western media: fashion brands try sustainable transformation
2024-09-15
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reference news reported on september 15 according to the spanish newspaper el país website on september 11, companies such as zara and h&m are committed to sustainable development.
according to the european environment agency, each european throws away an average of 11 kilograms of clothing each year. what happens to these clothes? the answer is that most of them are incinerated or landfilled. in the eu, the purchase of textiles will generate about 270 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions per person in 2020.
in recent years, some things have been changing quietly: companies, consumers and european institutions are all driving the transformation in their own ways, and the necessity is beyond doubt. "buying second-hand goods used to be understood as a need, but now it is a responsible act," said rosa moreno, a fashion trend analyst. platforms such as the clothing resale app humana (which has dozens of stores in major cities such as barcelona and madrid) have developed. according to preliminary statistics provided by a spokesperson, sales of 51 humana stores in spain reached 28.1 million euros (excluding vat) last year, an increase of 19% from 2022 and 49% from 2019.
vintage and second-hand clothing is becoming fashionable – queen letizia rents dresses, actor emma watson is committed to sustainability, and new brands are entering the market with aggressive online campaigns.
in this context, many companies are seeing more divergences in their development strategies. inditex, which has a turnover of approximately 36 billion euros and owns several fashion brands, launched a new business line in december last year: zara pre-owned. the company's recently launched new platform includes donation services, second-hand clothing purchase services, and even services to repair clothing and give it new life. at the same time, the company's "heart" remains its more than 5,600 stores around the world, which receive new products "twice a week." in its sustainability project, the company acknowledged this anomaly and stated on its website: "we are not perfect, but we are committed to doing things better."
"join life" is a sustainable development project of zara, and all other marketing initiatives of the brand are centered around this name. for zara, this is a process of continuous improvement, a process of constantly asking itself what should be done to move towards a more sustainable development model.
the sustainable development innovation center is one of the initiatives, through which zara invests in start-ups that develop circular fashion projects. the brand pointed out: "this is a platform dedicated to using new technologies, new materials and new processes to limit the environmental impact of the textile industry." saldanha, an expert from the spanish retail association, believes that "inditex has done a lot of important work in sustainable development, but it has not made its achievements known to the world."
inditex is not the only company in the first generation of fast and cheap fashion that is undergoing a transformation. at the same time, manufacturers must manage some of the waste they generate, including textiles. moreno believes: "discarding waste is engraved in the genes of many companies. they can do some superficial work, but it is essentially unworkable because they rely on the fact that the clothes that consumers wore six months ago are out of date and must be bought new. the real transformation needs to start from the design of clothing, in order to achieve a profound paradigm shift. the entire sector must be rethought." (compiled by liu lifei)
a zara store in caracas, venezuela (reuters)
