When fashion is not “barbaric” How does China weave a sustainable and stylish future?

On December 7, Kaiyun Group and the global innovation platform Plug and Play officially announced the establishment of the Kaiyun Sustainable Innovation Award in Greater China.

This is not the first action of Kaiyun Group in the sustainable development of the fashion industry. In the 2017 Kaiyun Sustainability Seminar, Marco Bizzarri, CEO of the group's Gucci brand, publicly stated: “Gucci will join the international zero fur The Alliance, no longer use fur from the Spring/Summer 2018 series."

The whole supply Chain behind a glamorous and fashionable product is a process of requesting and destroying the environment. Including the hunting of raw materials from animals and plants and even harming precious species, the sweatshops exposed by the media, the air pollution generated during the processing and manufacturing process, the pollution of wastewater, the pollution of the soil and the traffic pollution caused by logistics, so that the fashion industry stays in the hearts of the public. The impression of "barbarism".

Today, as ecological problems become more serious, environmental awareness rises, and circular economy is valued, more and more companies are trying to get rid of the label of “barbarism” and explore a new business development model – sustainable fashion.

Luxury giants lead development

In 2015, Kaiyun Group made a precedent: in order to assess and track the environmental impact of production activities, the Group's Environmental Profit and Loss Statement (EP&L) was introduced, which converts environmental impacts into monetary values ​​to derive an environment. Profit and loss, the scope of assessment covers the entire supply chain from raw materials to manufacturing, including raw material procurement, logistics transportation, product sales and store operations. The dimensions measured include water usage and pollution, waste, greenhouse gases, air. Pollution, land use, etc. And this tool is open source, meaning that all businesses can use it.

In 2016, Kaiyun Group released the 2016 Sustainability Report, reflecting its performance and completion of the Sustainable Development Goals. The goal was voluntarily set up by the group in 2012 to reduce the negative environmental and social impacts of carbon dioxide emissions, toxic chemicals and the handling of gold, leather and precious fur; in 2017 the group officially announced a new generation of sustainable The development strategy aims to create a better luxury industry in a more sustainable way in 2025, including specific measures such as reducing the carbon footprint of the business by 50% and reducing the environmental profit and loss assessment by 40%.

Since the first environmental profit and loss report was announced by Kailan's Stella McCartney in 2015, Kaiyun has voluntarily announced the environmental impact of the fashion industry in a transparent manner. This is undoubtedly calling for more peers to join the sustainable fashion industry. Come in.

Sustainability is being implemented one by one in the operations of Kaiyun's brands. Gucci and Bottega Veneta have developed a metal-free leather tanning process; Saint Laurent has introduced a new store concept that has increased the energy efficiency of its global stores by 37% from 2012 to 2015. Kaiyun also established the Materials Innovation Lab, which is dedicated to discovering top quality raw materials and applying them to their brands. The lab now collects more than 2,000 certified eco-friendly fabrics and has a team of experts to assist its brands in applying these fabrics to their products.

In addition to the Kaiyun Group, sustainable fashion is “spreading” among other brands. Nike announced its strategy of implementing sustainable change from the supply chain in 2020; LVMH developed and implemented the “LVMH Environmental Initiative”; the H&M entry point for fast fashion brands is the recycling of used clothes.

The sustainable future of Chinese fashion

In recent years, “sustainable fashion” has become a topic of increasing discussion in the global fashion industry.

In Copenhagen, the Copenhagen Fashion Summit was held for the first time, inviting key decision makers and opinion leaders in the global fashion industry to focus on fashion-related environmental, social and ethical issues.

In 2016, the non-profit organization Fashion Revolution released the Fashion Transparency Index, which urged fashion brands to increase supply chain transparency.

In 2017, Kaiyun Group officially launched the Chinese version of the environmental profit and loss statement and the first WeChat applet, My EP&L. In 2018, it first cooperated with Shanghai Fashion Week to create the “Innovative Luxury Laboratory”, which means that China has a wide range of sustainable fashion opportunities. And as an important consumer market, it is concerned by European and American luxury brands.

Compared to China's status as one of the world's largest fashion consumer markets, Chinese brands' participation in sustainable fashion is insufficient.

Although China's fashion market is active, it is thin on innovative product models. Some people think that consumerism in China's fashion market is prevalent, but consumer awareness is not mature. This is evident from the media reports that Chinese rich people are sweeping through foreign luxury stores. In this case, it may not be a good time to promote sustainable development in the Chinese fashion industry.

But in fact, many domestic brands are also quietly promoting sustainable fashion.

Ordos is a traditional cashmere vertical industrial chain group from grassland, sheep breed, cashmere, and finally to garment. In its 40 years of development, "we are not changing, but have been doing it." Ordos brand division Manager Wang Wei said. "Cotton is a material that is different from other materials and needs to be protected from the source. We have been working with the government since 1995, and the ecological situation in the Engebe Desert has improved a lot." On December 7, she was in the cloud. The Group shared its experience in the sustainable fashion of the Ordos Group at the Sustainability Innovation Awards Conference held in Beijing.

How to deal with the contradiction between the high demand for cashmere and the rare raw materials? Erdos hopes to launch a set of sustainable methods: protecting the source, protecting the pasture and sheep species, on the one hand, it is also important to reduce the idleness and waste of resources, including cashmere. Maintenance and recycling of cashmere. Ordos has established a national cashmere maintenance center, hoping to extend the use of the product. In addition, the “coats for small clothes” project was introduced, and the cashmere coats of parents were transformed into children's clothes. This is a relatively simple process. Another way is to restore the yarn into fibers and more complex recovery of cashmere.

SHAOKEY is a fashion brand that develops yak wool products and is also a social enterprise. The commercial success proves that the model is sustainable: they directly acquired yak wool from the herdsmen of Qinghai, and after being woven into a line by the textile mill, they handed the finished products to the women of Chongming Island in Shanghai, and then sold them to the world. In addition to providing a large amount of employment, yak velvet replaces traditional cashmere, thus reducing the number of goats and saving grass from their mouths. The brand's acquisition of yak wool from the Tibetan area and the creation of the yak wool industry chain have also shaped the sustainability of the local economy.

In today's consumption upgrade, sustainable fashion can be accepted by consumers as long as it can provide consumers with high quality and valuable products. When international trends have arrived, global fashion brands are following the trend, and some brands have begun to catch up with this “sustainable fashion” express train, China's fashion industry may be facing an important development opportunity.