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.
The Complexities of Transparent Material Sourcing
Many people ask me “what is sustainable fashion?” and I’m always at a loss for a quick and easy answer. I usually end up responding with something like, “being conscious of your choices, knowing where your clothes come from.” But honestly, it needs a full explanation, especially for those who are new to the apparel industry and the garment manufacturing process.
The fashion industry has struggled with how to tackle the issue of transparency in its multi-layered supply chain, mainly due to the fact that very few fashion brands are vertically integrated. Generally speaking, the people that grow/produce the fibers, process the fibers, weave the textile, dye the fabric, cut the fabric, sew the clothing, and ship the product are all different. At each step along the way the material and labor could be coming from any number of places, much of which is kept under wraps. This makes it very difficult to track if the materials are produced sustainably or ethically.
Many brands work with factory agents that then coordinate production with their factories abroad, you might not know exactly which factory your goods are being made. Mills could get their resources from several farms, some of which could be using slave labor. Factories abroad can get a backlog of work and sub-contract out your production to a facility that uses child labor. All of this is sadly all too common in garment manufacturing, and many brands choose to look the other way.
As a consumer, understanding the process of making textiles and how clothing is made is the first step in making sustainable choices in your wardrobe. With new innovations and technology, the materials going into garments is constantly growing. It spans from your traditional natural fibers like cotton, wool, linen etc., to wood pulp based fabrics, and recycled plastics. There are pros and cons to each type of material, and there is no one miracle sustainable textile. You can use the overview below as a general guide.
Natural fibers
Cotton – Wools – Linen – Silk – Hemp
There are those out there that vow to only wear “natural fibers” meaning those taken from the earth. It’s also important to pay attention to how the fibers were processed, this category usually contains fibers in their pure state, not overly processed. Of course organic cottons/wools are better, otherwise you may be exposing your skin to harmful chemicals.
Wood Pulp Based
Rayon – Cupro – Lyocell – Bamboo
Although no animals were harmed in making these fabrics, the process is highly chemically intensive. Not to mention some of these fabrics using wood pulp are sourced from endangered forests. Many people think of bamboo as a sustainable textile, but when processed in this way I would argue that it’s not, even though the cultivation of the crop is more environmentally friendly than others in this category.
Plastics/Synthetics
PVC – Polyester – Nylon – Recycled PET/Recycled Polyester
Traditional synthetic materials, PVC, Polyester, Nylon, have no benefits in terms of sustainability. But, now that these materials are in our eco-system, people are recycling them to make new garments. Many active wear brands that rely on these synthetic fibers are making recycled PET and recycled polyester more accessible, which is exciting.
Reclaimed Materials
Vintage Fabrics – Recycled Cotton – Repurposed Goods
I personally love this category. From unravelling old sweaters and using the yarn to using tuna skin from food waste to create leather, there are a lot of opportunities here. It’s all about looking as what others see as disposable and turning it into a usable product. This might be less common, but you’re getting something truly unique and special when you use materials with a past.
—
It takes a lot of time and effort to examine a brand’s ethics and sourcing practices, but if you’re motivated to do so, sites like Project Just are helpful to get started. I’ll write a post just on research tools this month.
There are also some great online e-tailers that have your back, one of my favorites is Fashionkind, but there are new one’s popping up all the time and honestly it’s hard to keep up. It’s wonderful to see that people are looking for places to find sustainable fashion, which the growing demand hopefully we’ll start to see a shift in the industry.