Can Sustainability Be Affordable?
By Jeremy Treagus
Most people understand the principles behind sustainable fashion but find them difficult to implement. Sustainable clothing is (usually) much more expensive than fast fashion alternatives. It's one thing to want to shop sustainably, and a whole other thing to be able to. Why is this the case? Jeremy Treagus investigates the price points behind small luxury brands, by looking at the manufacturing process.
What exactly is sustainability? It's a buzzword we often hear, but at its core, sustainability is all about the ability of something to keep going at a steady pace. Can sustainability recognize the needs of those in the present, while considering the reality of those in the future? The current state of fashion isn’t sustainable, with the fashion industry producing more global carbon emissions than all maritime shipping AND international flights combined. To be clear; that’s about 10% of global carbon emissions every year. Sustainable fashion needs to provide long-lasting and functional clothing, that is created ethically.
Founder and creative director of Fields – a nuanced menswear label, says the company set out to be a financially and environmentally sustainable brand. Hanan says that sustainability is an ever-changing concept. “I struggle with this term; ‘sustainable’ without unpacking it,” Hanan says. His approach to sustainability is a circular one; he looks for raw materials that come from the earth and return to the earth.
“I struggle with this term; ‘sustainable’ without unpacking it”
It’s safe to assume that a sustainable garment will be at a higher price point, but why is this? There are a few ways of looking at it. To start off, if something is mass produced – as in more than the designer sewing each item themself – and if it is cheap, it cannot be sustainable, or it cannot be turning a profit. The reality of building a company in a capitalist world is that there needs to be a profit for the people involved to be able to continue doing so. Sustainable items will always be more expensive than unsustainable items. The two main contributors to testing sustainability when looking at price points are the wages of the manufacturers and the quality of the materials. As Hanan puts it, “Price points are sensitive; cotton is more expensive than synthetic fibres.” Synthetic fibres do not biodegrade naturally and so when they can no longer be worn, they will sit in landfills.
“Price points are sensitive; cotton is more expensive than synthetic fibres.”
Most of us know about ‘sweat shops’, but what isn’t shown in the media is that even seemingly unproblematic factories aren’t paying their staff liveable wages. By relying on pay-per-item produced systems, rather than an hourly wage, employers can find loopholes around minimum wages which are already below a living wage. So, for someone like Hanan, who values sustainability, this means auditing all the manufacturers and material providers that he uses. Hanan, however, enjoys this process and doesn’t see it as a burden. “I enjoy going to the factories and meeting the farmers,” he says.
Hanan’s devotion to this process reflects his genuine dedication to sustainability. The manufacturing process goes from farm growing fibre – such as cotton or wool – to spinning it into yarn, weaving the material and only then manufacturing the garment. Each of these processes is done by different people, with years of experience and who need to earn a living. After the sampling process and a batch of items ordered and made, the brand must add their own mark-up for marketing and overhead costs such as rent for their store, before the employees see any money for themselves. These factors all amount to the “true cost”. The true cost includes more than just the traditional manufacturing costs; it also includes the environmental impact, the long-term effects and the health and wellbeing of the manufacturers.
As Mikael puts it, “I think sustainability is a journey; you are always improving and trying to do more, I don’t think it's like do these five things and then you are sustainable.” His perspective encapsulates the essence of sustainability – an ongoing process of growth, adaptation, and constant improvement; going from Earth to Earth. Mikael/Hanan is relaxed about the future of Fields. “Once you’ve gotten to a point that you’re happy with, you can say, ‘Cool, now what can we do next?” He and the Fields team are currently looking further into recycling off-cut materials.
Hanan’s dedication to sustainability is rare, and while his label is proof that products can be produced sustainably, he is unable to do so in a way that is financially accessible to all South Africans. While it helps to understand why this is, understanding does not change the reality for a young designer who wants to explore the world of sustainable manufacturing but cannot afford to do so. So how is this going to change? There needs to be a universal shift in local manufacturing, to follow sustainable processes, to lower the cost of entering this side of fashion. If there was security in knowing that all manufacturers in South Africa were ones that were operating sustainably, designers wouldn’t have to audit them. This of course only works if everyone participates, which would likely require government intervention. Something like a change in policy around manufacturing, will inevitably upset the ecosystem that is the manufacturing industry and so it would require a lot of economic evaluation.
