Fixing past mistakes
While many efforts to create sustainable fashion practices naturally focus on future initiatives, there is also a glaring need to confront past mistakes.
In response, ethical consultancies are emerging to offer brands a new perspective on the climate crisis. One organisation taking this hindsight-driven approach is Dirt, a charity promoting and funding biodynamic farming. The brainchild of model and activist Arizona Muse, Dirt aims to help businesses acknowledge past mistakes and then make commitments to restoring land.
To do this, the charity is funding scientific research into the transition of conventional farms, forests and degraded land into biodynamic farming operations. ‘I hope [this model] is going to allow brands to acknowledge they’ve been part of something wrong, without incriminating themselves, and be able to move past it – [to say]: ‘I admit I was part of the problem. Now, I’m going to be an even bigger part of the solution,’’ says Muse.
Meanwhile, Muse also sees Dirt as a conduit for bolstering fashion’s philanthropic efforts. One of the first organisations it plans to partner with is Earthbeat, which is working towards improving the gold industry for miners. By considering human and environmental impacts in tandem, Dirt's holistic approach will create more sustainable fashion futures.
Manifesting utopia
For some consumers, the threat of the climate crisis can be difficult to grasp without solidifying it in humanistic terms. And with more than half (55%) of Americans saying they are somewhat or extremely anxious about the impact of climate change on their own mental health, there is a growing need for fashion brands to address this emotional turmoil (source: American Psychiatric Association).
