By early 2018 I created #OneDressToImpress, a digital campaign to raise awareness around conscious consumerism and outfit’s repetition. Inspired by Marie Kondo’s book, the Life-Changing Magic of Tying Up, I wore a red suit for 2 months in a row. This experimental project was also a personal challenge to understand that sustainability, especially within fashion, represents taking steps and individual pledges for change, one of them fighting against the stigma of repeating outfits. This project received a warm welcome and after the pandemic I decided to retake the #OneDressToImpress challenge during the first “physical” fashion month: September 2021. I was not sure about the color of the suit – thought of orange and purple. However, after seeing how many garment worker women, business-led women and so on struggled throughout this crisis I decided that purple – the color of feminism and gender equality – was the one. Despite some efforts being taken, the fashion industry is still not giving its major target audience the rights and roles they deserve (women and girls). For achieving a 360 perspective of sustainability I partner up with SUPIMA a US-based NGO that helps cotton farmers to produce sustainably, ALBINI 1876 a retail manufacturer pioneering in the field, TIZIANO GUARDINI, a Peta awarded designer and ORITAIN GLOBAL, a golden validation company that traces the origin of any fiber and product to make my purple suit as sustainable as possible, because sustainability it is also this: collaborative efforts. I wore my Purple Suit during one month in a row through NYC, London and Paris Fashion Weeks and attended some events in Milan. This time around I decided to focus my attendances to alternative events, pop ups, watching closely what small sustainable brands and business are doing as well as some shows to see how the fashion paradigm is moving forward.
#OneDressToImpress (Puple Edition) aimed to showcase, in sum, that sustainable fashion is completely linked to the achievement of social and environmental justice, but most importantly, to gender equality and women empowerment – just to mention that women hold in between 75-80% of the world’s purchasing power, represent 80% of garment workers, but only hold 14 of major C-roles in Fashion Brands and normally are paid 40% less than their male counterparts…

I remember when I was 15 and it was common to go shopping for clothes as a social activity with your friends and how popular fast fashion stores were (and still are!). Up until a few years ago, almost anyone was talking about conscious consumerism and sustainable fashion was seen as boring, expensive and therefore not a real alternative. However, it is all but the contrary. There are several misconceptions, especially regarding its price. The truth is that most sustainable brands might be more expensive than disposable garments but their life time is way longer which actually demonstrates that the price in reality is not higher. Another misconception could be that we must get rid of our closets (if contain fast fashion items) when transitioning to be more sustainable. This is totally counterintuitive. Keep what you have; there is no need of change but to love any piece and use it until you cannot, then give it to someone else or try to upcycle it. Nevertheless, it’s also necessary to remember that we still need to care about the origin of our pieces and their materials, and donating the pieces we have is not the solution to justify overconsumption. In the long run is more about accepting sustainability as a part of your habits, a way of thinking, finding alternatives, reading, and most importantly, educating ourselves and being curious, both from a consumer and also business perspective. In my opinion, another great misconception is that if a brand claims to be ethical, actually it is. Greenwashing activities might mislead consumer that’s why is so important to read our labels. Last but not least, I would say that the biggest misconception of all is that you need to be 100% sustainable to make change happen. Conversely. I believe in progress not perfection. We cannot change our habits or business models from one day to another. We must trust the process of sustainable transformation, one step at a time but without stopping as there is no time to waste.

First and foremost, make people understand sustainable fashion from an easier and colorful perspective. Young audiences especially, do not read reports on climate or social regulatory changes for instance. However, they do scroll on social media all day. There is a strong power in digital platforms to convey important messages for change. Secondly, I wanted to showcase how the power of collaboration between different members of the fashion supply chain – from fibers, fabrics manufacturing, design or origin validation – can create a fully sustainable piece that can be re-worn for 1 month in a row. That was linked to the fact that particularly women, we are still led to overconsume due to the stigma of repeating outfits and this needs to change. Sustainability is also about loving an item, taking good care of it and being able to wear it as many times you want. From a deeper perspective, I wanted to also demonstrate that climate and social justice, a topic that throughout the upcoming COP 26 is going to be talked by all Governments’ representatives along with the Paris Agreement is difficult to be achieved without taking into consideration gender equality (Sustainable Development Goal #5). The fashion industry employs women from the begging until the end of the supply chain but, yet, their rights are not being respected. Without this it is very difficult not to say impossible that we achieve the UN 2030 Agenda as women and girls play a key role for it to become a reality.

I had the opportunity to meet Oritain Global who introduce me to Supima, Albini 1876 and Tiziano Guardini. From this introduction I decided to embark this sequel of #OneDressToImpress with different partners that play a key role in the fashion production process to create a piece that showcases sustainability from different perspective. Once Covid 19 hit the world in 2020, it caused major disruptions to sale figures and production lines. The industry seems to have rebounded since, but still not operating at full strength. But what does it mean full strength? Coming back to the same old patterns or taking this opportunity to implement change and fulfillment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals? If we took any big fashion firm at the moment, I am certain they will be unanimous in saying that this last crisis will not water down their sustainability targets. However, the reality is a bit far from this. Despite sustainability being one of the highest strategic priorities for fashion executives along with improving customer experience, where this is currently leading us? Sustainability can be a massive undertaking and investment. There is uncertainty about consumers’ willingness to change their purchase behaviors that is why showcasing how F2B, B2B, B2C and C2C partnerships are actually good to demonstrate that joint efforts can bring into life a piece that is wearable multiple times, that can be loved and that each inch of it is sustainable. That is why I decided to partner with these amazing companies and individuals, all playing their role transforming sustainable fashion from a niche to an industry heavyweight within their fields.

In 2018 I decided to onboard my #OneDressToImpress challenge without no brand backing the project. This time around, as I previously mentioned, I had the chance to link arms with Albini 1876 and it has been an incredible experience for different reasons: first, Albini 1876 who is part of the Bergamo-based Albini Group normally do not work with content creators that do C2C content as I could be. As any retail or fabric manufacturer they focus their marketing goals to create campaigns that focus on their target audience: F2B or B2B audiences. However, this time around seeing a company like them willing to embark a project to approach consumers was inspiring. Every single piece of the puzzle, including manufacturers, play an important role in terms of demonstrating that responsibility is no longer a choice but a necessity. I hope that with this alliance, for me the first one, we showcase the benefits of joining forces with the end consumer and that creativity can always break barriers, both from a value and also business perspective for companies such Albini 1876. Through #OneDressToImpress Albini 1876 had the chance to work with some of its partners – Supima, Tiziano Guardini and Oritain – but also indirectly reach to other brands with whom I work with and belong to my audience. There are different ways to position ourselves in the market, and I feel with this step Albini 1876 is changing the way manufacturing is taking the lead for a better world.

That wearing a better future is possible. Quality, passion and innovation are three pillars on which the strategy of Albini is focused on. Albini Group is a family business run now by its new generations that are not afraid of undertaking sustainable transformation as key part of their business. Their entrepreneurial spirit, in my opinion, is what led this group to be a leader in its sector and demonstrating to be open to join projects such as #OneDressToImpress is a brave move; especially because despite not being directly focused on their target market still brings them value and they can see that. Not all manufacturers nowadays are open to do such projects and this shed light to the future not only of their business but of anyone willing to make a change and use their voices for good through sustainability, innovation and creativity.

The idea behind finding partners for #OneDressToImpress was to link arms only with stewards of sustainable change within the fashion supply chain. However, I had the chance to also partner with brand BYBBA that produces sustainable bags as well as ALLU, a second-hand luxury e-commerce platform. Both of them also showcase how from a brand and 2^nd hand perspective, sustainability is here to stay and it was great working with them.

That people are now embracing sustainability more than ever and are becoming aware, in other words, are waking up. I still have a long way to go to fully understand sustainability and implement it in my personal and professional life. However, more people are seeing that despite we are all navigating under the same storm – a climate crisis – we can do it from the same boat. That is why it is so important that from a business and consumer perspective you see people, as I had the chance to experience throughout the campaign, that are willing to do things differently and abandon old patterns.

Consumers nowadays are more aware of the environmental and human costs of their wardrobes. Surveys show that consumers would like to buy more sustainable clothes – and are willing to pay a little extra too. This potentially means buying less but cherishing our clothes more, i.e., extending their lives. However, we are being bombarded with messages about organic recycled fabrics, environmental certifications, vegan, eco-conscious collections while at the same time fashion brands contribute to tell us that garments are disposable and we need a new outfit every week. Unlike food labels such as “free range” or “organic”, which are regulated and carry penalties for misappropriation, “sustainable” is not a regulated term so companies are free to attach it to anything. Hence seems that the easiest response is buying less. The truth is that is not buying less but better is what counts, at least in my opinion. Considering alternatives such as second-hand pieces, upcycling old ones, donating or borrowing can be also a great solution. Yet, we cannot rely – neither consumers nor clothing manufactures and any fashion stakeholder – on empowering only – the thought that clothes can be donated or recycled. More than half of the clothing given to charity shops and textile recyclers end up in landfill or incinerators. More alarmingly, as I showcased through my campaign #WeSeaThrough, microplastics which are released when we wash synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon or acrylic are released into our oceans, reivers and are found in our food chain. With these data on our hand seems difficult to find a magic button or solution for the current circumstances. However, reality is far from this: we can make changes while educating ourselves, knowing the origin of our clothes, who made them and rethinking our purchase choices. Business, on their side, they can lead the change but taking investment steps that change the way their business models operate. This cost time. Money. Effort. But without it, there is going to be a moment that the market will so oversaturated that we won’t be able to move forward. No one wants that. As a creative that cherish fashion as art, I hope we all understand that there are different options to change and the most important step is not buying less or more sustainability, but actually committing to change within our own possibilities. Actions count more than words.