First and foremost though, appealing to young millennials and their aesthetic sensibilities is where sustainable fashion has fallen short. Brands like Urban Outfitters and H&M have successfully appealed to millennials, capturing their imaginations and their purses on an astonishing scale.One of the most recent memorable campaigns was H&M’s collaboration with Lana Del Ray, who modelled H&M’s clothing at the peak of her new found fame, tapping into her young and growing fan base. In an unfortunate turn of events, Del Rey modelled an angora sweater as part of the campaign just as news of the unethical treatment of angora rabbits in the fashion industry was exposed and the campaign came under fire. H&M halted its angora production until it could verify that its policy on the treatment of animals was being followed by suppliers. However, imagine the impact of the campaign if it had run with an educational message on responsible consumption. For example, if a millennial also fronted the company’s Conscious Collection.Sustainable fashion platforms, with the confidence of a growing young audience interested in the space should partner with global fashion giants like Urban Outfitters and H&M to tap into their huge captive audience, collaborate on ethical collections, and campaign for a more ethical fashion industry.According to US census data, 23-year-olds are now the single largest age group in the US coming in at 4.3 million. If the sustainable fashion and fast fashion worlds could truly collaborate in an honest way, we’d be able to pass on the ethical fashion message to these millennials immediately. It seems this is the next realistic step for the movement along with having celebrities, bloggers and Youtubers on board. Sustainable fashion isn’t the enemy of fast fashion, but it could be its saviour.Rachel Kibbe is the founder of HELPSY, an online boutique for ethical fashion. She tweets @rachelkibbe and can be found on Instagram @shophelpsy
Performance Outdoor Clothing Design Studio
