Making Sustainability Sexy: Wearing Your Values to Make Fashion a Force for Good
Make a better world the next big trend
How you dress can change the world. Fashion is one of the largest global industries with hundreds of millions of workers and a huge global environmental footprint. Unfortunately this industry has been able to operate in the dark for decades, but we're realizing now that we need to rethink how we design, produce, buy, and sell our clothes. The good news? Small and large brands around the world are starting to wake up and transform how they do business to protect people and planet. Annick Ireland, founder and CEO of the UK-based, mission-driven apparel platform, Immaculate Vegan, joins us to talk about the importance of supporting brands who are answering the call for a better path forward, and how all of us can choose to be part of the revolution going on right now in fashion. It's time for us to make a real fashion statement, where we wear our values on our sleeve.
What you can do today
Shop, share, and support the Immaculate Vegan mission at their online home
Research the sustainability and human rights policies of every brand you shop with with a quick Google search, a look on their website, or by checking out the 2021 Fashion Revolution Fashion Transparency Index
Start conversations around fashion and workers’ rights, animal rights, and the environment with people in your immediate circle
Join grassroots movements like the #payup campaign to keep driving global brands toward sustainability and equality, and support and share nonprofits who are working for change
Challenge
For your next new item of clothing, search for mission-driven brands and purchase from them. Give sustainable and natural materials a test run, and spread the world! Tell people about your experience.
If you already shop sustainably, buy a gift from one of your favorite mission-driven brands for a friend or family member, and tell them why you love that company
Resources
Visit these fashion-focused organizations to learn more: Fashion Revolution, Good on You, & Clean Clothes Campaign
Read about top global brands and how they perform when it comes to sustainability and human rights in the 2021 Fashion Revolution Fashion Transparency Index
Information about the Higg Index of sustainable materials
NY Times video of the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse
Free True Cost documentary on YouTube telling the story of fast fashion that global brands would rather keep secret
Video story about fast fashion from The Economist magazine
Independent UK article about fast fashion and sustainable materials
Treehugger article about nylon and its impact on the environment
Trusted Clothes article with the basics on several types of clothing materials
Comprehensive Statista resource center on global fashion trends
Hasan Minhaj Netflix segment on fast fashion - for some laughs along with great information :)
Making Sustainability Sexy: Wearing Your Values to Make Fashion a Force for Good
Changing the world through mission-driven fashion, one outfit at a time with Annick Ireland, founder and CEO of Immaculate Vegan