Hi ,

I hope you've been enjoying some festive downtime and like me, have eaten your body weight in Lindt chocolate over the last week. I've been reflecting on the year in sustainable fashion and have concluded that my word for 2021 is *nuance*.

Nuance is something that's often ignored when we talk about sustainable fashion because it doesn't make for good headlines. It was certainly missing from much of the conversation around fashion rental platforms this year – which I delve into in my latest EcoCult story. A study came out suggesting that fashion rental wasn't as eco-friendly as previously thought, and the media went nuts with headlines like Renting Clothes is ‘Less Green than Throwing Them Away'. Nuance? Never heard of her.

The fact is, nothing is ever black or white, good or bad, or a silver bullet for fashion's myriad of problems. Sustainability sits in the shades of grey, which is simultaneously empowering and also really unsatisfying when we're looking for answers, not more questions. 

How I'd love to tie up my stories neatly with satisfying conclusions, but if I had a penny for every time I asked an expert a question and got the answer "it depends", I'd be able to retire next year. There are no simple solutions or straightforward answers to the issues we face as an industry or as individuals, but I think there's power in acknowledging this. It helps us spot greenwashing, become more conscious when we shop, and have a more balanced outlook on the whole debacle.

This year, the stories I've shared through this newsletter have begun to dive deeper and reflect the complexity of sustainable fashion, and that's a promising sign. My hope for 2022 is that we continue to have challenging conversations, question everything, and confront our own relationship with fashion and consumption while we're at it. 

Lastly, thank you for reading my newsletters this year! It's been a pleasure to send them into your inbox each month, and I can't wait to continue evolving this platform in the new year.

Until 2022,

Meg X

Stories I Wrote 

Is Renting Your Closet Really More Sustainable? Let’s Find Out for EcoCult

Hailed as a fun, accessible, and guilt-free way of experiencing fashion, rental platforms have been on the rise in the last few years. Then earlier this year, Finnish scholars published a study claiming that renting was the least eco-friendly clothing ownership model, throwing it all into question. So what's the deal, is renting your clothes actually sustainable? Let's get into it.

Stories I Didn't Write 

Is Mushroom “Leather” The Future Of Sustainable Fashion? It’s Complicated by Frances Solá-Santiago for Refinery29. Don't be fooled by leather made from fruit and veggies, they're rarely as  eco-friendly as they sound.

What Fashion Got Right in 2021 by Sophie Benson for Dazed. It's not all doom and gloom! Sustainable fashion had a few notable wins this year, and that's worth celebrating.

The Best and Worst Rated Brands of 2021 by Isobella Wolfe for Good On You. The brands to support and the brands to side-step in 2022.

Ditching Fast Fashion Has Been Easier And More Fun Than I Ever Imagined by Laura Snapes for the Guardian. Ditching fast fashion doesn't have to feel like you're missing on the joys of dressing up, as Snape writes.

Quick Question: If Brands Don't Own Their Factories, Why Are They Held Responsible For Paying Garment Workers a Living Wage? by Brittany Siera for the Sustainable Fashion Forum. "While brands may not be directly responsible for paying garment workers salaries or deciding how much they're paid, the deep-rooted structural power imbalance between brands and manufacturers creates a system of exploitation," expains Siera.

Sustainability: Where Fashion is Heading in 2022 by Rachel Cernansky for Vogue Business. Cernansky gets industry thought-leaders to weigh in on the big issues for the year ahead.

Is There Such A Thing As An Ethical Consumer? by Sophie Benson for The Block. "We do not exist simply to buy things and use them up," says Benson. "In fact it’s buying so much in the first place that is causing so many problems. Is the very concept of the ethical consumer flawed?"

How Shein Got Away With Daylight Robbery In 2021 by Kish Lal for Dazed. I've lost count of how many times I've slagged off Shein this year. But besides the obvious environmental and ethical issues, the ultra fast fashion monster has a habit of stealing designs from young independent designers. 

Finding Joy in Sustainability by Petah Marian for the Evening Standard. I love this optimistic outlook on sustainability from Marian. A good way to start the new year! 

The To-Do List

Redress is an environmental NGO working to reduce waste in the fashion industry with its ReDress Design Competition and the upcycling brand R Collective. In December, the team created a six-part Youtube series about waste in fashion. Follow the journey of the competition finalists as they create collections from an array of unlikely deadstock and waste materials.