What Makes Sustainable Fashion?

“If you make something signature, something women love, then you have made a sustainable garment because you have made something non-disposable.That should be the yardstick against which all else is measured. That is the difference between an heirloom and landfill.” It’s still a landfill if designers keep designing and producing every season no matter how great the designs are. Well, unless you are Gabriella Hearst who always has a large closet in every home she owns around the world. We have been paying the environment cost for those who over designs and over consumes. Let’s stop and be more sensible. And NYT, let’s not validate these designers with a bit of green washing efforts. By encouraging people to see new fashion every season is the greatest offense the fashion industry is currently making. It’s not sustainable. Period.

Eileen Fisher has been a leader with this movement for years. A fantastic leader in the industry. I will continue to support this movement.

The whole idea of "fashion" and the "seasons" can NEVER be sustainable. The basic premise of the fashion industry is to make people buy the "latest" and "greatest" twice year. It is completely antithetical to Reduce-Reuse-Recycle.

Make something people love, it becomes non-disposable. BRILLIANT (and transferable!) Thank you!!

Sustainability should have never gone out of style in the first place. Its value has always been priceless, now more than ever in a most fickle and frivolous climate.

I hope the industry changes Right now very limited in buying from Prana, Patagonia, Reformation Third sete Threads and used stores (ugh) would love to see the industry change But the media and TV shows will have to change, promoting and highlighting clothing worn again and again So media let it begin with you

To make fashion sustainable you should simply use less of it. The best way to reduce your fashion footprint is to buy fewer clothes. Whether you get the clothes from Walmart or from a top end designer makes little difference, just buy fewer clothes.

now take a look at Gabriella Hearst price points. Dresses for 2600$. Trench coats for 6900$. Get the picture. And she is married to a BILLIONAIRE.... lets talk practically shall we. I recommend purchasing second hand from Housing works to Tredup to Poshmark to The REalreal

Those bales from Hearst show were seen left on the street after the show with little indication that they were to be sent back to the recycle center. The street was covered in trash after the show from the bales.

High fashion does not drive sustainable or ethical production of apparel. Outdoor brands such as Patagonia, The North Face, Cotopaxi, Fjallraven, Marmot and so, so many others have not only helped create third party standards such RDS (Responsible Down Standard) and Bluesign, but have promoted re-using and repairing garments and most importantly make garments that have an extremely long lifespan. High Fashion is so far behind what the outdoor industry has been doing for the last 30 years and its only contribution to apparel in the last two decades has been to spur the rise of its evil twin; fast fashion.

I never understood Fast Fashion. I'm someone who wears my 35 year old Ugg Brooks short black boots all winter long. Most of my shoes have replaceable footbeds. You can pry my cute turned up toe Indigo by Clarks off my cold dead feet. I have and wear a huge hat collection that includes a gaucho purchased 30 years ago and other old hats, the ones I bought first, some J Crew thing that my spouse says is my Sabine hat. (The Unbearable Lightness of Being) Also a bunch of sun hats and some lovely hats by Christine A. Moore and a nice fedora from John Callanan called The Mabel. Last year I bought some Grisu gray snake print mules ... which I consider an investment, and which will stay in my collection until it's auctioned off after my death. I am my own creature. These days I am wearing 100% Merino by Icebreaker + Eileen Fisher in stretch crepe, wool, velvet, corduroy, silk + linen. I consider my wardrobe to be timeless, and at my age, my clothes must feel like I'm wearing pajamas but look utterly elegant to everyone else.

Eileen Fisher has been recycling her entire line of clothing for years, encouraging (on the care tag in each garment) customers to return their EF discards to one of their stores. Her ReNew program grew out of this, with literally tens of thousands of garments back, cleaned, and for sale at drastically reduced prices. In addition, she spins cutting room scraps of wool into yarn for new sweaters. And on and on. Go to her website for all the info. The woman is a rock star.

I understand your job is to write about high fashion, and I believe sustainability and environmental impact need to be addressed at all price points, but we're not going to save the planet by changing how we dress the top 1-5%. Sort out how to address shoddy manufacturing and the throw-away culture the industry pushes on the masses and maybe there will be a real impact.

I think the author is a little out of touch with modern shoppers when it comes to the heirloom argument. Luxury fashion isn't being held onto to pass down just because its expensive. And putting that pressure on consumers is unfair, it should be the designers responsibility. Take in old clothes, recycle them. But you're producing collections every 6 months so how can you not want people to keep buying more clothes?

The global complexity and technical details of textile and apparel supply chain are almost incomprehensible to consumers, and operate differently than collections made for the runway. Without rigorous, clear, third-party standards, communicated in an understandable way and enforced with penalties, most of the conversation around sustainability is just marketing buzzwords (and by the way, ask about the chemical and water use in those acid-washed jeans). Labor, design, fibers and how they're grown or made and how they're processed, shipping, reuse - all of these things have to be rethought. Runway designers working creatively to demonstrate beautiful and original ways to use existing textiles, and to create zero-waste designs, can inspire and drive changes in ready-to-wear. I think everyone should learn sewing fundamentals and make one garment - even if you never want to do it again, you'll learn something about where clothes come from and why a $9.99 pair of Old Navy pants has externalized costs that are not sustainable.

A thoughtful article and much appreciated but the main issue is that most people throw tons of clothes away every year. I think the main element missing in this conversation is how to create a lasting wardrobe that doesn’t get tossed every year but that sustains itself and can occasionally be augmented. I have a friend here in Italy who is a designer. She had murmured to me about making something called “5 Easy Pieces”, a mix and match that can be accented with under garments with more color etc. I am an older woman and am in a stage of my life when simplicity is a mantra, perhaps fashion can embrace this as well.