Recent fashion months have been disappointing on the sustainability front: bar the usual suspects sounding the alarm for climate action (Stella McCartney and Gabriela Hearst spring to mind), there hasn’t been much progress to report.
This season, that largely remained the case, with the vast majority of brands failing to address their environmental impact head-on. While work is taking place behind the scenes (often at a corporate level), there is still a reluctance to discuss sustainability on the catwalk—a time when the most eyeballs are on these brands. Meanwhile, pandemic-induced discussions around the need to reimagine fashion month, which currently encourages both overproduction and overconsumption, have gone silent.
Still, a series of new eco-minded initiatives and innovations showed promise, while Hearst’s final show at Chloé demonstrates what can be achieved in a relatively short space of time. Below, see the key sustainability moments you might have missed from the spring 2024 shows.
Stella McCartney introduces seaweed fiber via her sustainable marketplace
As fashion’s best-known sustainability pioneer, Stella McCartney has worked with a number of innovative materials over the years, from Bolt Threads’s mushroom leather to Natural Fiber Welding’s plastic-free leather alternative, Mirum. New to the list? Kelsun (previously known as AlgiKnit), a seaweed-based fiber that has a significantly lower carbon footprint than conventional fibers, which was used to make two crochet dresses on the runway. Not only that, McCartney put on “Stella’s Sustainable Marketplace” at her show, a Parisian-style market that included stands from her eco-minded partners, as well as a vintage clothes and record stall, to allow people to learn about the brand’s sustainability efforts.
Gabriela Hearst presents her final show for Chloé
