At the start of the pandemic, designers came together to push for radical changes in the industry. Two years later, their efforts have stalled — with major consequences for the planet, workers, and the clothes in our closets.
The pandemic arrived in New York just as the Fall 2020 collections were about to debut. Fashion shows were canceled — or slapped online, looking strained and strange. With all the uncertainty, one thing felt clear: The industry’s old ways were simply not going to fly. It was a moment that had been coming for years, really. Sustainability had become a major issue for a younger generation of consumers. Online shopping had weakened the dominance of department stores; see-now, buy-now was cannibalizing traditional retail; a new generation of designers favored smaller, more direct-to-consumer models. But then Covid hit — and everything sped up.
Designers, including Stella McCartney, Gabriela Hearst, and Dries Van Noten, signed a joint letter calling for “drastic change” in the fashion system, including a shift to seasonless collections and a reduction in the number of yearly shows. Young designers, like Emily Adams Bode and Maisie Schloss of Bode, led an open letter calling for a “reset” of the retail calendar, with a focus on sustainability. In New York, CFDA Chairman Tom Ford and President Steven Kolb published a sweeping 15-point plan for industry reform, oriented around four major themes: sustainability, diversity, inclusion, and community. “There’s an opportunity right now for us to really sit down and rethink everything we do,” Kolb told me, shortly after the proposal was released.
But somewhere along the way, the movement lost momentum. When in-person shows returned for the Fall 2022 season, the old habits of the fashion industry returned with them. High-production runway spectacles, the sort that had long driven the business, were back in full force. Sustainability took a back seat to the spectacle. Most designers returned to a traditional schedule of four seasonal shows per year, even though these seasonal shows no longer seemed to align with the way people were actually shopping. And that CFDA reform plan? It seemed to vanish into thin air.
Today, there’s a sense of frustration among the designers who pushed for change two years ago. “The conversation has fizzled out,” Gabriela Hearst lamented to me. “And we’re back to the status quo, which is disappointing, because you see the consequences of that.” The consequences, she says, are not difficult to spot: worsening climate change, worker exploitation, piles of excess inventory, mountains of clothing ending up in landfills.
The industry, it seems, was not willing to sacrifice its old ways for the sake of the planet — or, for that matter, its own long-term health. And this story is not unique to fashion. In the face of the climate crisis, industries all over the world are struggling to balance the need for radical change with the challenges of transitioning to a new way of doing things. It’s the story of our times: We know we need to change, but it’s really hard to do it.
The fashion industry is at a crossroads. The old ways are no longer working, but the new ways are still being worked out. The designers who pushed for change two years ago are still fighting, but they are fighting an uphill battle. The future of fashion is uncertain, but one thing is for sure: If the industry does not make major changes, the consequences will be dire for the planet, for workers, and for the clothes in our closets.
We know we need to change, but it’s really hard to do it.
This is a story that is playing out in industries all over the world. The climate crisis is forcing us to rethink everything we do, from the way we produce food to the way we travel. And in every industry, there are people who are pushing for change. But change is hard. It’s hard to give up old habits. It’s hard to invest in new technologies. And it’s hard to convince others to do the same.
But the cost of inaction is too great. We cannot afford to keep doing things the old way. We need to find a new way to live, a new way to produce, a new way to consume. And we need to do it now..
