A stock take of fashion’s progress on environmental and social sustainability in 2024 reveals a murky picture.
My conversation with sustainability strategist and writer Rachel Arthur, took place on Cyber Monday, another marked day in the Black Friday shopping spree calendar, which has proved to be equally as popular as previous years. Barclaycard reported aArthur shared her thoughts on fashion’s performance in 2024. “Even when pockets of positive things have been happening, consumption continues to grow as a result of the industry’s current business model.
“We know that policy is slow, with a lag time of three to five years to come into force. This can’t be an excuse for not acting in the meantime.” Arthur continued. I asked Karaosman what he would say to CEO’s and executive teams, who are often at the helm of deciding how integrated sustainability is within a company’s decision making.
He emphasized the important role the purchasing function can have in this area. “They have the ability to distribute power and financial capital with suppliers.” Authenticity in circularity initiatives, is indeed hard to come. For instance in-store take back schemes are lauded as solutions whilst clothes in the system end up in the Global South as highlighted by the
Whilst there was a positive ending to the year for Renewcell with the acquisition by private equity fund Altor, the bumpy ride in 2024 is indicative of wider financial tightening in the industry. “The brand is in a unique position, as it was founded with sustainability in mind. As a CSO, it’s great to be able to work in a company where we have buy in from the CEO and the board.” Talbot said.
For 2025, Talbot said that textile recycling and material innovation are two focus areas for her team, paired with advocacy to create the right policies and infrastructure to make this possible.