I attended the incredible Leicester Made event last week where a plethora of local fashion manufacturers came to showcase their wares and capabilities, ultimately with one aim – to drive up UK fashion sourcing as bringing in goods from overseas continues to become more challenging.

But with all the talk around how fantastic Leicester – and even the wider UK – is for fashion manufacturing and the benefits of onshoring in navigating a turbulent macroeconomic environment, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of airtime sustainability was getting.

It’s as though the topic has suddenly gone out of fashion after a decade of being front and centre of every apparel brand’s marketing strategy.

Turns out it has.

Speaking at the event Bill McRaith, executive advisor at Future-Proof Fashion and former chief supply chain officer at PVH Corp, told the audience that producers are finding it impossible to sell sustainability to buyers that are being pushed by the powers that be to demonstrate the profit win.

“Profit, profit, profit,” he said, is the only conversation to lead with.

Another speaker said she avoided the term “sustainability” altogether as it has become so diluted over the years, it’s effectively meaningless.

So, is that it? The end of sustainability?

At the World Retail Congress event, former H&M CEO Helena Helmersson, now chair of Circulose, conceded initial momentum around sustainability has faded.

“In the beginning, the sustainability space was full of big promises,” she said. “Then things happened – Covid, war in Ukraine, Black Lives Matter, AI, trade pressures, and suddenly sustainability wasn’t the top issue anymore,” she explained.

And she described the industry as now sitting in the “valley of disillusionment,” a stage marked by slow progress, broken promises and growing scepticism.

There is another argument, of course, that sustainability is no longer being touted as a sell-point because it is now just the bare minimum expected. It should be part of the overall package and not sold as an add-on.

If that truly is the point we are at, I’d say that’s a great place to be.

But the danger is, as times get tougher for apparel brands and retailers – which they inevitably are – and the focus around driving profits just to stay afloat accelerates, it should not be at the cost of sustainability.

Moving backwards is not an option; the success of Vinted – which is now the number one fashion retailer in France – suggests, to some degree, people are pretty on board with the whole sustainability idea.

We have sold sustainability to the consumer for so long they now expect it as standard and to renege on that promise for a few extra pennies, could cost the sale altogether.

As the old saying goes: penny-wise, pound-foolish. Dropping the ball on sustainability is something fashion brands and retailers cannot afford to do.

By Just Style