suggest just 15 percent of its signatories—those most committed to environmental action—are on track to achieve the 1.5 degrees celsius pathway set out by the Paris Agreement. “Greenwashing is a phrase for a reason,” the designer tellsvia Zoom from her Wiltshire home. “Our industry is very good at PR and very good at making things seem other than they really are.”in a sustainable way has always been second nature.
It’s an ethos that appears to still be missing from a large proportion of brands within the industry. “I think everyone that’s a scale player has to play a role in change,” McCartney says of the progress she hopes to see over the coming year. “We are one of the most harmful industries to the planet. I hope that people will be responsible in our industry to make changes that go above and beyond a financial [decision].
Fashion is grappling with this tension more visibly than ever right now: pursuing continuous growth, while still publicly pledging to slash greenhouse gas emissions. McCartney believes a balance can be struck between the two. “I do believe if we can continue to progress, and if we truly want it, then we can replace bad business with clean business,” she says.
Stella McCartney is launching a new fully circular parka made from Econyl that is 100 percent recycled and recyclable.That’s just one of the reasons that McCartney has continued to team up with innovators that are developing more sustainable materials such as Econyl, a regenerated nylon created from discarded fishing nets and other plastic waste.
“The parka fully closes the loop—it’s taking 100 percent waste and then [when you’re finished with it] you can either bring it back to a Stella McCartney store or you can use the QR code on there and post it, and we can then recycle it back into fiber and make it into another garment,” McCartney explains. “It’s really cool—for me it’s cooler than just going, ‘Oh, I really love neon green fuzzy boots this season.