Towards sustainability - Gucci goes seasonless
I haven't done many fashion posts, despite this being a fashion blog. If you read the home section of the blog https://www.lorraine-moalosi.com/, you'll find I actually do like fashion. So I thought I should rectify the situation by starting a series of posts called Towards Sustainability. This is where we talk all things sustainable fashion. And our inaugural post is Towards Sustainability - Gucci goes seasonless. To say this is a massive win for the environment, is a bit of an understatement. In this post I am going to show you the significance of Gucci going seasonless. Here is part of the dairy entry that the creative director for Gucci Alessandro Michele made about going seasonless.
What does going seasonless mean?
First - what is a season?
In Fashion there are seasons, fall/winter and spring/summer. These take place in February/March and September/October respectively. So luxury brands such as Gucci, Armani, Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent will put on shows to show case their designs for the specific season. However, as fashion evolved, pre-collections were introduced. These tend to be less dramatic and more accessible for wearing. Examples of pre-collections will be pre-fall, cruise and resort. So those are additional seasons. Within each season there will be a colour palette and materials of the season. Wondering who decides the colours, materials and palette of the season? A company called Pantone, who call themselves the 'industry standard'. Here's a link to their about section in their website https://www.pantone.com/color-systems/for-fashion-design.
You all know where the show cases take place. You probably don't know however that you know (haha I am had a lot of fun writing that). Have you ever heard of a little thing called Fashion Week? Yep! Those are the showcases. There are four main ones, New York Fashion week, Milan, London and Paris Fashion week (in that order actually), Instead of repeating myself though, I am going to link up a few places across this post that will give you more information on this. They are definitely worth a read, especially this one https://www.zayahworld.com/seasons-in-fashion-industry-year/. You can find out about the history of seasons and fashion week by following that link.
What Gucci means by going seasonless
From what I can deduce from the post, Gucci want their creative freedom back. They want to make fashion in a way that is true to their brand. And also in a way that is relevant to our times. Let's just say, Gucci think that seasons, have been out of season for some time. (Hahaha aren't I hilarious). And I agree.
But more than that, and I think more significantly, let's not forget Gucci is a business. And the bottom line of businesses is margins margins margins. They want to make money and they need to make money in order to stay in business. So I think this is a power move, beyond creativity. I welcome this move. How will this possibly increase their margins you ask? Well research shows that millennials and Gen-Zers are all about sustainability (( https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregpetro/2020/01/31/sustainable-retail-how-gen-z-is-leading-the-pack/#1247cdd12ca3)) and breaking with the norm. Guess who just made a move towards both, Gucci. So I think Gucci is about to reposition and make a bucket load of money!!
This is a brilliant move. In business, you have to adapt and evolve with the times. Otherwise you become a legend, a story of the past. Think Nokia, Blackberry, Yahoo, MySpace - the list is endless. So well done Gucci!!
Why seasons are problematic and the antithesis of sustainability
In a nut shell, seasons have been a major contributing factor to the exponential growth of fast fashion. Although it is not the only factor, it does play a major role. Do you know how fast fashion started? Well excellent, I have got the information for you. Do you know that high straight shop named Zara? Well, they are the pioneers of fast fashion (( https://thesisleader.com/essays/fast-fashion-in-zara/)). When Amancio Ortega, the founder of Zara realised that the masses hungered for high fashion designs that were only accessible to the rich (because they were unaffordable to them) he saw a problem to solve.
Back in the day, technology wasn't as advanced as it is today so designing, manufacturing and selling clothes was a long process. Which meant that, once new styles or trends were debuted at the Fashion weeks, each season, the response time for boutiques and other retailers to include the patterns, designs and colours in their own designs was was very long. In fact, too long. Because that meant that by the time they had responded, newer trends would be in, making their designs almost obsolete as. So what Ortega did was pioneer a new business model that would better suit his business purpose. He did this by shortening the company's supply chain ((https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/zara-s-secret-for-fast-fashion)).
Seasons shorten the lifespan of clothes. Clothes are in and out of trend constantly as a result of seasons. Consumers therefore, get shorter wear out of their clothes in order to stay on trend.
A boom in demand
Obviously, when this happened, people wanted more. The demand for fast fashion is insane. You know this and I know this. Think Primark, New Look, Asos, Pretty Little thing, I saw it first, Zaful, Asos, Boohoo and Misguided. Oops we can't forget H&M. And many more keep popping up every year. I am not going to lie. I have been a major culprit in this area. Buying clothes so I could wear them once. Primark can sometimes reduce their clothes to £1. So I could essentially, and I have done before, get an outfit for a tenner for a night out or a date for example. But since studying marketing and realising how problematic this is for the environment, I have since changed my ways. Instead of putting information from studies, I would like you to be the subject in this 'empirical' research.
Ask yourself these questions:
Prior to lockdown -
- how many times a week/month/year did you go shopping?
- which shops did you choose to buy from?
- what factors determined your choice in shop? Price or quality, quality or quantity?
- how many times did you wear the clothes?
- How long did you keep the clothes for?
- And what did you do with the clothes once you were done wearing them?
Towards sustainability: Gucci goes seasonless
I believe that Gucci going seasonless changes the meaning of fashion and buying clothing. Clothes are now moving from disposable and for the moment (or rather season) to more of resources to make the most out of. Which means they are setting a 'trend' for consumers to make the most of their clothes, invest in quality \,for a lifetime possibly. This attitude will definitely change buying patterns of consumers. Consumers' buying patterns need to change because the rate at which we consume fast fashion is unsustainable. Learn more on the contribution of the fashion industry to environmental detriment https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/old-environmental-impacts.
In a nutshell, Towards Sustainablity: Gucci goes seasonless is a post to inform you in the hopes that you, just like I have, can become more conscious of, firstly, the entities at play that shape our consumption habits. Secondly, knowledge is power, the more you see the narratives that are being pushed your way for the sake of business, the better equipped you are in your decision making about what to buy. And lastly, it's for you to see that you are vital to the conversation of sustainability, we are all in this together.
I believe that more companies will follow suit because this conversation has been in place since around March, just before the pandemic climaxed. See this post from Harper's Bazaar for more information https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/a31255947/end-of-fashion-seasons/
Shout out to Kate Middleton - the seasonless queen
In a role where most people would not be wearing the same clothes twice, Kate shows us that it's ok to do so. More than twice actually. I know that the average person cannot afford to buy super expensive clothes and that's the myth I want to dispel today. Sustainable fashion and a sustainable lifestyle need not be expensive at all. More on that soon. In the mean time, here are more photos of Kate being a sustainable/seasonless queen!!
Find out more from Business Insider by following this link https://www.insider.com/kate-middleton-repeat-dresses-outfits-2017-3
Thanks so much for reading Towards Sustainability: Gucci goes seasonless. Let me know what you think in the comment section below. Have a lovely weekend.
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