What is sustainability, and how can fashion become more eco-friendly? Today, Swedish retailer H&M brought global eco-thinkers and fashion brains to Vogue Headquarters at Condé Nast Auditorium to tackle the subject once and for all.
Jasmin Malik Chua, the managing editor at Ecouterre; Helena Helmersson, global head of sustainability at H&M; Catarina Midby, head of fashion and sustainability communications at H&M; Scott Mackinlay Hahn from Loomstate; Bruno Pieters, founder of Honest By; along with fashion consultant Julie Gilhart and Simon Collin, moderator and the dean at The New School for Design at Parsons came together to hash out possible solutions.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Some of the ideas on the table suggested making sustainable practices work like taxes — mandatory and government-regulated. This includes "by the pound” interactive customer-incentive programs, which would encourage consumers to bring old clothes back to the store for “points,” and encourage fashion students to use only sustainable fabrics and production practices, so that future designers are trained in sustainable clothing production.
“People think a good price means a bad quality and also garment…we’ve started to measure this and have set internal goals in how to make customers more aware,” says Helmersson of H&M. “We want to prove that it’s actually possible to make fashion more accessible and durable and make it...affordable.”
Watch the panel discussion here. Which points did they really nail? Did they miss anything? Weigh in below!