In recent years, Grace Beverley – formerly known as Grace Fit – has started to become something of a household name. After gaining a huge following on her YouTube channel, 2019 saw the launch of her activewear brand TALA, a key focus of which is sustainability. This has taken priority within all aspects of the brand – not only are 92% of the materials used for their products upcycled, but the packaging is recyclable and the tags can be planted. This is a trend that seems to be key to many new business models in the fashion industry, brands such as House of Sunny produce small quantities of each of their designs, with only bi-annual collections, allowing the brand to find materials and manufacturers that have the most minimal negative impact on the planet, as well as refusing to use all animal products apart from wool.

While both are impressive examples of incredibly important progress within the fashion industry, it begs the question – why are small businesses such as TALA making so much effort in this regard, while the largest and most affluent brands appear to care far less? It seems unfair, and illogical, that small businesses place such importance on developing improved techniques in their clothing production, while major fast fashion brands largely fall short, very few making fundamental changes. ‘Greenwashing’, small efforts to give a brand the facade of being environmentally friendly, is increasingly common; Topshop’s ‘Considered’ designs aim to use ‘at least 50% organic cotton, 50% sustainable viscose (lyocell) or 20% recycled material (polyester or cotton)’, similar to aims to H&M’s ‘Conscious’ collection. However, the introduction of separate lines as opposed to implementing such changes broadly, and across all aspects of production, causes the issue of sustainability to seem something of a trend, a decision to be made sometimes but not necessarily to fully embrace. Much discussion around the difficulty of producing affordable sustainable clothing centres around the price of sourcing the materials and methods required. So how is it that students such as Beverley are able to afford to be progressive, while keeping her prices incredibly competitive with major activewear brands such as Nike?

One may suggest that the reluctance of fast fashion brands to improve in this respect comes from a place of assured arrogance – they are household names and the effort required to change is perhaps not worthwhile when considering the fact that the large majority of their consumer base will continue to purchase from them – viewing them with a sense of reliability. On the other hand- new, independent brands perhaps need to set themselves apart and create a niche to target customers. They are creating in a world that is increasingly critical of unethical and unsustainable practices, hence have little excuse to begin producing products in such a backwards way. Furthermore, consumers are perhaps more willing to spend more on pieces by smaller, independent businesses, due to the fact that they are unique and presumably of a higher quality.

There is a reluctance to spending large amounts on items from brands such as Missguided; they are incredibly popular and it is probable not only that many other people buy and wear it, but that these fast fashion brands’ products are marketed with a sense of disposability, due to frequent drops of new collections. People are likely to be hesitant to invest in something when they know a new, more appealing version may be available a week later. Brands such as TALA on the other hand release new designs far less regularly, and in smaller amounts, meaning that they are never left with surplus product. Yet the general popularity and market dominance of key high street and online brands leaves no economic excuse for avoiding the sustainability issue that they continually fail to fully confront.

Big brands have a responsibility to learn these smaller ones such as TALA, for their techniques of production and marketing are far more sensitive to the current environmental climate, and they truly have the influence to create real change within the infrastructure of the fashion industry, and encourage change with regard to consumer habits.