Redress Founder, Christina Dean was invited to share insight with Kourtney Kardashian, as part of her journey into understanding fashion’s sustainability issues in her docu-series that is being released alongside her exclusive collection with boohoo, which includes recycled and upcycled vintage materials. Christina shares
'‘In my interview, Kourtney and I focused on fashion and textile waste, which is a huge global crisis largely driven by unsustainable, over-consumption and under-utilisation of clothing.
Fashion is one of many industries touting its various sustainability credentials, targets and aspirations. In what is a resounding positive move, players, from small to big, are thankfully taking more steps to clean up fashion's humongous global environmental impact.
The fashion industry is polluting, and this is not going away any time soon. We know that fast fashion is the mainstay of the global fashion system and that many consumers will continue to buy fast fashion clothing. Therefore, to make change, we have to collaborate with fashion in its entirety, from small to big and fast to slow, with the goal of making clothes less polluting, and, if possible, more sustainable.
We appreciate the various fast fashion businesses that are working to reduce their products’ negative environmental impacts. That said, the ultimate reality remains true. Over-consumption and under-utilisation of clothes is the huge elephant in the room that requires huge societal and system change in fashion. This won’t happen overnight.
We recognise that this collaboration between Kourtney and boohoo can be seen as contentious. Kourtney, boohoo and sustainability are unlikely bedfellows. On the one hand, boohoo creates extremely large volumes of clothing and they are one of several mega fast fashion businesses that fuel overconsumption, and with this waste and pollution. On the other hand, the Kardashian way of life is not synonymous with sustainability.
That said, Redress and I have always believed in the positive power of fashion to bring about change. If we want immediate change to reduce waste and pollution, we need to work with the world’s biggest players and influencers. All businesses can do better, and this applies to boohoo, Kourtney, and in many ways each of us as fashion consumers too. We are all part of this global system, and we all have a role to play, and we need to play it now.
Redress doesn’t want to just preach just to the converted. That’s why we accepted the opportunity of engaging with Kourtney, as a way to reach her almost 200 million global Instagram followers, allowing us to beat the drum to new consumers.
We believe we need to work from within. We can’t just sit on the sidelines throwing stones at deeply entrenched fashion and consumer issues - without offering solutions, however big or small. We must work together to make progress and create the world we want to live in, for everyone.”
Watch the episode here.
(*) Redress/Christina were not paid to be involved. I was free to speak our point of view with no restrictions made on content.