As we know, the fashion industry is one of the most polluting in the world, causing numerous negative environmental and social impacts. In this sense, over the last few years more and more ecological alternatives have emerged.

If we look into the future, there are some questions that may arise, such as, for example, how will the fashion industry be in a few years? Or will the industry stay the same and there will be only a few brands that care about sustainability?

Since we cannot predict the future, we do not know the answer to these questions. However, we believe that the fashion industry can change and become more sustainable in the long term. For this to happen, companies and brands can not only focus on using more eco-friendly and sustainable materials in product composition, but they must also think about sustainability throughout the entire production process, from the moment the product is designed to distribution.

In this sense, by changing the way a brand acts, the industry can change in the long term and become more sustainable.

What should a brand take into account in the future?

1. Product recycling

The vast majority of clothes or shoes bought today come from a massive, accelerated production industry, where the main goal is to produce a lot of clothes to sell as quickly as possible to the customer. In all this rush, there is no time to think about recycling or reusing the product when it reaches the end of its life.

In addition, the clothes derived from this industry, are made of different materials that often when mixed together make the recycling process quite complicated.

In this sense, for the industry and brands to embrace sustainability, recycling must be a fundamental point at the very beginning of the production process. This means that the person who thinks and designs the product should have in mind how that piece can be recycled or reused in the future.

2. Social wellness

Another important aspect for improving the sustainability of the fashion industry, but also for making the industry fairer, focuses on the social aspects of all workers involved in the production chain. In this sense, in order to change the fashion industry, we must think about ways to improve the working conditions of the workers, or even fairer salaries. For example, the speed and cost of the supply chain can be better analyzed and discussed by the brand, because this will already affect the hours and rhythm of work in the production chain. 

3. Waste

When we talk about waste in the fashion and footwear industry, we are not only referring to the waste after the consumption of those pieces. For those who don't know, even throughout the production process there is a lot of waste derived mainly from fabric and material cuts. All this industrial waste ends up, in its great majority, being deposited in landfills, damaging the environment.

In order to work towards sustainability, the brand or company must be able to predict and anticipate what it is going to do with this waste. For this, they can choose several options, such as giving away these 'leftovers' to other brands or industries that need this material, or even using this waste to accomplish other things.

If we take the example of Verney, to make some of our shoes from apple leather, we reuse leftover apples from other industries, in this case the food industry.

The rule here is to not throw anything away and to reuse everything!

4. Durability of the pieces

Sustainability also involves the durability of products, and for this, brands should think about how they can increase the years of life of their pieces.

For this, a key point is the quality of the materials used, so from now on brands should focus more on quality and less on quantity. In the end, this is just a cycle, where the greater durability of the product thanks to higher quality materials, the less the consumer will need to make new purchases, thus reducing consumerism and increasing sustainability.

Sustainability in the fashion industry is not impossible, all that is needed is for the industry to gradually change some of the aspects that are still deeply rooted. Brands have a fundamental role in this change, and we believe that the brands of the future, if they take into account these four aspects mentioned above, we may witness a great transformation that will improve our future.