“For me, it starts with two words: common sense,” said British designer Anya Hindmarch on achieving enduring sustainability during a presentation at Shoptalk Europe. More than 3,000 industry professionals came together to share their insights at the retail show, held in London from 6th to 8th June.
“My approach is actually less about invention,” Hindmarch told Lucy Maguire, trends editor at Vogue Business. “It’s more about going back a little bit to when we bought things and refilled them, when we cleaned things and reused them, when we patched things and wore them longer.” According to the London-based bag and accessories designer, it is more important to remember where fashion comes from and start there.
“Everything we buy, eat and wear comes from agriculture. It’s all coming out of the ground,” she explained. Hindmarch believes that the next ten years will be about regionalization and that we all have an obligation to engage in regenerative design.
“For example, when you hear the word vegan leather, you think that’s a good thing, but it’s not. It’s just plastic,” she said. Fashion brands should be careful not to simply jump on the bandwagon of trendy alternatives. Instead, they must inform themselves and develop a well-founded strategy – Hindmarch’s key message. “If [Leder] sourced locally, it is a by-product of the meat industry. Tanned, refined and responsibly sourced, it’s an incredibly smart way to use a natural resource. Regenerative farming animals are very, very good for the environment.”
“In nature there is no garbage…”
Since founding her eponymous label in 1987 when she was just 18, Hindmarch has established herself as a sustainable pioneer in the fashion industry. In December last year, the luxury brand launched a reusable circular shopping bag made from 100% recycled material in collaboration with global supermarkets, led by Sainsbury’s and Waitrose in the UK. In October 2021, the label introduced a collection of biodegradable leather handbags. Building on her long-standing efforts to fight single-use plastic and avoid landfill waste through projects like I Am Not A Plastic Bag and I Am A Plastic Bag, Hindmarch created a bag that will never end up in a landfill.
“There is no trash in nature,” she explained. “When an apple falls from a tree, it biodegrades, decays, is eaten by flies, sinks to the grass and revitalizes the soil, composting and nourishing the next growth in the soil.” With her Return to Nature collection she wanted fashion to work the same way. “How to incorporate the end of life into the design of the products is really something we all need to think about now,” she said.
So what’s your advice for building a sustainable business? “It’s impossible to be perfect. We have to be realistic about what we can do,” Hindmarch said. In her opinion, it is important to just get started. “Start with one thing that you feel you can easily check off. And you will be amazed at how satisfying that is, not only for you but also for your business and your profit margin.”
This translated post was previously published on FashionUnited.uk.
Shoptalk Europe 2022 took place in London from June 6th to 8th and brought together more than 3,000 participants from more than 70 countries. Follow further coverage of the event from FashionUnited here.