The diminutive but immensely powerful Japanese designer instils in her collections a very philosophical approach to fashion. In this essay, fashion historian Ángela Hurtado Pimentel dissects Kawakubo’s creative, cultural and philosophical vanguard

 

You may have already figured this out, but the word ‘ethicologist’ is in fact a made-up one. Despite not appearing on the English dictionary, I use it because I feel it conveys my mission perfectly, which is to explore and measure the concept of ethics within business, specifically within the fashion industry. Our methodology is a two-way assessment: by conducting market research surveys amongst fashion suppliers and consumers, my team and I advocate for good practices across the fashion industry. Even though we are a profit-making business – and a very small one at that – our motivation is to promote a holistic change of mentality; we want to see businesses look beyond monetary incentives and become more connected to what is happening in the world. 

 

Someone once told me there are two different kinds of people, those who live to work and those who work to live. Me, I can easily spot this division in our modern-day culture. While we should be producing goods to meet our basic human needs, we instead create all kinds of strategies and trends to make people want to buy things they don’t actually need. We should set up businesses and enterprises to provide incomes, but instead we enslave and exploit many so profits go to a privileged few. We possess the most incredible planet but, far from preserving it for upcoming generations, we are slowly destroying it.

 

"Our research is evidencing the importance of awareness in changing lifestyle habits and behaviour"

 

Our research is evidencing the importance of awareness in changing lifestyle habits and behaviour. Raising awareness, bringing issues to the surface and providing information to both consumers and suppliers is, I believe, a catalyst for change. My mission isn’t to just make consumers buy from ethical labels, but to also create a brand loyalty that will cultivate understanding in both business owners and customers. However, this is not enough to transform the very powerful global business scene.

 

In a recent online survey carried out in Great Britain, we asked 2,000 adult consumers whether they had taken any action against fashion brands due to unethical practices. Almost a quarter of the interviewees said that they had, with 50% of them admitting to boycotting the concerned brand. Further analysis proved the main reason for boycotting brands – rather than changing consumption habits and switching to ethical fashion – was a lack of awareness in terms of which ethical brands were out there, as well as a lack of clarity and transparency about their sustainable practices.

 

But, all in all, the demand for ethical fashion is on the rise, with 10% of the population declaring they had bought ethical at least once. Ethical is no longer a niche market because, even though not all consumers are buying these products yet, they are becoming more aware of and concerned about the subject. Those who are buying are doing the necessary research to become more ethical shoppers and are realising that the ethical offering is extensive, of high quality and fashionable enough, yet what keeps this segment of the industry small is a lack of awareness amongst mainstream consumers. 

 

A few weeks ago I participated at Gipuzkoa de Moda, an ethical fashion week held in the Basque region of Spain. Speaking alongside me was Slow Fashion Next founder Gema Gomez, who feels the ethical fashion space is convoluted and confusing to the average consumer, a market vulnerable to ‘green washing’ and misleading information. One of her concerns is the general misunderstanding of the term ethical fashion. The concept may not be sustainable, for example, when international fast fashion brands begin to sell garments labelled as ethical fashion at low prices, thus nullifying good practices such as the use of recycled or organic fabrics and altogether misusing the concept.

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"There are concerns around the general misunderstanding of the term ethical fashion"

 

The misuse of ethical fabrics makes for a good example of a lack of information, as few consumers know that not all recycled fabrics are equally beneficial. For instance, recycled polyester is better than virgin polyester because it reuses the resource, but everyday clothes made of polyester impact our environment negatively because, every time we wash them, they release particles that pollute our water supplies. While bamboo fabrics are more ecological than traditional cotton because they are easier on natural resources, mixing recycled polyester with bamboo is not a sustainable practice, as one is a natural fabric and the other is a man made one that cannot be re-recycled.

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Knowing and thinking through this type of data might seem daunting at first, but this is the direction we need to take. Providing the necessary data and demanding transparency is just the beginning. Sustainability in fashion must permeate from our DNA, there is no other way to change our buying culture. 

 

Disni Jayasuriya is an ethicologist who runs her own consultancy business and speaks at fashion sustainability events to promote ethical practices across the industry. For more information, visit theethicologist.com.