SUSTAINABILITY The big S word

This word, (which has become almost as banal as the word luxury) this topic has been a hot and contentious one for the past decade and then some.

I just want to start off stating that we are fully on board with this way of doing business, it is the right thing to do. We are never going to see the future of the textile business otherwise… but are we too far gone…

We recently participated in a massive B2B Trade fair and just the sheer scale of product made and displayed was mind numbing plus it was fashion month so think of the number of runways in Europe in just the 30 days. The product bought and learnt to influencers, garments worn by the hordes of people attending these events just the scale of clothing pieces made by all these different brands and shown in those days alone!

To truly be sustainable in the clothing /textile business you would have to look at other ways of approaching what growth will mean to your business.

It’s not only the awareness of your raw materials, but also how they are sourced, how far they had to travel to get to you (carbon emission), How you manage usage with minimal waste, how you use your waste and measures you take to dispose/ re-use what’s left, how ethical your supply chain is, & that you are cognizant everyone within your supply chain is paid a living wage and is working in safe clean conditions.

How do you even begin to claim this when your company is the size of Zara or LVMH for example… How complex are the already existing supply chains and how deep does the rabbit hole go? It’s a massive problem, not even the big conglomerates have been able to tackle this issue with authenticity and transparency.

The textile industry and the industries that support it, marketing, media, is far from honest about sustainability, how can they (sorry, we) be!  Our industry was built on a model that chases volume, making more & selling more & growing bigger, with a manufacturing process laden with wasteful practices. Even the most well-intentioned clothing business falls short, and we’ve all been led to believe that approaching the problem with awareness and doing your bit for your small operation is contributing something towards the bigger goal of a more sustainable fashion industry.

GoodFriday are fussy about our fabrics and our selection process takes the longest on our development, we prefer crisp cotton poplins made with long staple fibers that give the shirting we use a smooth handle and elevated look. We rarely skimp on fabric and this approach has pierced a continuous hole in our pockets, but it is in our DNA, our pieces are more the better for it. We are mindful in how we produce too; waste is sacrilege and every piece after initial development and shoot samples are made on order, and yes, we win on not making unwanted stock & later mark downs, but we lose on being readily available to our customer, who is spoilt with fast service of almost everything (we are living in the age of fast gratification after all, quality & uniqueness be damned!)

Our efforts are not enough still, and in an industry where fashion businesses are amongst the top 10 richest in the world there is still no meaningful authentic collaboration from the major players with abundant resources, in coming up with best practices for a collective process that can change our approach to how we re/align the clothing industry practices & policies to sustainable ones.

We are all caught up securing our own piece of the pie in an industry that insatiably devours newness and has no patience for the time needed to develop ideas and output that is meaningful and mindful.

It all feels like a cycle we cannot get out of, not now anyway. We do wish though that while we are all here, we do not become sustainability slacktivist’s, & we do not bandy the word about aimlessly to appear active, we are all still well within the cycle, that makes us complicit.

Perhaps our collective statement as fashion/clothing businesses should be the same as of our industry leaders. This brand has the most stunning sustainability web interface with breathtaking images of nature. Their leading statement

 “We believe that sustainability is a JOURNEY (another banal word) that takes long term commitment and humility”

while they carry on increased production, increased world domination outlets and luxuriously elaborate media mongering events.

Forgive us, we are aware of our privilege, we are learning 😥

The Ritual of Dress

We all wake up every morning and get dresses for whatever kind of day or activity we have ahead, every one of us, all around the globe. This constantly repeated behaviour makes the activity of getting dressed a kind of shared human ritual. 

 The meaning of the word RITUAL:

1. Is a series of actions or type of behaviour regularly and invariably  followed by someone

2. A religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according

to a prescribed order

This regular behaviour is one of the things all humans do religiously, it’s genderless, ageless no matter your social circumstance. 

So it’s quite correct to think about clothes as key instruments in performing a deeply personal daily ritual. 

At GoodFriday we have been thinking about clothes in this way for a long time, as objects or instruments with unseen powers, part of a sacred human ritual, and this hasn’t changed no matter how commercial and seemingly trite the business of clothing has become. 

We are still obsessed with making meaningful, pieces, that make you feel…enhanced. (we prefer happy)

We look at clothes as tools for creating a mood, ingredients for character ( creation or veiling) 

We all have the power in our hands to create the kind of mood and attitude we want on any given day using our clothes, our easily accessible daily habit. 

This theory reminds us of what clothes can be, especially when made with care and respect.

So…choose  your ritual garments with care. 

This consideration has brought us back to a blank slate, a refreshed pallet, the colour white and earthy shades typically found in nature. A fitting entry into spring we think. 

Hopefully a re-assessment and inspired re-focus on how you look at your clothes as you go about your daily ritual. 

A Season to everything

A flowering tree with the most exceptional flowers grows in my garden. The stunning cotton roses of this tree, bloom and change colour from a creamy ivory to a bright pink within a day (24hrs) how extraordinary! ..then shrivel and fall off by the next day😑.

I find this akin to the creative process or may be just my creative process. I start off an idea excited, bursting with possibilities, feeling in control and it often then starts to take on its own form and sometimes the outcomes will be surprising even to me. The only exception thou is how I try to make pieces that will last and have meaning and be reliable…some what. Surely thou the cotton roses too have meaning, the beauty they bestow however brief, the narrative of how life is not just one thing and has various stages of growth, and the inevitability of change.

The process of making things has its troughs and peaks and it can be challenging lending grace to the down time of inspiration, we are so programmed to be busy and industrious every single moment of our lives and lately at an unrelenting  speed & cycle. This tree, this flower’s cycle is life itself, in its beauty and ugliness and death.  So … what does all this have to do with  elegant tops and dresses? not much, just the pleasure of bearing witness & sharing natures beauty, mystery and inspiration, to bloom and embrace change with grace …it is inevitable.