Two times a year there is a buzz within the fashion community. The month of February brings around some of fashion's biggest names to debut their Fall/Winter collections, whilst in September they come back to show their Spring/Summer collections. Through a simple Google search you can find that New York Fashion Week hosts over 60 runway shows, each belonging to separate brands. The same numbers are replicated in Copenhagen, Paris, London, and Milan, not once, but twice a year. This means that a total of over 300 brands debut shows, adding up to 600 shows a year. There is no doubt that a large amount of waste and over production is created by the fashion shows, adding to the ever growing textile waste issue that contributes to the climate change crisis. The answer to this problem may be closer than we think, we just need to take a look at the sustainability efforts of haute couture fashion houses.
Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week only comes around once a year. On average, couture houses produce one or two runway shows a year, whereas many other fashion houses such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton can generate up to six shows annually. The designs for many of these more mainstream fashion houses become commonplace trends that are mass produced for the wealthy to consume. The beauty of couture shows is that the pieces are one of a kind and made to wear. This means that there is no overproduction or replication of pieces. With couture fashion, each piece is meticulously assembled by a handful of atelier workers who are well paid for their craftsmanship. The final products are clothes that are filled with meaning and that tend to end up in private collections or museums. Couture fashion is a juxtaposition to fast fashion’s cheap, mass production practices. Fast fashion thrives off of short lived trends, often perpetuated by mass media, whereas couture is timeless and inspired.
Two brands in particular are making big strides in sustainability, the first of which is RVDK Ronald van der Kemp. RVDK is a Dutch based demi-couture fashion design company, founded in 2014. In an interview with Vogue, Ronald van der Kemp discusses how “instead of sourcing new fabrics, he fashions his creations out of materials that already exist.”. The designer works with leftovers from other brands and vintage fashion. Van der Kemp shared his hopes that from the outside he will be able to influence bigger companies to find solutions to their waste problems.; “I think we should slow down instead of producing so many clothes.” The second couture house that is making waves in sustainable fashion is Iris van Herpen. This Dutch based couture fashion house, founded in 2007, focuses on fusing technology and science into the craftsmanship of one of a kind pieces. In her 2021 couture show, the designer incorporated recycled plastics from Parley for the Ocean to create five gowns based on marine ecosystems;. "Sustainability is an important part within the collection development and more and more we’re using recycled fabrics in the delicate process of couture (THURSD, 2021)." Iris van Herpen’s brand focuses on utilizing technology as a tool to change the system of the fashion world. She uses unique materials, such as the plastic water bottles, to make creative breakthroughs and inspire future generations of designers to reduce their environmental impact.
If we truly want to see a shift in the amounts of textile waste produced annually, we have to put pressure on not only fast fashion brands, but large fashion houses as well.
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