Ali Mize, the Senior Director of ESG, Belonging, and Corporate Philanthropy at Neiman Marcus Group, emphasised at a fashion event that fast fashion should be as socially unacceptable as smoking, emphasising the importance of guiding consumers toward sustainable choices.
Ali advocated that sustainable fashion brands should make it ‘ugly’ for consumers to spend their money in the wrong way.
Echoing Mize’s sentiment, Tsui Yuen-Pappas from Alice and Olivia, a luxury womenswear brand, emphasised the significance of zero waste in creating a profitable and sustainable business model.
She said “Zero waste is one of our biggest initiatives and a lot of brands don’t realise we’re a cut-to-sales business – we look at our inventory levels and plan it extremely tight. That is profitability at the end of the day and any sustainability initiative must have that at its core – you won’t get support internally unless there’s return on investment (ROI) involved.”
Yuen-Pappas emphasised Alice and Olivia’s significant reduction of 10-15 per cent of materials in each garment, a move she considers essential for profitability. She advocates for all brands to adopt this approach, despite the initial time, money, and investment it requires. For her, this reduction means less waste, less fabric purchased, and fewer leftovers in the cutting room—a significant change in the industry’s practices.
Yuen-Pappas stated that fashion sector still lacks sufficient sustainability efforts. She ointed to the recent NYC Climate Week from 17th to 24th September 2023, as evidence of this gap, indicating that the industry needs to do more for the environment.
