Is High Fashion Really Becoming Sustainable?

Seventeen years ago in October, Stella McCartney launched her namesake brand. Her brand was successful almost overnight, and become the industry standard for eco-friendly fashion. McCartney has been a vegetarian for her whole life, so it made sense to her to not use animal-sourced textiles, or textiles that aren’t earth-friendly, such as PVC.

Designer Stella McCartney pictured with her father, Paul McCartney. Image credit: Getty Images/yahoo.com

But now, other high-end retailers and even fast fashion brands are adopting the same eco-friendly model as McCartney. This begs the questions, is sustainable fashion working? Are rival designers and brands only switching over to this business model because it’s working for McCartney, or because they actually believe in becoming more sustainable?

The Falabella bag collection, the most popular of the brand, is eco-friendly and cruelty-free. The inner lining is made from recycled plastic bottles and the leather is polyester. Pictured: Black Falabella Shaggy Deer Mini Bag, $765. Image credit: Stella McCartney/stellamccartney.com

McCartney has long been an activist for sustainable fashion and animal rights, so having an eco-friendly brand made sense for her. McCartney’s question to the fashion industry has always been: “Why not just conduct oneself in a way that’s less harmful to the environment? Then you don’t have to donate money to a cause — you can just be part of solving the problem.”

McCartney attends an animal rights march in London. Image credit: heritadolcevita.wordpress.com

The original article, by Refinery29, goes onto explain more of Stella McCartney and her fashion house’s sustainability. To check out the article, click here.

So, what do you think? Are brands becoming sustainable for the environment or to just boost sales? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!