Bridging the gap between consumers and sustainable fashion with Fashion Revolution
On April 23, 2023, Fashion Revolution Bangladesh, in collaboration with Fashion Revolution Sweden organised a virtual talk show in honour of Sustainable Fashion Week 2023 to discuss changing consumer behaviour towards sustainable fashion.
It was a truly international event, with six panellists from all over the world, Livia Quaresmini, Professor, Istituto Lorenzo de’ Medici, Italy; Khan Taufique, Senior Lecturer, Oxford Brookes Business School, UK; Elisabeth Gudmundson, Founder and Owner, Uma Bazaar, Sweden; Shahriare Mahmood, Chief Sustainability Officer, Spinnova, Finland; Lavinia Muth, Sustainability Expert, Speaker, Consultant, Educator, and Mentor and Harper Hartel, student and Fashion enthusiast based in Thailand, who was the Gen-Z Consumer Representative. The discussion was hosted by Martina Brandtlová, Head of Research and Publication, FR Bangladesh and Evelina Danielsson Valladares, Country Coordinator, FR Sweden.
The discussion began with Livia Quaresmini elaborating on the best ways to engage with consumers in sustainable fashion, and how patience and kindness are fundamental when explaining why a consumer should choose sustainable fashion. She believes that change can create unrest, and needs to be given time to manifest. She also spoke about how people no longer look down on vintage clothing, but now think of them as pieces of history, and enjoy their uniqueness.
When it was brought up that people may not think that sustainable clothes are fashionable, Elisabeth Gudmundson stated that this is no longer the case thanks to new innovations in fabrics. However, she expressed her concern that sustainable fashion and new trends do not go hand in hand as the customer bases are completely different. Furthermore, she believes that in the very near future, brands will need to be transparent about what impact their products have on the environment.
Lavina Muth shared her perspective on some strategies that brands can take so that their consumers become interested in sustainable fashion. She is of the opinion that brands should design their clothes keeping longevity and circularity in clothing in mind. She also emphasised the need for the degrowth of the Global North and stopping the extraction of natural resources and exploitation of people. She believes that European brands can set up degrowth strategies with proper planning and sales evaluation.
Talking about the ways different brands attempt to be sustainable and the pressure that is being created for them to be sustainable, Shahriare Mahmood spoke about how consumers are becoming increasingly conscious and this is what causes this pressure. He also elaborated on how there still exists a gap between the upstream and downstream. Shahriare believes that it is crucial for brands to properly understand sustainability themselves before marketing them to the consumers, and how sustainability should begin with the raw materials at the base.
The importance of integrating emotions into marketing campaigns for green fashion was highlighted by Khan Taufique, who spoke about how positive emotional messages can have a stronger effect on creating sustainable behaviour. He explained that this is necessary, and merely spreading awareness is not enough to motivate people towards sustainability.
Gen Z consumer representative Harper Hartel spoke about how, when it comes to fashion, her generation looks for style, quality, ethics and sustainability. She pointed out that while the environment is very important for her generation, they do not always see fast fashion as a major reason for environmental degradation. She also talked about how social media plays a huge role in influencing people’s fashion.
Overall, this proved to be a very fruitful and insightful discussion. It was clear from the conversation that fashion is in the midst of a revolution and sustainability is the future of fashion. Fashion Revolution hopes to continue to be a part of sustainable and green fashion practices in the future and encourage others to do the same.