Everything in nature is recycled. Nothing is wasted. It’s a system of incomprehensible complexity perfected over millions of years. All animals, plants and natural resources operate in a circular system. 'Nature produces no waste, only nutrients' so in a waste-based society, products will inevitably cause problems (Lacy & Rutqvist).
Linear so Last Season
Living within the linear constraints of today’s capitalist system, our efforts into understanding natures zero-waste mastery are consistently overruled by big business strives for economic prosperity- aka profit. In the 1950’s, economists realised that they could increase their profits, if they encouraged society to buy more stuff. And so that’s what they did. Planned obsolescence was introduced, and marketing tactics became more manipulative and effective at creating a desirability around the acquisition of ‘newness’. Nowhere was this more prevalent than in the fashion industry. It’s difficult to find the words to express the magnitude, scale and complexity of the fashion industry’s issues today. But it’s environmental destruction and how this immediately imposes upon the most vulnerable people in the world, are increasingly coming to light.
Fragility between fashion and the natural worlds relationship is putting into perspective the ethical plausibility of trend-led clothing. In a world of shrinking limits and resources, fashion’s linear ‘take, make, waste’ growth model is living on borrowed time.
So, what should we so? Well, there’s countless ideas as to the best solutions or where to begin. But one movement, I believe, holds the greatest capacity to thrive long-term. And as an avid follower of the movement, my belief is backed-up by official research, reports and support of leading pioneers whom have established and contributed to its growth up to now.
In case you hadn’t guessed already, I’m talking about the circular economy.
If we invest our efforts and resources in the right place, there's potential for fashion to mimic nature’s circularity. In-turn the whole industry could become sustainable at every level of its processes. But a logistical systemic transformation only gets us so far.
Circularity‘s desirability doesn’t stem as justification for Western consumption and declining clothing value and usage. Because over-consumption and the throw-away culture cannot be solved by producing more garments or consuming ‘eco’ collections. Current efforts to reduce fashion’s environmental impact, involve merely slowing down the broken linear model, rather than tackling industry issues at their core. For this to change, then we as consumers must also change our behaviour. We’ve been led to believe that the way to experience fashion is through consumption and today, flaunting our fashion choices on social media.
Turning My Back on Fast Fashion
The increased lack of value given to our clothes is sustained through its ever-cheaper accessibility. Remember Misguided’s £1 bikini? Yeah, that happened.
I personally turned my back on fast fashion for good at the start of this year, so by no means am I here to judge, call-out or critique individuals or consumers. I know the addictive pull fashion can have. It’s not a multi-billion-dollar industry for no reason...
But if we're to look at alternative fashion systems, then we must also hold ourselves accountable and seek to include those outside of our echo-chamber’s within solution-led conversations. Without collectivism we’ll struggle to make impactful strives. Collaboration is vital for fashion industry transformation. Business Of Fashion believe that ‘no single actor can actually shift the system’ as we strive to enable ‘new forms of cross-industry coordination’. It’s been a collaborative effort to get into this mess and it’s going to take just that to undo it.
Mind The Gap
Authors of ‘Waste to Wealth’, Lacy & Rutqvist suggest that 'Effective joint ventures require a unique mind-set as information is often shared at levels that many...find uncomfortable'. The formality of industry practice change is often overwhelming, heavily bureaucratic and uses complex terminology, which can leave consumers in the dark, deterring desires to make conscious commitments to change. In a seminar I attended in 2019, Fashion stylist + Director Helen McGuchin proposed that “the industry is now changing in a way where humour and personality is shining through”. If we can dissect exclusive circular jargon and produce content that’s accessible for all, whilst remaining integral to preserving the environment and achieving social justice for all whom continue to be exploited, oppressed and unrepresented within fashion, then you best believe, we’ll be having conversations nothing short of revolutionary.
(Creating Meaning)
CIRC_LAR + U’s platform will champion creativity to communicate circular mechanisms in an attempt to bridge circular fashion’s value-action gap. Circularity is still in its infancy and so still largely discussed in academic contexts. Science, data and stats are crucial, of course. But translating information in a way that’s engaging and inspirational is another matter. This is why creativity in activism is so important!
Fashion Value
Although problematic, fashion is an art form which has historically evoked identity, creative expression, iconography, and belonging. The culturalist notion of fashion embodies the zeitgeist of society, encapsulating societal attitudes through the attainable; aspirational medium of ‘trends’. If fashion is a reflection of our values, then shifting our values is arguably a crucial first step in hoping to see circular systems thriving.
CIRC_LAR + U + Me
My personal passion for the circular fashion movement emerged in my final year at Uni. Research for my dissertation on ‘Psychological Hindrances to Circular Fashion’ (click here to read if you’re interested) was the beginning of a journey which altered my perspective of fashion forever, re-routed the direction I wanted my career to go and ultimately led to me writing this very blog post and the CIRC_LAR + U project launch.
I know this is a rapid-fire summary/introduction but don’t worry, I’ll be going into more detail across the next few weeks within these ‘Notes On’ blog articles and my Digi-Diary YouTube series- which’ll be premiering next week! (Ahhhh, yes I have no idea what I’m doing!).
Expect more conversation on what circular fashion channels are, celebrating key-players in the movement and sharing my understanding and learning more about your perspective of circular fashion. CIRC_LAR + U is about bringing people into the circular conversation and celebrating circular fashion as an art form and movement of inspiration. Sharing insight of what the future of fashion, and our place within that, could be…
If you’d like to know more, have a little explore on the rest of the official CIRC_LAR + U website or get in touch via the ‘Join the Movement’ contact form.
Thank you for reading and WELCOME TO CIRC_LAR + U!
Annabel Lindsay
Non-Linked Sources:
P, Lacy and J, Rutqvist. (2015) Waste to Wealth the Circular Economy Advantage. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
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