are pressured to then not accept the free t-shirt.
The key to promoting a sustainable fashion choice is a mix between offering good design and informing the customer. People are naturally going to gravitate to a free or cheap product, but if you show them the impact that even one t-shirt can have on the environment, they are likely to rethink their choices. As seen in Fashion Revolution’s 2 Euro t-shirt social experiment, once people know the harm they are creating with their fast fashion choices they are likely to shift their behavior.
I look forward to seeing how this project plays out in Lincoln and how people react to their idea. They have the first step of getting the big players on board. Now it’s all about how they tell their story with their community and grow the movement.
Reflections on the United Nations DPI/NGO Sustainable Fashion Briefing
I woke up on the morning of the UN DPI/NGO sustainable fashion briefing to this Business of Fashion article, 4 Anxieties Keeping Fashion CEOs Awake at Night. After reading through Tim Noaks’ four anxieties, which include the outdated business model, the rise of AI, human resources, and environmental sustainability, I thought to myself, but isn’t this all just a symptom of the outdated business model? This could easily be condensed into one overarching issue of an industry stuck in the past, with subheadings for technology, fair and safe workplaces, and sustainability.
Improving these standards and embracing a people-planet-profit triple bottom line seems to be the answer for the 4 anxieties, and I was excited to go to the United Nations to hear more about how we are working towards this as an industry. As I got ready to leave for the briefing, Marie-Claire Daveu’s words from the article stuck in my mind, “We cannot advance alone.”
The UN DPI/NGO Sustainable Fashion briefing has been buzzing around online between thought leaders and influencers in the fashion industry. With the weight of the UN behind it, the event garnered a lot of attention and (at least for me personally) high expectations for solutions and steps forward for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The panel comprised of leading actors in various arenas of the sustainable fashion industry, from transparency within artisan cooperatives, private public partnerships and socially conscious fashion brands, to nonprofits saving the world’s endangered forests. Patrick Duffy, the founder of the Global Fashion Exchange, served as the moderator and panelists included, Shivam Punjya (Founder and CEO of behno), Andrea Reyes (Fair Trade Advocate, Educator, and Small Business Owner), Amanda Carr (Director of Strategic Initiatives at Canopy), Ashia Dearwester (Chief strategy & Partnerships Officer at Nest), and Lilian Liu (Manager of Partnerships & UN Relation at the United Nations Global Compact).
After listening to the panelists and talking to students, business owners and advocates attending, I came away from the panel discussion with the following two conclusions: 1) Like Daveu stated in the BoF article, collaboration is how we’ll move forward in sustainable fashion, and 2) we have an information problem. Consumers are either unaware of how their clothes are made, or even if they are, they are overwhelmed about the idea of shopping sustainably.
Collaboration for Sustainability
All panelists highlighted collaboration as a way to accomplish the UN SDGs using fashion as a vehicle for change. From bringing together communities and working with garment workers to improve labor standards to leveraging corporate power for change.
Specifically, three panelists struck a chord for me on the impact of working with profit driven companies to drive social change. Amanda Carr from Canopy, Lillian Liu from the UN Global Compact and Ashia Dearwester from Nest all told stories of collaborating with major corporations from Patagonia to H&M in order to accomplish their organization’s missions.
Canopy has been particularly successful in working with big name brands to persuade them to change their policies and stop sourcing from endangered forests for their rayon and viscose fabrics. Starting in 2013 with no brands committed to eliminating endangered forests from their fabrics, Canopy has been able to garner the support of 105 brands in just 4 years to commit to the initiative. The UN Global Compact guides corporations on how to partner with the UN to accomplish specific SDGs. They have focused on eliminating competition between companies and creating a collaborative environment for corporations to solve the SDGs. Ashia Dearwester spoke of Nest collaborating with West Elm to create artisan made baskets in the Philippines, all while maintaining a transparent supply chain.
The bottom line is to get rid of barriers for solving the increasing sustainability problem in fashion. Although it’s slow going, this mentality is catching on throughout the fashion industry from large luxury conglomerates like Kering to fast fashion brands like H&M and American companies like PVH and Gap Inc. As these policies are put in place and organizations like Canopy unite brands for sustainable causes, I’m interested to see how the impacts are measured and in company environmental, social and governance (ESG) tracking and corporate social responsibility reporting.
Breaking Through the Noise
Reaching consumers and building a movement is challenging when people are over stimulated by smartphones and so far removed from the problem. They don’t see the on average 20 hands their clothes pass through to get to them and therefore don’t think about these people when they’re buying a $5 t-shirt. (This Fashion Revolution video is a great example of this) Or from an environmental perspective, there’s the fact that a t-shirt takes 2,700 liters of water to produce, enough water for one person to drink for 900 days. Another factor that is not a part of the average consumer’s buying decisions.
On top of that, there are a vast array of causes to get behind in the realm of “sustainability” and it can feel daunting the throw your weight behind the whole cause. The UN Global Compact has taken on this challenge as the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative and has identified 17 SDGs. But even with these defined areas and the trendiness of sustainability, people still don’t understand the scope of the problem and how they can be agents of change on a personal level.
I was surprised that at an event like this, where people are aware of sustainable fashion issues, the audience was shocked to realize that production of fabrics like rayon and viscose are made of wood pulp and are leading to deforestation of endangered forests. It also made me wonder how many issues like this are swept under the rug because people are not looking?
I didn’t come away with a strong sense of how to fix this issue, and it’s something I’ve struggled with since starting on my conscious fashion journey. You want to have everyone care about sustainability, but it tends to move in increments with topics that are trending. Right now there is the viral videos about plastic micro fibers being washed into our water streams as the result of washing our polyester athleasure wear, but there are so many issues that deserve their own viral videos.
I’m hopeful that every step helps, building a movement is by nature a slow build. We’re at a tipping point of making sustainable fashion top of mind for consumers as they walk into their favorite store, and maybe they’ll start moving to clothing swap memberships instead or deciding that they don’t need anymore clothes.
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The panel discussion was concluded with a fashion showcase of sustainable designs, which were a beautiful reminder of what is possible and a welcome departure from discussing the complex issues of low-income populations having access to sustainable fashion, deforestation in the amazon, and subcontracting issues in garment manufacturing. I look forward to strengthening this community in future events and allowing space for the teamwork that was championed during the panel.
Fashion Model Activism – The New Era of Woke Models
The fashion industry is known for it’s vapid obsession with clothing and image, especially with outward facing marketing like high fashion runway shows and major marketing campaigns. As the face of these campaigns, models often become scapegoats for the vanity of the industry. Movies and TV shows like Zoolander and America’s Next Top Model have only added to the perception that models are merely a canvas with no agency of their own. But, in the era of Instagram influencers, and social business, a wave of model-activists are changing the game.
With fame comes power and responsibility. Many may want to shy away from the pressure; but when done right, this can be a positive tool for making a difference. Cameron Russell is credited for starting this trend with her TEDtalk on how looks aren’t everything. Her movement has grown into more than just scrutinizing the modeling industry and has developed into a platform for the fashion industry to discuss global issues such as climate change, race inequality and women’s rights. In 2015 Cameron Russell represented Vogue at the United Nations summit on climate change (COP21) in Paris, where she covered the talks and deciphered the issues for their fashion audience. Her activism has led her to start her own platform, Model Mafia, which brings together models to fight for causes. As she says, “Models are uniquely poised to become fantastic activists because they are some of the few women who have very direct access to media.”
The trend of model activism and “woke” models comes at a time where fast fashion is growing dangerously out of control. There are more than 15 million tons of textile waste produced every year in the United States. If we were to extend the life of clothing by just three months, we could reduce water and carbon consumption by 5-10%. In addition to the waste created by the industry, the globalized manufacturing that makes these cheap fast fashion prices possible, is resulting in unfair working conditions, child labor, and hazardous working environments. All while industry professions from CEOs and designers, to models are profiting from these exploits of both environmental and human capital. This dirty industry needs ambassadors to fight for change, why not the models that have the platforms and the influence to reach an audience that care about clothing?
Consumer pressure is a strong driver for what kinds of products get developed. Imagine if young girls had role models to look up to for guidance on how to be conscious consumers, this could cause a dramatic shift in consumer behavior. Models with large followings can potentially help us lift the curtain on the industry and lead the charge in bringing some desperately needed transparency. With authenticity, and engaging story telling, model’s have the tools make real change.
Woke models like Leomie Anderson, who publishes articles by women and combines fashion with activism to make clothing with empowering phrases, are leading the pack in the model-activist phenomenon. One of Cameron Russell’s Model Mafia members, Renee Peters, advocates for ridding our oceans of plastic, and for a more transparent fashion industry, while another (Hawa Hassan) is fighting to solve the refugee crisis and battle climate change. The list goes on, and it’s amazing to see the projects these models have started. I look froward to seeing this trend grow, and can’t wait to see the impact. Marketing and influencer networks have such a big influence on public perception and I am excited to see that models are using their platform and engaged following to drive positive change.
I personally love filling my feed with powerful female role models, and the models highlighted in this post are perfect additions. Seeing what these women are doing makes me excited by what is possible and also how we are stronger when we work together. It would be amazing to see Model Mafia groups pop up around the country and the world. If you’re a model, I encourage you to get out there and use your platform to encourage others to do good. If you’re not, support them. Find those role models that are advocating for what you care about and help them spread their message.
A Letter to the Editor: Alternative Avenues for Development in East Africa
The following is a letter to the editor I wrote and submitted on October, 18th 2017.
To the Editor:
Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura highlights a key issue at the crux of the fast fashion crisis, excessive textile waste, but brushes over the environmental impacts of this ever increasing problem. Ironically, the garment manufacturing industry that these East African countries so desperately want to establish is the very cause of the waves of unwanted clothing arriving at their doorstep.
The booming fast fashion industry has pushed garment production into hyperdrive with little consideration for the end of product life-cycle. East Africa’s answer to the pitfalls of globalization should not be to follow the well trodden path of low cost manufacturing, but to monetize the clothing others see as waste by investing in textile recycling. How can East African countries capitalize on the growing trend of shifting the fashion business model from “take, make, waste” to “cradle to cradle”? The unrelenting consumer appetite for new trends and cheap clothing is unlikely to subside in the near future, and with major clothing brands like H&M, and Uniqlo implementing recycling programs, this is a growing market and an opportunity for development.
Sincerely,
Camille Mori
What do you think? Do you agree? I would love to hear from you, feel free to leave a comment.
The Best of the Bushwick Thrift Store Scene – A Farewell to the Neighborhood
I apologize for the silence, and promise it won’t be a trend throughout graduate school. This first month has been a perfect storm of adjusting to graduate school life, marathon training, seeing friends and family, and moving. I have to admit though, it’s been exciting to have new challenges and to be busy again.
As I begin this new chapter, I’m starting fresh in a new neighborhood as of this weekend. Which means a bittersweet goodbye to Bushwick, and hello to Prospect Park South.
Bushwick will always remind me of ethical fashion start-up madness, the buzz of being around creative energy, and of course, thrift shopping. As an ode to my old neighborhood, I thought I’d compile a “best of” list of vintage and thrift stores nearby. It’ll be strange to live in a neighborhood without a mobile vintage shop, but I guess my new neighborhood will have it’s own charm.
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Collections
Best Window Displays
This cute little vintage shop draws you in with their $12 rack outside, and their staff is always smiling and willing to help. The pieces I love tend to be a bit out of my price range, but she does a great job at curating her collection and has truly unique vintage finds.
I would come here if you’re looking for a special occasion or to make a dramatic statement with a one of a kind vintage piece.
I’ve got to say though, the window displays and good vibes drew me in countless times, but I never really found anything that I loved there. But I think it has more to do with a difference in style than their selection. It’s a small space and doesn’t really allow the space for exploration.
Their instagram is fun to follow, you should check it out 🙂
Location: 16 Wilson Ave
Beacon’s Closet
Best Value
By far my most frequented thrift shop in the area. You have to dig quite a bit to find the good stuff, but that’s what I enjoy about thrift shopping. It’s like a treasure hunt. You have to have patience and know how to spot good quality when you’re at Beacon’s closet.
What blows my mind about this place is that you can have a pair of Brother Vellies sandals next to a pair of Zara loafers, you really never know what you’ll find. If you don’t look hard enough, you might miss it.
I got in the habit of wandering through once or twice a week to glance through the merchandise and see if there was anything new. If I was looking for a pair of black loafers I’d go in and look at the shoes almost every day to see if anything new was out.
With the store on my walk back from the subway, I practiced a lot of self restraint, only allowing myself to buy pieces that I already identified as a necessity before entering. I think it’s good practice in general and keeps you from having an out of control wardrobe or just helps with keeping on my shopping budget.
One of the biggest cons is that the staff is extremely rude. I love searching for and finding great pieces at the store, but I do my best to avoid interacting with anyone working here.
Location: 23 Bogart St.
Urban Jungle (Part of L Train Vintage)
Best for Basics
I almost always feel overwhelmed as soon as I step foot in this place. The shear amount of volume is a lot to take in. Unfortunately there’s very little in this store that works in my closet. Although, I did find one of my favorite jean skirts here, it’s a great place for denim and t-shirts. I also got a coat that I refurbished, and is a good basic.
Urban Jungle has a lot of 90s dresses, vintage fur and simple denim and t-shirts. Want to find a cheap aloha shirt? Go to Urban Jungle. I feel like this place is great for costumes, because the prices are so low and I wouldn’t mind destroying a shirt I got there to alter it for a one time outfit.
Location: 120 Knickerbocker Ave
Friends NYC
Best Store
One of my favorite stores in Bushwick. Their vintage section is small but I always love their pieces and have bought several items from them. On a side note, their regular clothing merchandising is pretty good too, and includes some sustainable brands. I have a fun fair trade block printed cover up from them.
What is so great about Friends NYC is that I feel at ease when I enter, once you walk in the staff is friendly and willing to help. It reminds me a lot of the stores I loved in Shimokitazawa as a kid, with a fun mash up of cool clothes, gift cards, books, jewelry and other fun novelty items.
Location: 56 Bogart St
Worship
Best Unique Finds
I barely made is up to this vintage spot, but when I did I never regretted it. It was a bit higher price point than Beacon’s Closet, but I loved the pieces and the quality. Instead of searching through racks and racks I’d go through one rack and find 10 pieces I loved.
Since I only went there a handful of times I don’t have too much to say about it, except that if they were closer or more convenient I would have spent way too much money.
Location: 117 Wilson Ave
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Good bye Bushwick! This isn’t the last you’ll see of me, I’m sure the lure of amazing thrift shops will always draw me back.