Erica Lim Jia Xin

The air we breathe, the soil we walk, the food we consume, including the garments we are dressed in come from our planet. The world consumes around eighty billion new garments yearly, four hundred percent more than the consumption twenty years ago. (True Cost, 2015) Globalization has made garment production and consumption inexpensive and due to its affordability; society deems this as disposable after each season and trend that ends. (Yousefi, 2020) According to an analysis from Business Insider, garment production incorporates ten percent of global carbon emissions caused evaporated water sources, water pollution through frequent garment washes releases five hundred thousand microfibers, equivalent to fifty billion plastic bottles. (McFall-Johnsen,2019) These dire consequences subject to the climacteric decision to sustain and maintain our planet. 

  The planet is the foundation for all living organisms therefore with the crucial use of “Reduce, Recycle, Repurpose and Recreate ” is the start of redefining sustainability known as the circular economy. The circular economy of two cycles is known as the biological and technical cycle, both cycles aim to lower the impact on the environment and create new business models (Torstensson, 2016). The biological cycle consists of sustainable consumption management to ensure the creation of renewable flows and processes. The technical cycle consists of restoration in resources through circularity strategies.(Ellen MacArthur Foundation,2019). 

Fashion designer Patrick McDowell uses his brand and influence on the global fashion stage by reinventing luxury through a sustainable mindset, (Wintour ,2020) through his designs within his collections “Marie Antoinette goes to Liverpool” as he repurposes and recreate garments with used, mostly damaged fabrics and scraps. Designing clothes for a circular economy takes a simple shift: at the start of the design process, ask yourself, “What will happen at end of use?” (Fairchild Books, 2015a) Garments are designed with materials that are environmentally friendly as there’s a strategy for return, realteration ,fiber separation, and re-production with a circular economy of materials that can be endlessly upcycled, where a designer designs garment to ensure the product’s multi use with a storyline that has no end.(Fairchild Books, 2015b) 

“Nearly seventy-seven percent of consumers say they consider sustainability when buying fashion, either all the time or sometime (Drapers ,2022) therefore leads to overconsumption, a catalyst for needs and demands from a sustainability point of view: overconsumption is a harmful concern. (Routledge ,2007) Sustainable development goal (SDG12) encourages transformational shift regarding sustainable consumption and production patterns within production processes and consumption behavior will help discourage overconsumption and overproduction within the fashion industry.(White et al., 2019).  

Biliography

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Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2017). Fashion and the Circular Economy. [Online]. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-51253-2_8 [Accessed 7 October 2023]. 

Forbes. (2019). 2 major fashion players from Burberry to Chanel have signed a pact promising …. [Photograph]. Unknown: Forbes.

Gwilt, A. (2020). A Practical Guide to Sustainable Fashion. London: Fairchild Books. (Accessed 7 October 2023) 

Green Element. (2022). Unknown. [Photograph]. London: Green Element.

McFall-Johnsen. (2019). The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime s. [Online]. Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-fashion-environmental-impact-pollution-emissions-waste-water-2019-10?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 7 October 2023]. 

Moran, G. (2022) Drapers, Collaborating for Change: Sustainability Report 2022 (Accessed 7 October 2023) 

TRUE COST. (2015). [Film]. United Kingdom: Untold Creative.  

Patrick Dowell. (2020). About Me. [Online]. Patrick Dowell. Available at: https://patrickmcdowell.co.uk/pages/about [Accessed 7 October 2023]. 

Torstensson. (2016). Internal Barriers for Moving Towards Circularity- An Industrial Perspective. [Online]. unknown. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A968870&dswid=-1676 [Accessed 7 October 2023]. 

win Zaccai. (2007). Sustainable Consumption, Ecology and Fair Trade. London: Routledge. pp.24-25. 

Yousefi. (2020). Environmental and Social Impacts of Fast Fashion. [Online]. SDWatch. Last Updated: 18 February 2020. Available at: https://sdwatch.eu/2020/02/environmental-and-social-impacts-of-fast-fashion/ [Accessed 7 October 2023].   

MONKI, a brand part of the H&M group founded 2006 in Sweden, a symbol of sisterhood and female empowerment, the brand has empowered women by having 70 concept stores worldwide. MONKI’s core values are seen through their mission statement “Be brave, be you, be empowered ” as the need to make a difference to allow their consumers to have the freedom to express their own unique style, knowing their worth and feeling comfortable in their own skin through their values on body rights, mental health and social sustainability.   

Within their website “monki.com”, the brand has shown their core values through “Inclusion & Belonging “as they strive and will always go the extra mile for diversity, equality in their staff and workplace environment by partnering with various councils and foundation such as the BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder) Foundation, Unstereotype Alliance and Inclusion & Diversity Council to help create and understand different perspectives , opinions , awareness and hard topics such as mental health , gender equality , body rights and racism .Project “Never apologies for being yourself “a campaign made for demanding power, freedom and representation for women globally by producing four limited edition sweatshirts “we deserve equality “to help generate the gender equality dialogue along with spreading awareness, as 20 percent of the proceed will help fund #Girls-GetEqual Campaign.  

MONKI continues to push the boundaries on beauty and stereotypes through “Recasting and Retouching “as they believe staying true to the identity of their chosen model shouldn’t be edited and retouched by filters, instead they keep all the beauty marks, scars, cellulite in their adverts and posters along with producing a variety of different fits, shapes and silhouettes to allow everyone to feel inclusive and comfortable through their size range XXS-XXL as they believe that clothes should be tailored to the body rather than the body should be tailored to the clothes .  

These are the many reasons why MONKI is my favorite brand as this brand not only support women but fully go in depth of their actions and core values .