A POSSIBLE REVOLUTION

In the seventeenth century, at the court of King Louis XIV in France, the effort to grow the state’s finances drew attention to the fashion industry. The necessary investments were made to increase the production of clothes and, at the same time, a new way to stimulate consumption was invented: the Spring-Summer and Fall-Winter fashion seasons were created, and the noble members of the court were encouraged to change their wardrobes according to this calendar.

Thus was born the in-built obsolescence of fashion, a mechanism that then as now is part of the fashion system's DNA. The recent data reported by the European Union provides confirmation: 5.8 million tons of clothing are consumed each year, approximately 11.3 kg per person. Clothing that, statistically speaking, is mostly made with plastic fibers that are neither biodegradable nor recyclable, hence destined to be accumulated in the ecosystems around the world.

A sad reality that I had a chance to see with my own eyes in Ghana where, from Europe, the United States, and China, around 15 million of our used clothes arrive every week. And little does it matter whether these clothes are made with allegedly "responsible" fibers: neither organic cotton nor recycled PET, for example, prevents these garments from being thrown out and polluting the world.

The truth of the matter is that for as long as the business model revolves around the structural imperative of overproduction and overconsumption, the fashion system will continue to exploit the natural and social resources necessary for the survival of life on Earth in order to produce things that are not essential. That is why the problem of sustainability in the sector will not be resolved with technology or innovative materials. Rather, the solution must be sought in the same playing field where the problem was born and that led to the dynamics behind the way the contemporary fashion industry functions: i.e. politics.

And the good news is that, finally, the European Union seems to have realized this. A discussion called EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles is currently underway. In the years to come, this strategy should compel European brands to plan circular systems where only ethical, durable, recyclable clothes can be sold. The motto of the strategy? "To Make Fast Fashion Out of Fashion"!

A bigger revolution than the fashion industry itself, capable of affording meaning and purpose to the discipline of the design of any object, which all of us can catalyze with our purchasing choices and product use. The T-shirts and jeans we buy, in fact, just like a political vote, are a tool through which to support the proper retribution of millions of people in the world and put the manufacturing companies in the economic and psychological condition required to invest in ecological transition.

At the same time, if we choose to use the products we buy for as long as possible, it means that we can actively support the programs promoting circularity in the fashion industry. Just think about it: in a system that has been based for centuries on short-lived consumption, succeeding in choosing quality and durability is a revolutionary act.