Mannequins dressed in high fashion at a clothing store

How Cool-Girl Clothing Brand Reformation Is Leading Fashion’s Shift Toward Sustainability

Fashion is one of the world’s top five worst polluters—though it’s hard to know exactly how bad the industry is for the environment, since numbers are scarce—but in the past decade, brands big and small have slowly started to take notice of that impact. H&M, for example, has the Conscious Collection, a recycling program and has pledged to close the loop, using only recycled fabrics throughout the entire brand by 2030.

December 28, 2017 | Source: Flare | by Michelle Bilodeau

We asked Reformation’s VP of operations and sustainability to share her insights on why we need to start thinking sustainably, like right. now.

Fashion is one of the world’s top five worst polluters—though it’s hard to know exactly how bad the industry is for the environment, since numbers are scarce—but in the past decade, brands big and small have slowly started to take notice of that impact.

H&M, for example, has the Conscious Collection, a recycling program and has pledged to close the loop, using only recycled fabrics throughout the entire brand by 2030. Closer to home, Canadian labels like KOTN, Laura Siegel, Peggy Sue Collection, Nicole Bridger and Triarchy are all making the case for well-designed, sustainable clothing.

But the one brand these retailers often look to when designing their green-focussed businesses? That would be Reformation. Launched in 2009 by Yael Aflalo, an entrepreneur and former model, the LA-based label was cool girl clothing first, but always done sustainably.

“You have to really take into account the labour and social impacts. It’s [about] the human element and how we make clothes around the world,” Reformation’s Kathleen Talbot said recently when asked what sustainable fashion means to the brand. “Our responsibility is to really understand the resources and the demands we have on environmental systems as a brand, minimize those, and focus on restoring our impact.”