What are we talking about when we talk about fashion? Since the wave of fast fashion swept across the world, the term fashion is synonymous with sin and excessive waste. However, there are fashion insiders who believe that sustainability could also be a fashion trend itself, and one of them is Sarah Fung.
When Sarah left Lane Crawford in 2015, she was disillusioned with the amount of clothing waste produced by the industry – as well as by her friends and colleagues. She has, therefore, hosted The Living Room by HULA in Central recently, which helps those who don’t know what to do with their excess clothing to resell them under a cozy and homey environment. Apart from offering this physical pop up, she has also created an online platform which poses the following question for fashion insiders to reconsider: “Can being eco-friendly also be stylish?”
What we were particularly interested in was their panel discussion, titled “Has Sustainability Become Stylish?”, which was also hosted during the weekend-long pop-up. Chaired by people including Carlo Imo (Head of Kering Asia Pacific), Justine Lee (Fashion Director of Hong Kong Tatler) and Christina Dean (Founder of Redress), they each shared their point of view to the question above.
Carlo emphasized that sustainability is a sexy yet enduring notion in the fashion industry. On the other hand, Christina (Founder of Redress), who once doubted if sustainability could ever be exciting or fashionable, highlighted that 20 thousand gallons of polluted water is required to produce just one t-shirt and one pair of jeans. Such a fact already justifies the damage that fashion is doing and has done to the environment. It is evident that this cannot be taken lightly, or more colloquially, what we are doing is “not cool”, regardless of how fashionable the ensemble looks. The panelists reiterated that consumers can always send a clear message or even shape the industry by exercising their power to choose.
As a part of the organization’s mission to reduce textiles waste and make fashion an industry which is kind to both people and the environment, HULA offers 5% of its profits to partnered charities ranging from environmental to human trafficking NGOs. Visit their Facebook page for more event and panel discussion related post-event visuals: https://www.facebook.com/joinHULA/