Curated by Lesley Holden, Head of AMFI University, the panel discussed the next steps for Gap Inc, the multinational company that owns the brands Banana Republic, Gap, Old Navy, and Athleta.
With initiatives like Fashion Revolution Week, Copenhagen Fashion Week, and Earth Day that have occurred in the recent months. The fashion world is slowly becoming aware of the urgency of sustainability.
Graduate Fashion Week 2019 has showed us that sustainability is becoming more and more popular among young talents. The fashion and retail world is estimated to grow by 81% by the year 2030, and whilst it is amazing to see such an expansion, we as an industry have the responsibility to protect ourselves and the consumers from an imminent global catastrophe.
“Try to do as much as you can to have as little impact as you can on the environment”.
“For example, when buying online, don’t go for the quickest possible delivery, it can be a bit of a pain to wait two more days for the thing that you bought, but it makes sense if you think about how much the express delivery is costing the environment”.
An issue that is also emerging is that of “greenwashing”, which is the act of a brand when falsely promoting it’s sustainability. “The responsibility is also on the customers” says Holden, “there are sustainable brands and non-sustainable ones, and it is also up to the customer who believes in such values to go into a shop and avoid blindly buying the product: ask and research on the brands before supporting them!”.
Gaps Inc. has recently joined the Better Cotton Initiative. On their website Gap Inc. have listed their renewed sustainable goals. These include reducing their water consumption, reducing their carbon footprint by 50% by 2020, using 100% sustainable cotton by 2030, and looking for alternative solutions to fabrics such as spandex and silk.
Written by Sara Liberati
Photography by Deborah Iona