Aphrodite goes to the Tower of Babel: what Fashion and Beauty have to say at the UN Climate Change Conference
During the roundtable “Sustainable Fashion Made in Brazil” at COP27, six corporations shared their perspectives on sustainability. From a single jewelry project in the Amazon to neutralizing the carbon footprint of the whole fashion value chain, their different strategies serve as inspiration for our understanding of the role of fashion and beauty industries in addressing the challenges of climate change.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change can be compared to the biblical Tower of Babel: built up to reach the sky, thousands of people had their speech confused by God and could not understand each other anymore, but they still continued to talk. Likewise, COP represents the most ambitious event in the world to deal with the challenges posed by climate change. Most recently, COP27 brought 35.000 people to Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt. The private sector was also well represented, sharing different approaches to achieve sustainability and showing corporate responsibility. Many corporations presented slides relating their activities to a few of the Sustainable Development Goals and/or showing their own icons derived from an idea of sustainability split up into interrelated aspects[1]. On one hand, such communication positions the discourse at the UN level; on the other hand, it omits unsustainable practices which represent little more than greenwashing. In other words, all these different approaches to and vocabularies around private sector sustainability makes it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Giving this context, we brought the metaphorical Aphrodite, the goddess of love, lust and beauty, to the Tower of Babel by hosting a roundtable about Fashion and Beauty at COP27, aiming to understand how companies approach sustainability. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. The roundtable “Sustainable fashion made in Brazil”, held on the 8th of November 2022, was one of three main events[2] discussing Fashion at COP27, and the only one that included the beauty sector. In partnership with the NGO Responding to Climate Change, Ethical Fashion Brazil agency, and the Civic Innovation research group of ISS[3], the roundtable brought together fashion corporations Grupo SOMA, Lojas Renner, and Malwee, as well as beauty companies Laces and Hair and Simple Organic. Okeanos, a Miami-based supplier of plastic made from Brazilian stones that is producing sustainable hangers for the fashion industry, also participated.
Grupo SOMA has a market value of close to 1,8 billion Euro. Although it also includes several brands which are not known to be sustainable[4], it showcased a project by one of its brands, Farm Rio, which produces jewelry made by the Yawanawá[5] indigenous women in the Amazon rainforest. As the first Yawanawá chief woman in a generation and the Head of Sustainability of the Grupo SOMA shared the stage, we observed ecofeminist discourses mixed with spirituality and leadership narratives. When the Yawanawá chief said, “we work with the Spirit of the Forest, the Spiritual Force”, she was referring to shamanism, and to her work being guided by the effects of ayahuasca, a psychedelic drug/medicine that is legal in Brazil, and is part of the cosmovision and praxis of the Yawanawás. Although this was not mentioned, all the beads used in the jewels are not from seeds, but imported from the Czech Republic, where glass bead[6] production is concentrated in the small town of Jablonec. We learnt that the project has empowered 160 artisan women, who protect 200ha of indigenous land in the Amazon, and planted 2000 trees. Some of these women have become “leaders”/shamans and are now connecting more with the forest and its spirits, having jewelry as a vector to catalyze this connection. Launched in 2017, the project had four collections in 2021 and has now achieved its maximum capacity, leaving the open question of how to grow further.
Like Grupo SOMA, Lojas Renner is one of the 150 companies in the world who signed the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, an initiative[7] by the UFCCC for fashion companies to become net zero by 2030. Lojas Renner is a retailer similar to C&A and acts as the main sponsor of the Brazilian Eco Fashion Week. It also invested in the startup Repassa oriented towards second-hand and resale. Both are valuable contributions to the sustainable fashion innovation system in Brazil. Their presentation at the roundtable was focused on their own goals to become net zero. Lojas Renner considers sustainability of strategic importance. Among its achievements, the company became world leader in the retail sector in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and has increased the diversity of its teams, including working with ex-detainees from APACs[8] to reintegrate them into society. In addition, Lojas Renner wants to incorporate circularity, starting with the design and planning processes to reduce waste, and to recycle their products. However, one of the bottlenecks for circularity in Brazil is the fact that reverse logistics are still seen as a problem to solve, not as a profitable business opportunity.
Malwee is one of the biggest fashion companies in Brazil, which integrates most of the textile and fashion value chains production processes. Holding six brands[9], Malwee produces 45 million pieces per year. Its factory is a reference in sustainability regarding textile engineering (for instance, transforming used clothing into new yarn), and the company is carbon neutral (due to the 1,5 million square meters of preserved nature of its own Malwee Park, which is open to the public). However, none of its brands are positioned as Ecobrands, but rather as Digital Native Brands. During the event, the company launched a platform to promote circular fashion for the younger generation. As part of its integrated marketing and communication strategies, Malwee’s creative director was part of the audience and shared daily posts on Harper’s Bazaar magazine.
Mentioned by Forbes Brazil, together with ISS, the beauty companies Laces and Hair and Simple Organic are two cases of sustainable entrepreneurship focused on innovation. Laces and Hair is a third generation family business, with beauty salons in big cities in Brazil, having more than 50.000 appointments/year. Aiming to “repair damaged hair with nature”, they used words from biology to describe their business. For instance, by explaining that their beauty ecosystem includes the supply chain, consumer, and hairdressers integrated in the biome. In 2021, Laces and Hair acquired the company Carbon Limited, a consultancy specializing in the voluntary carbon market, and responsible for acquiring carbon via reforestation. This allowed the company to neutralize not only its own footprint, but also that of its suppliers and partners. In addition, the beauty salons truly integrate nature in their architecture and design, they produce and sell vegan and organic hair products, and the company supports some social communities.
Simple Organic was a beauty startup joining fairs like Brasil Eco Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week, until it was bought by Hypera Pharma so they could scale up its production of organic skincare and make-up. They never wanted to be a niche brand but grow substantively in order to increase their impact on the consumer. Like Malwee, the company is focused on the digital natives and millennials. The product communication expresses values of diversity and gender neutrality. Among its innovations, they developed degradable (dissolvable) plastic bags, which will become fish food if they end up in the ocean, and they are launching a sunscreen that is reef friendly. In addition, customers can return their packaging for recycling and get a 10% discount on the next purchase.
In our own presentation, we talked about our research project on “Creative strategies to communicate research findings on sustainable fashion”, which aims to investigate the effect of transmedia on the fashion industry, and presented a social media campaign that was part and parcel of the roundtable. This approach is innovative because it communicates the research findings in a similar way as the companies do with their products. In parallel, more than a thousand key fashion influencers, entrepreneurs and journalists received an e-mail inviting them to join the roundtable online and to promote the campaign. Some did both.
Graphic design for social media developed by Katy Carvalho and Ben Viglioti for Luciana Dos Santos Duarte
For the Q&A part of the roundtable, we used questions based on possible solutions for fashion pointed out in a document elaborated by high school students from the Model United Nations in Europe – MUNISH 2022. Why? Because high school students represent the generation who is (and will be) most affected by climate change, and who should have the right to dialogue with the big players.
Two solutions that the students suggested were to tax fast fashion, and to identify products that are not sustainable (like the letter T for Transgenics on food packaging in Brazil). The roundtable participants believed that before taxing companies that are not sustainable, the government should do more for those companies that are sustainable. “We need more regulation, inspection, control, and certification”, said Malwee’s representative, in addition to “investing not only in buying carbon (credits) but reducing the environmental impact of the production processes”. Lojas Renner’s representative said that “almost all regulations come from Europe and North America”, and acknowledged the efforts of the Brazilian Textile Retail Association (ABVTEX) to regulate the fashion retail chain in Brazil. She also said that her company is trying to comply with the new requirements before they become a regulation. When asked about the National Policy for Solid Waste – created by the Brazilian Government in 2010 and which criminalizes disposing of textile waste as ordinary waste, though lacking proper enforcement – participants argued that the companies should be responsible for their environmental impact. For instance, they can choose not to work with suppliers who are not certified according to the regulations.
Most companies agreed that they need to educate their consumer about what is sustainable. In this sense, they are selling not only products, but also creating a service to raise awareness on sustainability. Social media is a vector for education, but at the same time it is a tool to create desire, thus, to create revenue. In this sense, growth and degrowth are related to the consumer acceptance of the brand, to business as usual, not to an environmental movement. When asked about the paradigm that 90% of the consumers buy a product because it is trendy, and only 10% because it is sustainable, they agreed that sustainability should become an intrinsic motivation. They need to change the way they produce, but not the product, or at least not the product aesthetic, in order to dialogue with the ethics of sustainability. “We don’t need to make sustainable fashion, but fashion sustainable”, concluded Malwee’s representative.
“Guerrila marketing”, with a customized portable banner, was also a strategy to promote the research and raise awareness on sustainable fashion during COP27. A QR code could be scanned leading to this webpage with more information. Image Source: Sylvia Bergh
Conclusion
Although the presentations and the discussion during the roundtable showed different approaches to sustainability, the companies’ representatives converged on some topics like taking on corporate responsibility for the climate, and not expecting this from the government or the consumers. From a single project of jewelry in the Amazon, to neutralizing the carbon footprint of the whole value chain, their different strategies serve as inspiration for our understanding of the role of fashion and beauty industries in addressing the challenges of climate change.
Fashion is one of the most polluting industries in the world, and Brazil is one of the main producers of fibers, textiles, leather, and apparel in the world. While the country is still trying to regulate the fashion sector towards sustainable practices, its biggest corporations are adapting to the international requirements and to what they believe is sustainable. At the end, Laces and Hair’s representative mentioned the example of Ukraine’s stall at COP27 which impressed on him that “even being in a war, they are thinking about sustainability”, and that hence there is no excuse for us not to do it.
Amidst these diverse and fragmented perspectives on sustainability, our metaphorical Aphrodite showed up at the Tower of Babel and asked everyone: “Are your clothes sustainable?” The companies said yes and explained how – but would you do this for yourself, and for the world? Please, start reading the tags of your clothes: what is the type of fiber? Conventional cotton and polyester represent 80% of all fibers used in the world, which consume a lot of water and chemicals, and we should substitute them with organic cotton, recycled cotton, and other fibers like hemp, linen, bamboo, seaweed, etc. And where are your clothes produced? If it is in South Asia, there is a high chance that they have been made under the worst working conditions in the world. Finally, please research more about each brand before buying its products. We cannot wait for the next COP to start doing so.
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References
[1] Considered the first sustainable fashion show in the world, launched in Paris, in 2004, the Ethical Fashion Show divided the idea of “ethics of sustainability” in six categories: (1) Organic materials; (2) Fashion that invests in social projects; (3) Recycling; (4) Fashion that promotes know-how; (5) Natural materials; (6) Fair fashion. The categories were represented as icons easily identifiable at the fair. The interdependency of the categories allowed companies to use ecofriendly materials, but not promote fair trade, for instance. Since then, the fragmented approach to sustainability in the fashion industry has become acceptable (which does not mean desirable).
[2] The main event to debate fashion, also at the Blue Zone, was Fashion Industry on the Race to Zero: Building a better future for the industry, people and planet, on the 11th Nov. In addition, at the Green Zone, open to the general public, the UNEP and Global Fashion Agenda hosted the side event on Circular Systems for a Net Positive Fashion Industry, on the 12th Nov.
[3] The event along with a social media campaign are part of the activities of our research project “Transmedia Sustainable Fashion made in Brazil – Documenting the Roundtable at COP27 UN Climate Change Conference and exploring creative strategies to communicate scientific research”, sponsored by the research group Civic Innovation at the International Institute of Social Studies (Erasmus University of Rotterdam).
[4] Grupo SOMA includes the following Brazilian brands: Farm, Farm Global, Fabula, Animale, Cris Barros, Foxton, NV, Maria Filó, Off Premium, Hering, Hering Kids, Hering Intimates, and Dzarm.
[5] According to them, until 2005 the Yawanawás were a patriarchal community. The current generation of female chiefs in Acre is associated with the production of jewelry for Farm Rio, located in Rio de Janeiro.
[6] As a researcher doing fieldwork among indigenous communities in Brazil, it is common to hear from senior anthropologists that offering Czech beads, besides fish hooks, will facilitate your entrance and acceptance.
[7] It is not clear whether the initiative fosters genuine dialogue among companies, and if it undergoes any external (independent) evaluations.
[8] Association for the Protection and Assistance of Convicts (Portuguese: Associação de Proteção e Assistência aos Condenados) is a humanization model of the Brazilian Penitentiary System. In short, the detainee works in the prison, e.g. creating crafts, and attends some courses. The amount of time dedicated to work and study is deducted from his or her sentence.
[9] Malwee, Enfim, Malwee Kids, Carinhoso, basico.com, basicamente.
About the authors
Luciana dos Santos Duarte is doing a double-degree PhD in Production Engineering (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil) and Development Studies (International Institute of Social Studies, ISS/EUR). She holds a master’s degree in Production Engineering, and a Bachelor degree in Product Design. She is also a lecturer in Industrial Design Engineering at The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS).
Sylvia I. Bergh, Associate Professor in Development Management and Governance, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), and Senior researcher, Centre of Expertise on Global Governance, The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS).
