Resale, upcycling and the supply chain: Fashion’s sustainable agenda

Vogue Business Members can watch the full panel recordings from the sustainability sessions below. Not a Member? See what you missed at the summit here, and then register to join. Sustainability is perhaps the most pressing topic in fashion right now, as brands reassess their carbon reduction commitments and lay out timelines for the future. At the Vogue Business and Google Summit, sustainability discussions centered around three main areas: supply chain, resale and upcycling. In these conversations, designers, executives and consultants discussed how fashion can improve the way it works and the way it creates. In the supply chain, we explored social manufacturing and start-ups driving closer relationships between brands and suppliers. Resale, meanwhile, has been marketed as a sustainable option to customers, but those on the inside say it’s not so simple. And a new group of designers are looking to overcome stigmas around upcycling. Manufacturing 4.0 Global supply chain disruptions have forced fashion to adapt on the fly. However, a new phase of manufacturing could give the industry a chance to reset. In this conversation, editorial associate Bella Webb spoke with those on the frontline leading and adapting to upheaval across fashion’s supply chain. One of the key changes will be a renewed focus on the people behind manufacturing processes. As panelist Ngozi Okaro — executive director of New York training and incubation programme Custom Collaborative — outlined, social manufacturing has far-reaching benefits, from upskilling and repurposing waste to providing dignified work for marginalised communities. It also requires government support and new infrastructures to support positive social impact. Elsewhere, innovative startups are working to streamline the fashion supply chain and encourage communication between factories, brands and suppliers. Platform E is one such platform, powering made-to-order and mass digital experiences for brands at LVMH and Kering among others. Co-founder and CEO Gonçalo Cruz said strong relationships with suppliers and real-time feedback on sales can drive efficiency and reduce both waste and lead times. Maria McClay, director of fashion and beauty at Google Cloud, pointed to the software enabling this progress, and said unlikely collaborations will be crucial to accelerating change. For mindsets to shift in line with technology, C-suite leaders need to state their personal investment and make decisions from this base. The panelists show how innovation requires failure, and how business must create space for experimentation. Resale was supposed to save fashion — has it? Sustainability advocates have applauded the growth of resale as a means to reduce fashion's footprint by keeping clothes in use longer. However, measuring the environmental benefits of resale is complicated, and to determine whether it will make a dent in the industry's total footprint requires looking at more than sales figures of resale platforms alone. In this panel, senior sustainability editor Rachel Cernansky spoke with The Realreal's director of sustainability James Rogers, climate consultant Michael Sadowski and Ugandan designer and podcast co-host Bobby Kolade to unpack how and where resale can help to make the fashion industry more sustainable, and what else needs to be done simultaneously. The unstoppable growth of resale is encouraging for a number of reasons, but it's only one piece in a puzzle that has many other pieces still missing. "People in the Global North need to think about, 'What is the origin of this garment and what is the destination of this garment?" said Kolade. "Everything will have to go somewhere eventually." The new wave of luxury upcycling Upcycling might have become a sustainability buzzword in recent years, but the benefits of the practice go far beyond reducing waste. Designers Kévin Germanier, Sarah Nsikak and Conner Ives have found their output enhanced by using deadstock and vintage materials, which give their products more meaning and history. In this panel, the designers discussed how to make upcycling work with trends editor Lucy Maguire. Where before, retailers and consumers might have been put off by a lack of consistency or a smaller number of units in upcycled collections, they are now increasingly looking for the exclusivity and uniqueness they bring, Ives and Germanier agree. Also, Germanier says, it’s a common misconception that upcyclers have limited resources and can’t produce consistent clothes; there’s enough deadstock to go around. Brands can get involved, too: Germanier works with LVMH’s deadstock platform Nona Source and Nsikak has collaborated with Madewell. “It’s been eye-opening and beautiful working with a large company and seeing that they can be shown a new way of doing things,” she says. Avoiding upcycling as a marketing term, the designers focus on the stories behind their garments. “We don’t know where the truth is anymore. I’d rather create beautiful products and show them behind the scenes on my Instagram and Tiktok so people can see how it’s made,” Germanier says. “The market is saturated with this wave of greenwashing,” says Ives “I wanted to train my customer to think of clothes differently.” To watch more Vogue Business and Google Summit sessions, you can find all of our content here. Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com. More on this topic: OP-ED: Kering’s Marie-Claire Daveu on why COP26 should be the moment that changes the fashion industry forever Changing fashion’s buying practices: What’s to come for brands Fashion’s new biodiversity benchmark

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