Interestingly, although I wrote this post for people not in sustainability roles thinking about transitioning in, many of the comments are from really senior sustainability folk - interesting that the same feelings apply therefore. What a time we're in!
Such a tricky dilemma and one that resonates with me as a former marketer deciding what to do next.
Brands that have placed sustainability at the core of their brand comms are not doing well, because ultimately that doesn’t serve the emotion that customers seek when buying fashion. Sustainability has to be built into fashion brands as a given without it being the brand story.
I’ve seen intrapreneurship teams drive change by delivering successful projects that demonstrate to leadership that good practices can be commercial, but those teams need talent, funding and senior backing in the first place. Not everyone who’s passionate about driving change gets that support.
It’s interesting to see more brands launching rentals in the UK whether that’s on their own platform (Olivia Rubin) or a managed service like HURR. The latter seems an easy way to dip a toe in and see what happens.
The other thing I’m seeing more of is slow fashion, manufacturing to order, as KITRI do now.
I guess there are enough emerging examples of ways that people are driving this change from within to give us fence sitters some hope.
Thanks so much for your comments Georgia - and really glad this post resonated as a former marketer. I can really appreciate the idea of being a fence sitter, as you call it, but I can also see that your thinking is already very much leaning in this direction anyway. It's a really fair point about what it takes for intrapreneurship (love that word) to be successful - and absolutely it's not something afforded everywhere and to everyone. But I do think there's a lot of learnings from those sorts of practices as to what could be applied even in a small way. Wishing you luck with your next steps!
In my view, those who have the unique skills needed in the industry need to stay, develop their knowledge if needed as well as their ethics, commitment and desire and bring behaviour change from within. Sustainability is a Pandora’s box of issues… off comes the lid on one , and another emerges!
I can draw on my own experience which includes my first encounter when working in sustainable raw materials 15 years ago. Just one person in a large multinational retailer of 150 years standing, who had been with the company his entire life. He was able to read, learn, investigate more sustainable options across planet and people, that the company could transition towards and adopt. He then used his considerable knowledge and skills of the company and the personality of the leadership to change their business approach. He used his considerable skills to persuade and demonstrate how change would bring the company into a better place for the 21st century and thrive both financial and with the consumer, rather than wither. He could have left to play golf or garden, but he drove a vision throughout the company, (as well as the change in financial rewards structure ) which ultimately was lead from the very too! He could not do it alone. Now, the company has a huge sustainability team linked to every area of business, and is considered a leader, It was a big challenge ( and no doubt still is) but he left a legacy, that possibly is not widely known in the company now, but everyone there is working for change, because of his individual vision at the start. Fashion needs good creative and innovative people in every area to bring about change that encourages growth in creative and different ways than churning out high volumes of over production of just more goods that people already have. They are all out there, they just need to have courage and do it!
Hi Susan - thank you so much for this. I love your perspective on this. I think I'm with you that those who have the experience in the industry are so valuable staying within it. And I could not agree more that having a strong leader at the top really inspiring and creating this environment to make it possible is absolutely crucial - wow that sounds like it was an amazing place to work. And 15 years ago as well really meant it was pioneering at that point. I can imagine just how much that shaped you and your career too - thank you so much for sharing it. Really here for your final paragraph: "Fashion needs good creative and innovative people in every area to bring about change that encourages growth in creative and different ways than churning out high volumes of over production of just more goods that people already have. They are all out there, they just need to have courage and do it!"
This is such an interesting discussion. I’m working on a project now which means I’m connecting with sustainability people in big UK brands and some smaller, more sustainable ones. This is a generalisation but those at the big brands seem exhausted, tentative and sometimes a bit defensive in our meetings. I instinctively know that getting close to the overproduction/overconsumption topic is a big NO. They are there and trying and so that has to be enough. I always thought I would love at some point to work in one these big brands trying make them more sustainable from the inside but honestly this experience is making me not so sure. I’d have to push the activist in me too far down and would be constantly coming up against barriers. I now think I can have more impact (and stay happy) working with them from the outside or with smaller more sustainable brands. But I hate the thought of turning away from where the big issues are.
I’m not surprised they seem like that. Often in big brands senior management have to hear it from an external voice (often a paid consultant) before they’ll listen, even if staff have said the same thing for ages. And then when they are listened to they often only get permission to greenwash rather than make substantial change. Your diplomatic approach and encouragement might be the thing that keeps them going.
An external voice / paid consultant saying something is so true Georgia. I have had so many times in my career where the client I'm working for already knows the answer, we just have to go about creating a case for it to prove it internally for them to then get the buy-in. There's an irony in it for sure! But I like to think it helps at least.
Hi Hannah - hope you're so well! Thank you for weighing in here. That sounds so interesting and I can really appreciate where you're coming from. I have likewise come across so many people within sustainability who have just got to the place of burn out / despair / hopelessness, but also then other versions where it's about defensiveness because they're trying and yet their only option is to operate from a place of business-as-usual. I feel however as though lots in those roles are now realising this (or at least some of them?) - how they're either not making progress or at worst contributing to the problem more. The problem then is knowing what to do about it?! I would definitely say feeling like you can make an impact and be happy doing it from the outside sounds like absolutely the right place for you to be. For what it's worth, that's absolutely the case for me too.
Just sharing here too in case it alerts everyone more - this topic seems to have really hit a bit of a note on Linkedin too, so do check out some of the responses there as well - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7211653993066885122/
Interestingly, although I wrote this post for people not in sustainability roles thinking about transitioning in, many of the comments are from really senior sustainability folk - interesting that the same feelings apply therefore. What a time we're in!
Such a tricky dilemma and one that resonates with me as a former marketer deciding what to do next.
Brands that have placed sustainability at the core of their brand comms are not doing well, because ultimately that doesn’t serve the emotion that customers seek when buying fashion. Sustainability has to be built into fashion brands as a given without it being the brand story.
I’ve seen intrapreneurship teams drive change by delivering successful projects that demonstrate to leadership that good practices can be commercial, but those teams need talent, funding and senior backing in the first place. Not everyone who’s passionate about driving change gets that support.
It’s interesting to see more brands launching rentals in the UK whether that’s on their own platform (Olivia Rubin) or a managed service like HURR. The latter seems an easy way to dip a toe in and see what happens.
The other thing I’m seeing more of is slow fashion, manufacturing to order, as KITRI do now.
I guess there are enough emerging examples of ways that people are driving this change from within to give us fence sitters some hope.
Thanks so much for your comments Georgia - and really glad this post resonated as a former marketer. I can really appreciate the idea of being a fence sitter, as you call it, but I can also see that your thinking is already very much leaning in this direction anyway. It's a really fair point about what it takes for intrapreneurship (love that word) to be successful - and absolutely it's not something afforded everywhere and to everyone. But I do think there's a lot of learnings from those sorts of practices as to what could be applied even in a small way. Wishing you luck with your next steps!
In my view, those who have the unique skills needed in the industry need to stay, develop their knowledge if needed as well as their ethics, commitment and desire and bring behaviour change from within. Sustainability is a Pandora’s box of issues… off comes the lid on one , and another emerges!
I can draw on my own experience which includes my first encounter when working in sustainable raw materials 15 years ago. Just one person in a large multinational retailer of 150 years standing, who had been with the company his entire life. He was able to read, learn, investigate more sustainable options across planet and people, that the company could transition towards and adopt. He then used his considerable knowledge and skills of the company and the personality of the leadership to change their business approach. He used his considerable skills to persuade and demonstrate how change would bring the company into a better place for the 21st century and thrive both financial and with the consumer, rather than wither. He could have left to play golf or garden, but he drove a vision throughout the company, (as well as the change in financial rewards structure ) which ultimately was lead from the very too! He could not do it alone. Now, the company has a huge sustainability team linked to every area of business, and is considered a leader, It was a big challenge ( and no doubt still is) but he left a legacy, that possibly is not widely known in the company now, but everyone there is working for change, because of his individual vision at the start. Fashion needs good creative and innovative people in every area to bring about change that encourages growth in creative and different ways than churning out high volumes of over production of just more goods that people already have. They are all out there, they just need to have courage and do it!
Hi Susan - thank you so much for this. I love your perspective on this. I think I'm with you that those who have the experience in the industry are so valuable staying within it. And I could not agree more that having a strong leader at the top really inspiring and creating this environment to make it possible is absolutely crucial - wow that sounds like it was an amazing place to work. And 15 years ago as well really meant it was pioneering at that point. I can imagine just how much that shaped you and your career too - thank you so much for sharing it. Really here for your final paragraph: "Fashion needs good creative and innovative people in every area to bring about change that encourages growth in creative and different ways than churning out high volumes of over production of just more goods that people already have. They are all out there, they just need to have courage and do it!"
This is such an interesting discussion. I’m working on a project now which means I’m connecting with sustainability people in big UK brands and some smaller, more sustainable ones. This is a generalisation but those at the big brands seem exhausted, tentative and sometimes a bit defensive in our meetings. I instinctively know that getting close to the overproduction/overconsumption topic is a big NO. They are there and trying and so that has to be enough. I always thought I would love at some point to work in one these big brands trying make them more sustainable from the inside but honestly this experience is making me not so sure. I’d have to push the activist in me too far down and would be constantly coming up against barriers. I now think I can have more impact (and stay happy) working with them from the outside or with smaller more sustainable brands. But I hate the thought of turning away from where the big issues are.
I’m not surprised they seem like that. Often in big brands senior management have to hear it from an external voice (often a paid consultant) before they’ll listen, even if staff have said the same thing for ages. And then when they are listened to they often only get permission to greenwash rather than make substantial change. Your diplomatic approach and encouragement might be the thing that keeps them going.
I’m curious to know who you’re speaking to now!
An external voice / paid consultant saying something is so true Georgia. I have had so many times in my career where the client I'm working for already knows the answer, we just have to go about creating a case for it to prove it internally for them to then get the buy-in. There's an irony in it for sure! But I like to think it helps at least.
Hi Hannah - hope you're so well! Thank you for weighing in here. That sounds so interesting and I can really appreciate where you're coming from. I have likewise come across so many people within sustainability who have just got to the place of burn out / despair / hopelessness, but also then other versions where it's about defensiveness because they're trying and yet their only option is to operate from a place of business-as-usual. I feel however as though lots in those roles are now realising this (or at least some of them?) - how they're either not making progress or at worst contributing to the problem more. The problem then is knowing what to do about it?! I would definitely say feeling like you can make an impact and be happy doing it from the outside sounds like absolutely the right place for you to be. For what it's worth, that's absolutely the case for me too.