The Fashion Industry: Why Doesn’t Creativity Embrace Sustainability?

Fashion, Creativity, Sustainability: Trump’s words might just give a jolt to an industry that still refuses to commit to manufacturing natural fibers free of plastic

Trump and the New Drills, Emissions – The Reaction and the Word Sustainability

We have more coal than anybody, says Trump. New drills are being ordered. From the bowels of American earth, beyond oil, could something good emerge? In the face of this new American  burdensomeness, might a counter-reaction arise? Not merely indignation. Confronted with Trump’s climate denials, we might perceive what the documents of major assemblies (from the UN to the COPs) fail to achieve: an awakening, a jolt. Those who are bored by speeches on emissions and rising temperatures without delving into the details—facing such a derision, we hope they will raise an eyebrow. Perhaps. Perhaps it is high time for the word Sustainability to regain its value rather than just sitting there, gathering mold—an overused, emptied, ridiculed, and discarded term. It might be the moment when many of those who claim to be interested only because they have to, begin to activate their gray cells—or at least those few cells not yet numbed by too much scrolling on Instagram or TikTok.

Sustainability Costs

Producing in respect for raw materials, with renewable energy, within a circular framework, and by limiting plastics and synthetics. This way, it costs much more than producing without a care—when the rule is maximum output with minimum expense. Conversely, sustainable production yields smaller quantities but for greater value. The essence of sustainability is clear, and there’s no point in beating around the bush: we must consume less. The primary commitment is to fight consumerism. We must buy less, eat less, own less. Everything less—but everything better.

Sustainability Costs; the Fashion Industry, Black, and the Anthracite Gray of Biochar

Yes, sustainability costs. The luxury sector should be the first able to afford it, given the margins that brand equity allows. The luxury sector is defined by the fashion industry, which sets its image and propulsive daring. Allow me to insist: not Fashion in the abstract, but properly the Fashion Industry. The Fashion Industry is not the textile industry, manufacturing, or tailoring. It is the collective of creative talents thriving on reciprocal and reactive relationships—designers, photographers, agents, editors. This Fashion Industry is the one that tells the textile manufacturers, the factories, and the tailors what to produce. It is the Fashion Industry that is, ultimately, to blame. If designers continue to stage shows featuring black garments on black backgrounds—garments whose drapery, in order to exist, must be made with viscose and polyester—the production chain simply executes the order. The fault lies with the creative talents.

Let’s talk about black. We all feel comfortable dressed in black, especially in winter, especially in the evening. Regardless of one’s budget, from East to West it’s effortless to be clad in black. It would be enough if the fashion industry, instead of persisting in showcasing the image of a completely solid, compact black fabric, opted for a dark gray fabric—even very dark. Anthracite, with its nuances and gradations, can be produced using biochar. It can be obtained with natural pigments, without chemical solvents, reagents, or acrylic substances. Who else could convey to the public the desire for a shaded color instead of a mat color, if not the designers of major fashion houses? And where do designers find their inspiration? From editors. Editors, in turn, collaborate with photographers to produce the images they publish; photographers work with stylists to craft the images they need to shoot. In short, this circle is the Fashion Industry. It must push itself and challenge its creativity to be in tune with the present and the future—without plastic, without chemicals.

The Fashion Industry, the Culture of Sustainability – Against Synthetic Fabrics

Culturally, the Fashion Industry appears committed; generally, it is not aligned with Trump. And yet many of its representatives become bored at the mere mention of Sustainability. They dismiss it as not their concern—even when they claim otherwise. They work for large companies staging show after show: black leather garments, chiffon like veils, synthetic fabrics, acrylic colors. Meanwhile, these companies communicate and promise attention to recycling, the fineness of wool fiber, and so on. The result is obvious: large fashion companies are no longer credible, and the public has lost interest. In other words, revenues are falling.

The Luxury Sector in China – How Will Fashion Emerge from This Crisis?

Marco De Benedetti, vice president of Moncler, once showed a chart detailing the December results for a list of brands—many from the luxury sector—in China: they were all in the red. In China, state employees are forbidden from owning an iPhone. For years now, civic education and a sort of subtle government propaganda have pushed the Chinese people to choose domestic products. You’re considered a good Chinese citizen if you buy Chinese—be it clothing, electronics, or otherwise. European luxury brands are financially exposed in China, both in retail and in marketing – not so strategic. 

This isn’t the first downfall. In the early 2000s, when China introduced its first anti–money laundering law, the revenues of European brands collapsed by 20%. The warning was ignored: managers continued to pursue only short-term profit. After all, it was written in their employment contracts—managers are hired and evaluated based on the results they deliver within a year, at most within three years. They cannot think long term as the entrepreneurial owners who originally built the brand once did. The world of luxury is now in the hands of finance and managers appointed by financiers—no longer the owners. Positive financial results are observed in companies where the family still leads the brand (Hermès, Cucinelli, Prada), whereas in multinational and financial conglomerates the numbers are problematic.

How will fashion emerge from this crisis? Generally, the stereotypes of Marco De Benedetti’s generation who hold decision-making power—essentially Boomers—think solely in terms of profit and, at the mere sound of the word Sustainability, respond with a yawn. Marco De Benedetti broke such a stereotype: he responded that the solution for fashion is creativity, an avant‐garde spirit, and sustainable experimentation.

Fashion, Sustainability, Creativity – No Plastic, Only Natural Fibers – No Coolness

If creativity is confined within a fence, if it must struggle within limits and boundaries rather than expanding in breadth, it will either dig in depth or rise vertically. Creativity is, by definition, unstoppable; when channeled through a conduit, it gains strength. The Fashion Industry must impose upon itself this restraint—a dignity built on rigor and rules.

I wrote this earlier, but I’ll repeat: only natural fibers. No plastic, no synthetic glues, no chemicals, no polyurethane padding, no garish colors. In this context, fashion could once again serve as an engine of economic growth, a positive and civic message, the locomotive of luxury—a stronghold of culture and market that might, as Miranda Presley once said when referring to a synthetic cerulean, become popular vocabulary among the masses buying off the shelves.

Once more, Marco De Benedetti recounted that he had just moved houses. He remembered how, during a meeting with the architect for the project, he asked his daughter how she would like her room. She replied that the only thing that mattered to her was sustainability. At the same table sat Chiara Bazoli, who had arrived accompanied by the Mayor of Milan. Her daughter is heading to Madrid for her studies, specializing in sustainable management.

One day and a flight later, I found myself crossing the patio of La Mamounia in Marrakech. Seated at small tables, sipping herbal teas and champagne, one could count young women carrying designer bags and wearing logoed shirts—Gucci, Saint Laurent, Valentino. With plenty of makeup on their faces and smartphones in hand—constantly checking their screens, scrolling endlessly—these are today’s fashion clients. They are followers. They want to imitate the sophistication of the Fashion Industry. They long to be part of an imagined world—a world of fashion that luxuriates in self-indulgence, the oft-repeated coolness. 

If the Fashion Industry fails to find new substance and dignity, it will vanish. If the Fashion Industry does not commit to sustainability, it will dissolve into a puddle of mascara and mud, washed off the faces of its clients.

Carlo Mazzoni