Who's responsible? NextGen voices on accountability in fashion and nature's rights

At the Global Fashion Summit, which took place in Copenhagen at the beginning of the month, NextGen Assembly members presented their take on the given topic, which was “How Can Fashion Value the Rights of Nature?”. What ensued was an interesting session with refreshing takes on current obstacles. The group’s collective manifesto was also presented at a roundtable at the conference to professionals from government, NGOs, corporates and the non-profit sector.

What is the NextGen Assembly?

NextGen is an education-led initiative by Global Fashion Agenda in collaboration with the Center for Sustainable Fashion at London's College of Fashion. It brings together students and recent graduates across disciplines who are reimagining the future of fashion. This year, there were eight members from UK, Australia, India, Vietnam, USA and diverse fields ranging from fashion design and material futures to international relations, environmental sciences and mass communication.

Despite the differences, “there was also this immediate interconnectedness, a point of connection around the urgency, the tension that we all feel within school, within work, but also the sort of antidote, which has been building relationships, and not just in the sort of traditional network sense, but in really deep, authentic ways. And not only relationships with each other and our communities, but with land and with labour and with resources,” explained Mel Corchado, designer, artist and founder, master of fashion design and society, Parsons School of Design. “That has really grounded the work that we are doing,” she added, pointing to the final creative output from the programme, which is due by the end of the year.

Back to the roots

It is also important to revise one’s standpoints. “My initial idea was to give nature a seat in fashion's decision-making table. And how can we make it an equal stakeholder in the decisions that are happening in the industry?,” remembered Rory Frost, student, master of international relations at King’s College London and Sciences Po Paris. After taking part in the fashion values course from the Center for Sustainable Fashion, his perspective changed: “It made me rethink my first idea about giving nature a seat at the fashion table. Maybe we should be thinking about putting the fashion industry back into nature and recognising that nature is the original creator and founder of the industry?,” he asked.

Revelations were part of the journey. “What surprised us the most was just how aligned we already are. We all understand the gravity of where we are at with environment and where we are going. And we all want radical change in the fashion industry,” explained Elise Giselle Dauterive, student,master of environmental science and management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

“So we spent a lot of time just thinking about how to communicate our values to others who may not prioritise sustainability and the environment. We landed on having more thought into education and how we simplify the things that we are passionate about. Ultimately, this allows us to collaborate better with each other. And once we collaborate better, we communicate better. Then we have a better chance of our solutions being implemented,” added Dauterive.  

What are the main barriers?

Even direct questions did not stump the young thinkers. Asked if the fashion industry is currently doing enough in view of the rights of nature, the answer was a clear ‘no’. “Our dominant economic model of shareholder primacy creates this fundamental disconnection between us and the rest of the natural world; there is nothing natural about endless economic growth, and the closest comparison is cancer. This model prioritises profit above all else, leading to the commodification, extraction and degradation of nature. And we all know this. That is why we are here at this conference, well-intentioned individuals wanting to see change,” stated Maya Caine, student, master of environmental management at Yale School of the Environment.

The cohort was also able to pinpoint problems in a thought-provoking way. “However, large legacy corporations are deeply entrenched and beholden to the system. And for them, it is not seen as optional, stepping away is not optional. We, however, know that this is the root of the harm. So we are at this interesting place. I believe the biggest barrier to creating a more harmonious relationship with nature is our current and somewhat delusional approach to innovation,” emphasised Caine.

“It almost feels like we are putting band-aids on a fundamentally broken system, and we cannot Frankenstein our way out of it. We invest enormous amount of effort trying to get legacy corporations to transform, even when their business model is structurally incapable of change. If a company cannot imagine operating outside of this unnatural growth expectation, then it is time we stop centring them in conversations about the future,” she added. 

What are the solutions?

Rethinking the conversation about nature and fashion is part of the solution: “If we really want fashion to align with the rights of nature, we must stop thinking of sustainability like a separate department. It is not just an ESG checkbox,” emphasised Sanya Singh, student, bachelor of mass communication & media studies at Symbiosis Centre for Media & Communication. “I think it is more of a lens, a foundation through which every business, creative, communication decision needs to be made through. And when we talk about actionable steps, in terms of what can be tangible enough for brands that they could do, I think we should start with stopping treating sustainability like a feature,” she added.

“Second could be redefining success altogether so we move beyond treating sales growth as our only key performance indicator. We let sustainability enter metrics, not just messaging. And finally, what becomes very important for brands and for all of us to do is that we co-create with people and nature,” stated Singh.

“We should be focusing our energy and resources on the organisations that were founded with alternative business models and planetary health at their inception, at their core, and through their actions,” agreed Caine.

Who is responsible?

Asked about if there was a specific stakeholder group or leadership category that holds the most responsibility to actually enable fashion to value the rights of nature, for Thu Le, creative Director, cultural and creative consultancy Xavan Inc., that is governments and lawmakers.

“They set the tone, they make the rules and the standards for the whole industry, the global industry. However, we will see that often times, legislations lag behind industry development.  So therefore, we cannot wait for governments to change and for new laws to be made. That is where the private sector comes in and they have to step up because they are working inside a system. They have to push the system until it is very limited and then you will enter new uncharted territory and discover new things and lobby for new changes, radical shifts in the system,” said Le who is also the Vietnamese representative of environmental NGO Redress. 

Collaboration is key

Being a Next-Gen Assembly member, she also stressed the importance of student-led initiatives and grassroots movements. “When we ask the responsibility question, I think it is important to see that this is not a blame game, this is not for pointing fingers. We hold each other accountable but also we need to map out who is responsible for what and what else we can work on together. Each of us covers a different part of the whole solution and then it's a collaborative effort,” she advised.

“We often find ourselves in educational or professional environments where we can be provocative and experimental in a way that more established professionals often do not have the flexibility to do. So we really want through these interactions to create more shared pathways where we can keep learning from each other and use our ideas, our energy and our vision and pair it with the extensive networks, resources and influence of others in the field,” added Bronte Contador-Kelsall, strategic designer and graduate, MA Design at the University of New South Wales.

What will the future bring, in the long term and short term?

While there is an urgency to act now, long-term goals have to be kept in mind but also cultural change so that previous mistakes do not get repeated. “Long-term climate action requires cultural transformation, and fashion is one of the most visible forms of self expression. It is so uniquely positioned to lead that shift because it not only responds to culture, it creates it,” remarked Vibhuti Amin, student, master of material futures at Central Saint Martins, London.

“Fashion has shifted culture before — the Chanel suit did not just change women's wardrobes, it shifted their place in society and I think that is the kind of power we need now,” she added. 

A culture of care along the supply chain seems the need of the hour. “Fashion often has this beautiful facade that makes you forget what is underneath but everything we wear, everything we touch has such a complex supply chain behind it — the labour, the materials, the waste. Reimagining these systems with regeneration and equity at its core is long-term climate work. It is not just about tweaking consumption but fundamentally rethinking how and why we produce,” stated Amin.  

The question remains how the industry can create for the people and communities that have been disproportionately impacted by climate change because of the way fashion is consumed. “This means designing with nature and marginalised communities from the start, rather than going back and refixing our mistakes again. We need to build cultures of care where people act locally, innovate and reconnect with the systems that we are all a part of. And fashion can do this and drive this by reshaping the image that it puts out,” summed up Amin.