What we once thought of as a socioeconomic system that would bring wealth and happiness to humanity, has today become a driver of environmental destruction, socioeconomic injustices, unforeseen financial risks, human diseases, impoverished health and increased stress. The ready-made society that we have created for ourselves on a global scale is no longer serving its desired purpose but rather contradicting it.

A ”ready-made society” here refers to a society in which consumer products (such as clothing, shoes, accessories, home textiles, furniture, IT-devices, home appliances and other consumables) are designed and manufactured – often in large volumes and similar varieties – based merely on trend forecasts, estimated sales and expected consumer behavior.

In a ready-made society, production is primarily driven by businesses’ urge to maximize sales, increase economic profits and grow market shares. Products are rarely designed and manufactured to meet any real need or specific demand by customers. Rather, businesses rely on effective PR-strategies to create and impose constructed demands for their pre-designed and pre-manufactured products, and customers have to adjust their preferences to what is already made available to them. Without any other option or a strong character, customers can easily fall for the temptation to buy the ready-made products (and more than needed), perhaps reasoning that ”they cannot influence what is already there but only buy what is presented to them”. In other words, the ready-made society creates an impression that consumers cannot be held responsible for an unsustainable act of buying the wrong or too much products, as they have not been involved in their creation at any point. What is not evident to most people however is that production was actually based on previous sales numbers and consumer behavior.

This ready-made society is essentially a result of the widespread industry strategy called ”planned obsolescence”, which has been dominating our modern industry since at least the 1950s. This strategy implies that products are designed and manufactured at the onset to become obsolete within only a short time span, typically due to broken parts (which were intentionally made to break easily), an impoverished functionality (intentionally made to be weak) or an out-dated style (intentionally made to be replaced by a new style). In this way, the industry is able to create an endless demand for new products as the previous ones break, become outdated or begin to function improperly. With this short-term profit-focused strategy, a global market of ready-made products is created and maintained. Companies today rely heavily on this inter-dependency between consumers and their market shares.

Yet the truth is, most people rarely need mass-produced and ready-made products, may it be clothes, home textiles or IT-devices. Especially in more developed countries, the need to fill our homes with additional pillows, glasses, appliances, table cloths, t-shirts, pants or accessories is no longer real. This may have been true in the 40’s or 50’s when our homes were not filled to the brim with ”stuff” and we still had some actual need for basic garments and household items. Today, in contrast, people long for the ”exclusive and special”, items that hold personal meaning and add value to life – things that we feel emotional bonds to, in terms of beauty, intrinsic values, history or special personal meaning.

Furthermore, we can no longer ignore the widespread adverse environmental impacts that modern society has caused, and still does, in terms of greenhouse emissions, changing climate, melting icecaps, polluted air quality, destroyed forests, impoverished marine and river ecosystems and reduced biodiversity in many parts of the world etc. More so, our modern society has also brought various adverse impacts on human health, particularly in urban and industrial areas of developing countries. Nearby and downstream of textile and garment factory sites and conventional cotton farming areas, for example, studies have shown increased frequencies of neurological diseases and various cancer forms due to the release of toxic chemicals and substances into the environment. Even in more developed areas, our ”modern” society has caused air pollution, degraded water quality, noise disturbances, higher stress-levels, and in some instances, increased prevalence of various cancer types and pulmonary diseases linked to lifestyle and/or the environment.

The time has come for our global manufacturing industries to transition from a ”ready-made production approach” to an ”on-demand production strategy”. (Dr. Anna Brismar)

We need to build industries that are meant to serve people’s and society’s actual needs and specific demands to meet also the long-term and higher good of society, as opposed to meet constructed desires of consumers underpinned by short-term economic interests of the companies. The new ”on-demand strategy” is likely to be the missing piece-in-the-puzzle of a wider global sustainability strategy that will help to create a society in which humanity can live in harmony with Nature, and in which the true needs of people and societies are ethically, fairly and responsibly met.

In sum, we need to develop a society in which humans can live in harmony with Nature. This will require stepping away from our ”ready-made” modern society dominated by ”planned obsolescence”. Instead we need to create a society where industries center on ”on-demand production” (such as made-to-order, custom made etc.). Our Earth can no longer support industries that manufacture ready-made products based on estimated, constructed and make-believe desires. Our natural resources are dwindling and heavily affected by pollution and over-extraction. In order to enable a sustainable lifestyle, we must focus our natural resources on meeting the actual needs and individual demands of people within reasonable limits and in fair distribution. Hereby we can prevent further waste generation, environmental destruction and socioeconomic injustices.

Photo sources: Unsplash.com

Make it last: Fashion can be both about following new trends and finding your own personal style. How do you think sustainability and fashion can be combined in this perspective?

Anna Brismar: Fashion consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the serious sustainability challenges facing today’s fashion industry, in terms of various environmental, social and ethical issues needing to be addressed on a global level. Yet, fashion consumers also seem to get keener to developing their own personal styles, and this latter trend actually rhymes with the development of more sustainable wardrobes. The reason hereof is that fashion consumers are beginning to see the various benefits of mixing different sources of fashion pieces; but such different sources of fashion may also constitute different forms of more sustainable fashion! (See image here.)

More specifically, fashion consumes are starting to blend and combine various fashion sources. For example, new eco-friendly garments (”Green & Clean”) are paired with second hand or vintage pieces, and rented or borrowed pieces (”Rent, Loan & Swap”) are matched with tailored or self-made items (”On demand or DIY”). To mend and redesign one’s favorite clothes has also become a more common phenomenon, representing another type of sustainability strategy (referred to by Green Strategy as “Remake, Repair & Upcycle”). On top of this, the concern for ethical issues within the fashion industry has also intensified over the last years.

Poor working conditions, low factory wages and violations of animal rights have been quite extensively debated in media, especially since the large factory accident at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in April 2013, and now re-actualized through the Norwegian television series (Sweatshop – Deadly Fashion) about three young fashion enthusiasts who went to Cambodia to experience the actual working conditions in sweatshops first hand. To buy clothes made in an ethically responsible way now seems obvious to most people (referred to as ”Fair & Ethical”), although lack of transparency in supply chains remains a major obstacle.

For most fashion companies, certain sustainability strategies tend to be in greater focus than others. For example at Filippa K, “sustainability” has always been synonymous with long lasting fashion in both design and quality (referred to as ”High Quality & Timeless Design”). Nudie Jeans, on the other hand, has taken ”Repair” services to its heart. Houdini Sportswear has been using recycled polyester materials and offering ski outfits for rent for quite some time, while DEM Collective has embraced the concept of ”Green & Clean” since its start.

Perhaps in response to the growing interest in circular economy worldwide, forward-oriented fashion companies in Sweden are now opening up to new business models and sustainability strategies, including new customer services. For example, Filippa K now works towards a more circular business model, and as part of this effort, they recently launched a new rental service, a take-back scheme, and also presented their “Front Runners” collection, which consists of three pieces made of 100% renewable and natural Tencel fiber. Three new strategies of Filippa K towards more sustainable fashion!

Thus, while some fashion companies may still be hesitant to exploring new forms of sustainable fashion, consumers have every opportunity to test and embrace additional if not all seven forms! Thus, for your daily wear, you can quite easily pick a home-knitted scarf, a secondhand outerwear, a tailored blazer, a rented pair of pants, an environmentally friendly shirt (of organic cotton, Tencel or other more sustainable fiber), a pair of tights in recyclable Nylon, a borrowed pair of shoes, ethically made jewelry, and a timeless high quality bag. Mixing clothing, shoes and accessories in this way will probably be the most common way to build a more personal as well as sustainable wardrobe.

Approaching “sustainable fashion” simply as a wardrobe full of organic cotton or recycled polyester is no longer the case. Rather, a more sustainable wardrobe means developing your personal style and mixing your carefully selected favorites, may they be rented, borrowed, secondhand, vintage, remade, DIY, tailored, custom-made, ethically made, locally made, high quality, timeless, and/or environmentally manufactured. Mixing pieces in a responsible way and according to your own personal taste and style is now the way to go!

This article was written by Anna Brismar and originally published by Make it last on February 13, 2015. Republished here with permission.

(Photo at the top from Unsplash.com)