Make Something of Yourself
A helpful reminder of why fashion exists, direct from the Milan catwalks. Yes, fashion is politics.
Sad news this week: one of fashion’s great hopes for a more sustainable future has failed. Renewcell, the Swedish firm that worked out how to turn discarded (headed to landfill) textiles into CIRCULOSE® – a dissolving pulp for manmade fibres, has filed for bankruptcy. Renewcell was a beacon of a more sustainable future for textiles: they repurposed an existing paper mill to make yarns like viscose and lyocell out of waste fabric - a perfectly circular solution for a wasteful industry. They had coverage in the New York Times and the Financial Times, and backers that included Inditex (parent company of Zara), and H&M. Canopy Planet, the NGO that campaigns for more responsible practises in forestry was a champion, lining up brands as customers. But it wasn’t enough. Why?
Fashion is a terrifically wasteful industry - you see it in all those satellite images of the Atacama desert covered in landfill textiles (textiles don’t break down at high, dry altitudes. Nevertheless, the desert has become a convenient dumping ground). The second hand markets of Africa are teaming with the West’s unwanted clothing, killing the local fashion industry, (“waste colonialism” as it has been dubbed). The average American discards 82 pounds of textile waste a year. Fashion waste is expected to increase to 134 million tonnes a year by the end of the decade. What to do with all this stuff? Renewcell had the answer: recycle it and make the industry circular.
Despite this, there was not enough appetite from the industry to tap into Renewcell’s solution. My spies tell me there were quality issues with the fabric, but this was a new technology, and they were getting there. It’s difficult to understand the short sighted nature of an industry that cares so little for the future of its garments it makes them out of plastic, nor will it support positive solutions when presented with them.
“This is a sad day for the environment, our employees, our shareholders, and our other stakeholders, and it is a testament to the lack of leadership and necessary pace of change in the fashion industry”, Renewcell board chairman Michael Berg said in a statement.
So if the industry can’t get itself in order, what to do? “When there is nothing left, you try to make something out of yourself,” said Bottega Veneta designer Matthew Blazy this weekend after his show. “Dressing brings us dignity, makes us human.”
It’s a helpful reminder of why fashion exists, and also of our own personal responsibility within it. As the fashion pack trudge through the current show season, (hundreds of shows through four separate cities, 70 plus looks in each show), against a backdrop of two unbearable wars, miserable climate news and terrifying elections, these feel like odd times. Where should fashion fit into this? “There was something beautiful in the idea of making it monumental,” continued Blazy. We can’t give up on fashion: whatever is happening in the world, we need art, we need culture, perhaps more than ever. It reminds us of our humanity.
So what did Blazy give us? “Reduction, to the maximum,” he said. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t asking us to buy less, (which we should, see the Rule of Five campaign if you’re not already familiar), but there was a simplicity to his collection that carried a message about sustainable wardrobing.



Bottega Veneta, like Hermès and Loro Piana, is an apex brand. Garments costs thousands - tens of thousands - and are out of reach for you and me. But with those margins, the designers have a responsibility. They are doing well because the uber rich recognise quality in their fabrics, a dignity in their design and a level of taste that balances restraint and inventiveness. The confidence this gives those collections is palpable; a confidence that comes from something that is well thought through, that has heritage and commitment to quality and craftsmanship, every detail attended to. That shirt, that bag, that jacket - if you were rich enough to afford one, it would last you for life.
Others didn’t like it - 1granary said labelling aesthetic decisions as an answer to life’s biggest challenges was “counter productive”. Vogue said the Milan shows left a feeling of “ambivalence” as “designers leant into commerciality and safer collections amid global economic challenges — making for a fashion week dominated by fixed trends and repeated styles.” Fashion editors like new things to write about, they don’t like repetition. They also get confused by political statements.
But fashion is politics, culture is politics. Renewcell shows us that. Fashion is a vast industry, not just an art form, it is for a large part exploitative of labour in the Global South, wasteful in its disposable and fast nature and at the very least irresponsible in its voracious marketing. When it does have something valid and sensible to say we should listen.
If fashion refuses to invest in technologies that will allow it to sustain its current production levels, then it must come up with design solutions that allow us to buy less. That is an aesthetic decision and a political one, and we must support it where we see it.
Blazy’s collection of “real, pragmatic and functional” clothes are part of a wider trend of dressing for ourselves. Don’t wait to be told what the trends are, what you should or shouldn’t buy, turn inward and ask yourself what you want. How you are feeling, what makes you feel good. You don’t need a cocoon jean to be cool. Or a ballet pump to be on trend. Or a massive pillow bag to feel relevant. You just need to trust in yourself.
Instead, build a wardrobe that makes something of you. From that Bottega show I’m taking the styling of the polo neck under the shirt jacket. I’m noting the elegant statement of that collar and the luxuriousness of that maxi skirt. The colours inspire me too - the pop of the orange bag, the muted shades of yellow with grey, the striking contrast of the dark red and beige.
Timeless, not boring in the slightest and a little bit political. Buy less, buy better. Support innovation where you can.
You can vote for better fashion at my first Sustainable Fashion Fair on Saturday March 16th. It’s going to be really fun - you can bring stuff to mend, you can rent amazing vintage pieces, you can shop preloved and you can support the charity Smart Works in the process. You need to be a subscriber to register for a ticket, so upgrade to paid if you fancy coming along. I’ll be there, as will some amazing people in the industry. Details below the paywall.
Until next week,
Tiff