Category: retail

MABR Cohort Perspectives: Time for Fast Fashion to adopt Sustainable Practices

Kim Sheehan on

Today’s opinion is from Haley Justus.

The time is now for fast fashion retailers to adopt more sustainable practicesFast fashion, stores like H&M, Zara, and Forever 21, has shaped how people shop for clothes in society today. By giving constant options and encouraging a consistent rotation of new attire, the consumer has become accustomed to searching for the next best thing. This has created a faster consumption of items that has a life span of about of no more than 10 wears, according to the New York Times. This system perpetuated by fast fashion brands fuels the amount of clothes that end up in landfills each year. According to the EPA, “Landfills received 11.3 million tons of MSW textiles in 2018. This was 7.7 percent of all MSW landfilled.”

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic retail sales are in free fall as people reallocate their spending priorities. The pandemic has caused consumers to pull back spending by two-thirds according to Refinery29. As profit continues to fall across the board, retailers are looking to ecommerce as their primary revenue stream. This, however, presents a new set of sustainability issues for the fast fashion industry.The transition to more digital shopping in response to the pandemic also means an increase in shipping, handling, and packaging that brings those items to the consumers doorstep. According to the BBC, “Returning items can effectively double the emissions from transporting your goods, and if you factor in failed collections and deliveries, that number can grow further.”

As the fast fashion industry continues to dive into a deeper hole, CEO’s are wondering how they keep business alive. A Refinery29 article states, “The bigger question for fast fashion is whether the model, which hinges on its prodigious volume to make the razor-thin margins work, will survive the pandemic.”

If they are already going to have to think about how to reshape their business because of the pandemic, why can’t they rethink their business models and encourage more sustainable consumerism?As much as people have stopped spending, they have also started caring. Caring more about who or what they are giving their money to and what those entities represent. An AdAge article about Gen Z stated, “73 percent of those it surveyed would pay more for sustainable items, with the majority of that chunk willing to pay a 10 percent price premium.”Fast fashion brands have an opportunity here to help save our planet as well drive some consumers back to opening their wallets for their products. They will need to vet their authenticity and actually follow through with affective strategies that address their sustainability issues if they hope to see the shift save them from decline. It’s time for them to authentically step up to what their consumer base is demanding more of and start to put planet over profit.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200310-sustainable-fashion-how-to-buy-clothes-good-for-the-climate
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/04/9714553/coronavirus-effect-on-fast-fashion
https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/generation-z-willing-pay-more-eco-friendly-products/2227101
https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/textiles-material-specific-data
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/sustainable-clothing.html#:~:text=A%20separate%20study%20found%20that,of%20textile%20waste%20per%20year.

Pandemic Lessons part 1

Kim Sheehan on

It seems like a lot of pundits are publishing lessons for brands from the pandemic this month. Seems a bit early given that we’re still in the midst of it, but here are a few that I learned today from an Adweek article that focused on changes to luxury purchases.

1. Blogs are back! Many brands are feeling that advertising seems to be tone deaf, and that blogs can be more authentic. Blogs can be one way to provide content that makes people feel better and informs and inspires them.

2. Perceptions of luxury have changed. People have traditionally bought luxury goods as a way to communicate their status to others. In a pandemic, that signaling stopped, and luxury good sales decreased. Now that people are thinking about purchasing luxury again, they seem to be appreciating lower price points. Maybe the ‘break’ from buying a lot of stuff has re-set our minds about the appropriate prices for things?

3. Consumers have become accustomed to ‘waiting’ for products given shortages earlier in the pandemic and with shipping time lags. The value of ‘overnight delivery’ from Amazon and other companies may be diminished.

Chip and Joanna Gaines on authenticity, beauty, and a return to simpler times.

Kim Sheehan on


Day 3 of the Fast Company Festival of Innovation featured Chip and Joanna Gaines–Founders of Magnolia, a home and lifestyle brand and the soon-to-be launched Magnolia Network. They became famous through their show ‘Fixer Upper’ on HGTV.

They are launching the Magnolia Network as a joint channel with the Discovery Network. The Gaineses wanted to start a network because they love challenges, they love storytelling, and they found that their own expertise (contracting and small business/retail) translated well into developing content. The network grew out of the success of the magazine and all the things that the magazine could do. The stories didn’t have to include Chip and Joanna as the ‘centerpieces’ but the curated stories of homes and home improvements would be the center. Home improvement, food, decorating, kids programming—a variety of types of programs will be presented.

Television and magazines are kind of ‘old fashioned’ ways to tell stories—linear and non-digital. They wanted the value of being able to physically touch the magazine—and there’s a limited number of ads so the reader doesn’t have to page through lots of ads to get to the stories. The network will be the same. They want the network shows to be ‘appointment television’ that families can watch together—highly meaningful and highly authentic.

The shows on the Magnolia Network will be ‘season long’ and each program will have multiple episodes. They reached out to people they’ve read about but didn’t know personally and ask them to be on the network—they said about 2/3 of the people they reached out to said no thank you! The people who agreed are ‘dreamers and risk takers’ who can motivate others to go out and take risks as well. The stars of the shows are diverse, and inclusivity is important to them because they believe everyone deserves a seat at the table. Diverse talent brings a diverse group of experiences to the network. It will be a ‘beautiful tapestry…telling beautiful stories.’ Chip said that our country is more divided than ever, and the network can try to bring people together. Different opinions make us all better, our lives more richer, and helps us see lifestyles and viewpoints that many people may not have seen. This is a way we can develop a new reality for the future—the Magnolia Network will bring a variety of perspectives to their audience.

Authentic stories are going to resonate with a variety of audiences—from young adults to their grandparents and great grandparents. Everyone should feel welcome. Every program won’t appeal to everyone—but there will be something for everyone during the programming day.

Basically, they are taking an existing Discover channel (the DIY channel) and changing to the Magnolia Network. They are ‘honoring’ the legacy of the DIY network and our working with existing DIY Channel audiences to make sure that content for them will still be available.

Chip and Joanna’s identity as small business owners has become their platform for growth. Their businesses taught them they are always evolving as a business and that they personally are evolving as people. It also taught them that they have an opportunity to create beauty—not only beautiful buildings, but beautiful moments when people are connecting with one another.

The culture of Magnolia focuses on a belief that dreams can come true—and that as a company, as a tight knit community and family, they can work together to make dreams come true. They want to learn, they want to try new things, they want to take risks, and they want to work hard and do work that really matters.

The secret to their relationship? Chip says that they are kind to one another, first and foremost. That transfers to their company—they lead with kindness. Kindness evolves into mutual respect, which causes teams to rise to new heights. Kindness is a fundamental value that some people are naturally drawn to, and some people may have trouble with this, as they think kindness equates with weakness. Chip and Joanna believe that kindness leads to strength.

Why Waco? They are impressed by the resilience of Waco. Waco had to deal with lots of negative things, both natural and man-made, and they both believe in the promise of Waco and how Waco can be a center for change in the world.

What are they most proud of?
1. The way that they handle adversity—they always put kindness at the center.
2. Innovation for innovation’s sake may not be always the best strategy—values of family, community and kindness are always important and shouldn’t be sacrificed in the name of innovation.
3. Simpler ways of life and innovation can live side by side, but must be complimentary.
4. The way they always look for hope and beauty.
5. Shiplap

Chatting with Tommy Hilfiger about a vision for a better fashion industry

Kim Sheehan on

Day 2 of Fast Company’s Festival of Innovation–Innovation for Good had me (and thousands of my close friends) hearing from Tommy Hilfiger, the fashion designer.

Tommy Hilfiger is on the left, an editor for Fast Company is on the right.

Tommy Hilfiger defines American style. The brand has worked on becoming more sustainable and innovative. The pandemic and BLM led them to think about how they operate, and they realized they needed to change their strategy.

Covid at first made them change to short term thinking, focusing on associate health and well being and cash flow. The brand then changed to midterm recovery: how do they get out of crisis and build back the business? Sustainability became even more important. The brand did not slow down investment in sustainability—now they are launching a new sustainability strategy.

In September, they announced their ‘make it possible’ strategy for the next ten years. Co-creation process with 100 of associates. Circularity and inclusivity: the brand wants to be a brand that wastes nothing and welcomes all. These two pillars will drive everything they do.

• They have many new styles using organic cotton, sustainable cotton, and low impact finishing techniques.
• Tommy For Life—resale market for used Tommy Hilfiger clothes
• Washing denim pollutes ocean and lakes and streams with poison as indigo dye goes into system and hangs around. They figured out a way to wash denim without water. The denim is broken down (softened and colored) with laser treatments!
• Use fewer chemicals, water and energy in manufacturing.
• On-demand manufacturing—the goal is to have no inventory.
• Using all solar power in their plant in the Netherlands.
• 3D digital design—designs are all done on computer, not wasting time, money, logistics, emissions, materials

Tommy believes that if his company takes the lead on this, other companies will follow.

They are also focused on creating an inclusive workspace and looking after workers’ rights. Workers will have stronger voices in the company. They are also reintroducing “People’s Place”, a platform that the brand will use to bring in BIPOC to mentor them and tap into the Hilfiger network and collaborate with them.

My take–this company says the right things. It has a history of being on the cutting edge, particularly in the digital space. They have made some strides to be more sustainable, and if they can keep up the momentum and show a profit they will be a market leader in sustainability. Cotton is always a problematic fabric, so we’ll see how the continued use of that fabric affects their sustainability.

I’m not as familiar with issues of diversity and inclusion in the fashion industry—my take was that this is one of the more diverse industries but I may be wrong. I’ll do a bit more digging on this aspect and watch to see how they build a better company in this area.