Stella McCartney. Sustainability and Luxury: Why Taking the Long View Pays Off.
“The starting point is not Design. The starting point is Sustainability” — Stella McCartney
How to Achieve Great Brand Visibility
August 13th, 2019. American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish wore an eye-catching outfit at Glastonbury. It didn’t go unnoticed to an audience of 40.000 fans, and to the many more who saw it online. The bespoke two-piece was designed by Stella McCartney and part of her ‘All Together Now’ collection available now in stores. The collection was inspired by the Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ film. The designer saw in the film’s uplifting and hopeful statement of unity, a message in much needed in today’s world.
Pushing an Important Cause Through Influential Ambassadors
Billie Eilish, who is the August cover of Rolling Stone magazine and is nominated as ‘Best New Artist of the Year’, is but one of many celebrities the Stella McCartney brand regularly dresses. With great timing and relevance, the house has a history of dressing celebrities, musicians and athletes. This conscious strategy provides Stella McCartney with incredible brand visibility and impact. Yet more than making headlines for its impeccable collaborations, the label is often making headlines for more important and pressing issues.
Fashion as One of The Most Polluting and Wasteful Industries
Stella McCartney is long associated with advocating and taking real action towards sustainable and ethical fashion. No easy achievement within an industry known as one of the most polluting and wasteful in the world. An end of 2017 report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, showed that 53 million tons of fibers are produced every year to make clothes and textiles and that every year 73 % of those fibers landfill or burn. Mass-consumption fast fashion as well as luxury fashion both contribute to this problem.
Ways towards Sustainable and Ethical Fashion
The consistent action Stella McCartney takes towards more sustainable and ethical fashion can be generally described in three ways. First, as the sustained focus in finding great partnerships to research and develop new and more sustainable materials. Second, in developing innovative processes that are less harsh exploitative of natural resources. Third, in connecting with experts, in collecting and analyzing data to overthrow established misconceptions.
New And More Sustainable Materials
Bioengineered spider silk, mushroom leader, recycled oceans plastic are some great examples of this focus on developing new materials. The same way, the label has long been using eco-conscious materials, non-toxic dyes, polyester recycled from plastic bottles and is on its track to replace nylon with econylon made from recycled fishing nets. These are no small innovations.
Stella’s Skin-Free-Skin and Fur-Free-Fur
Widely spoken of, Stella MacCartney has developed skin-free-skin that is made of polyester and polyurethane, coated with vegetable oil, and fur-free-fur that is completely spun from organic fibers.
An interesting example is her Stan Smith shoe. Entirely made of vegan- leather, the shoe upper is completely synthetic, and all glues were replaced with animal-free alternatives. The Stella McCartney House continues to work with many start-ups in different areas, also to achieve success in breaking down materials so they can be re-used.
Processes That Are Less Exploitative of Natural Resources
Working hard on developing innovative processes that are less harsh exploitative of natural resources, Stella McCartney uses organic cotton that doesn’t come from endangered forests, reducing the use of oil-based synthetics, and working only with suppliers that meet the brand’s standards of quality and sustainability.
Fostering Knowledge and Learning From It
In the meantime, much of Stella McCartney’s approach and her network has allowed the collection, analyzing and learning from data, which has helped overthrow established misconceptions and proven that things can be done differently.
Among those misconceptions is the idea that using leather would be justifiable for its durability and full use of the animal, so less waste thus more ecological than fake-leather. Except, leather in fashion is hardly ever sourced from leftovers from the meat industry and is sourced from animals specifically raised for it.
A Consistent Timeline of Commitment To Sustainable and Ethical Fashion
From its beginning in 2001, Stella McCartney has sworn never to use leather, skin, fur or feathers, and to rely completely on alternative materials. This goal was originally perceived by peers as unachievable within the luxury fashion industry. Today, Stella McCartney has an 18-year old track record of innovations that speaks for itself. This consistent timeline of the company’s efforts and commitment to sustainable and ethical fashion can be read on its website.
Sustainability First and Commercial Success
Furthermore, mid-July 2019, Stella McCartney and giant luxury fashion conglomerate LVHM announced a partnership to further develop the Stella McCartney house. This partnership promises to keep faithful to Stella McCartney’s long-lasting commitment to sustainable and ethical luxury fashion. This move happens just about a year after Stella McCartney gained full possession of the company in March 2018. The previous seventeen years, the label had been co-own by Kering — LVHM’s competitor group.
Are Sustainability and Luxury Incompatible?
Today, many fashion brands in all spectrums seek to take steps towards sustainability and fail miserably, their efforts unveiled as pure greenwashing.
If early detractors saw the worlds of sustainability & ethic and luxury fashion as incompatible, Stella McCartney has proved it wrong. The house was a pioneer in re-thinking and adopting processes and creating innovative solutions towards sustainable and ethical luxury fashion. Founded in 2014, luxury couture label RDVK advocates for the same principles.
Luxury has traditionally been associated with desire, scarcity and beauty, and Stella McCartney has kept this ethos all along: “My job is to make desirable, luxurious, beautiful clothing and accessories women want to buy. My first decision is always based on, ‘Can I do this in a more sustainable way without sacrificing design?’ If I can, then there is no reason not to.” — Stella McCartney
All decisions at Stella MacCartney are derived from having sustainability in mind first, and the company is seeing incredible commercial success as well. The long view has proven right. For the late adopters who have run out of excuses, what can be learned?
Liliana Rodrigues is a global PR & Marketing professional at international design studio Marcel Wanders.* As a passionate communication strategist and influencer, she regularly writes about brands, art and design.
*Text published August 13th, 2019.
