Fashion's Future is Tiny, Tiny, Tiny
How small, niche studios are fighting against a cultural obsession with cheap retail and unethical practices to pave the way for ethical fashion.
Kaylah-Joelle Baker reports.
Kara Baker is a couturier in the heart of Melbourne. She is a true visionary and an avid advocate for the slow fashion movement. Trained in the art of custom-made tailored garments, she prefers to use the French term couturière to describe herself.
Between meeting clients, shuffling through fabrics and sketching designs, Kara meticulously crafts unique garments to perfection under the rhythmic thrum of her sewing machine. Resentful of the never-ending cycle of cheap, fast and ill-fitting clothes, her designs are one-of-a-kind and bespoke. “Everyone looks better in clothes made to fit them,” she says.
Colourful patterned textiles line the walls of Kara’s Melbourne home studio. Some sourced from an elderly woman who previously owned a coat factory in Melbourne. Kara believes in giving new life to dead stock and offcuts that would otherwise be discarded to landfill. And as part of the fashion industry for 45 years, she has always been willing to do what most designers aren’t.
Couturière Kara Baker. Source: Kara Baker website.
Couturière Kara Baker. Source: Kara Baker website.
Couturière Kara Baker. Source: Kara Baker website.
Couturière Kara Baker. Source: Kara Baker website.
The Talitha Dress. Source: Kara Baker website.
The Talitha Dress. Source: Kara Baker website.
Fast fashion is on the incline. The Australasian Circular Textile Association states 80 per cent of unwanted textiles end up in landfill. And Kara believes consumer’s “wilful ignorance” in supporting non-ethical clothing brands is part of the problem.
An investigation into Australia’s insulting textile waste has recently been uncovered by the ABC. The report revealed the UK, Europe, North America and Australia bundle up 15 million garments every week to send to Accra in Ghana. And 40 per cent are worthless and of poor quality. The city is left with no choice but to leave the clothes sitting on an already dangerously high 20 metre landfill pile. “They don’t want it and it’s ruining their textile industry. It's devastating,” Kara says.
“You can not be interested in the rights of women and girls, the environment and climate change if you are buying cheap rubbish. You don’t really have any credibility,” she says as a woman enraged by the little respect given to clothing.
Source: Photo by Francois Le Nguyen on Unsplash
Source: Photo by Francois Le Nguyen on Unsplash
Source: Monash University's Circular Fashion guide.
Source: Monash University's Circular Fashion guide.
Source: Monash University's Circular Fashion guide.
Source: Monash University's Circular Fashion guide.
The fashion industry’s corrupt ways were highlighted in 2013 when the collapse of garment factory Rana Plaza in Dhaka claimed the lives of at least 1,133 people. According to Carry Somers, founder of the activism movement Fashion Revolution, campaigners were left “search[ing] through the rubble for clothing labels to prove which brands were produced in there”. While eight years have passed, transparency in the industry is still lacking. The Fashion Revolution’s 2021 Fashion Transparency Index released data that revealed out of 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands and retailers, 53 per cent are still not disclosing their manufacturing facilities.
Mega fashion entities have a part to play in aiding responsible consumption, but more often than not, their priorities lie where the cash is. And until brands start to think of the environment instead of their wallets, nothing is going to change.
Confronting the issue head on, Monash University in Victoria released a Circular Fashion guide. Confronting and educating makers, producers, distributors and consumers, individually and collectively. Disgusted that Australia dumps 6000 kilograms of clothing and textiles in landfill every 10 minutes, the guide talks through “designing, making, using, reusing and disposing of t-shirts in Australia, for the wellbeing of people and the planet”. And encourages the industry to focus on reducing waste, repairing products in existence and regrowing or replacing what’s been removed from the earth.
To pivot away from producing meaningless, cheap clothes all for the sake of keeping up with trends, designer Estelle Michaelides founded Micky In The Van. Designing bold, flamboyant and inventive designs that escape the 52 micro-seasons of the fashion industry, Estelle has zero interest in contributing to fashion waste.
Current trend cycles now encourage the average consumer to buy 60 per cent more apparel than the norm 15 years ago and to keep them for half the lifespan, according to the UN. These destructive habits are adding to carbon footprint, negative environmental impacts and destructive working conditions. Unimpressed, Estelle believes consumers should “buy a couple of special pieces a year as opposed to 20 fast fashion items”. And when minimalist shopping becomes the standard, the hope is that cheap and inexpensive options may not be produced in excess.
As a designer involved in every stage of production, Estelle understands the price behind labor and materials. In a survey commissioned by the Changing Markets Foundation and the Clean Clothes Campaign, 62 per cent of people said they would like a discount for buying ethical goods. Confused as to why people find niche sustainable brands overpriced, Estelle says consumers need to “educate [themselves] and understand the value”. Investigating the breakdown cost of a Zara hoodie, Clean Clothes Campaign and a team of researchers suspected a mere 1.53 euros was left to divide between salaries, building and machine maintenance and electricity costs.
Garment workers are paying the price for our obsession with unethically priced retail. And Estelle and Kara want no part in it.
Source: Micky In The Van lookbook. Photo by Meagan Harding.
Source: Micky In The Van lookbook. Photo by Meagan Harding.
Source: Micky In The Van lookbook. Photo by Meagan Harding.
Source: Micky In The Van lookbook. Photo by Meagan Harding.
Source: Micky In The Van lookbook. Photo by Meagan Harding.
Source: Micky In The Van lookbook. Photo by Meagan Harding.
But where do we draw the line? And is it possible for all brands and labels to be divided perfectly into a ‘sustainable or not’ classification?
Sydney-based sustainable and ethical fashion journalist Clare Press doesn’t think a clean divide is possible. After extensive research for her novel Wardrobe Crisis, she assessed that a faultless ethical fashion brand did not exist. And founder and creative director of Sans Beast, Cathryn Wills agrees. Deeming ‘sustainable’ as the latest green-washed term, she believes it can be overused carelessly. Leading to her decision to label the brand “responsible” instead.
Creative Director and Founder of Sans Beast, Cathryn Wills. Source: Instagram @sans.beast
Creative Director and Founder of Sans Beast, Cathryn Wills. Source: Instagram @sans.beast
Cathryn is against the fashion industry using “animals as building blocks”. And therefore opts for faux leather as an alternative to using animal skin. And while the material doesn’t fare well on the Monash University circular model, she believes it serves its ethical purpose. Sans Beast handbags are designed to “be collected, up-cycled, passed on or sold in aftermarkets” as an alternative. And Cathryn stands by the decisions she makes.
Dedicating time to finding a manufacturer she trusted, who was capable of the meticulous crafting of her designs, Cathryn started working with a family-run facility in China. This choice has come into question on the sustainable and ethical fashion brand rating site, Good On You. But Cathryn stands strong in the belief that corrupt overseas manufacturing examples have fuelled “fallacy about China being the big bad country of manufacturing”. Transparent in every detail, the Sans Beast website discusses working wages, material components and her regular factory visits, pre-Covid.
Sans Beast manufacturing factory. Source: Cathryn Wills.
Sans Beast manufacturing factory. Source: Cathryn Wills.
Responsible isn’t just another ‘buzz word’ for Cathryn, it is her company's core value. And she evaluates and assesses each step made for Sans Beast with this in mind. Something fast fashion business leaders fail to do in comparison.
At the end of each discussion with Kara Baker, Estelle Michaelides and Cathryn Wills, I asked them to explain their brand's mission statement.
But as consumers of fast and slow fashion, we can’t ignore our pivotal part.
In speaking with crowds at various sustainable fashion events around the globe, Clare Press is quick to provide the shocking truth that the average woman wears less than 40 per cent of the clothes in her wardrobe. And the clothes that do see the sunlight, are worn less than 10 times before being given the flick.
It is this terrible shopping habit that Kara Baker, Estelle Michaelides and Cathryn Wills all stand against. Because while they fit into different categories of what makes their brand ethical, responsible or sustainable, they are determined for apparel to be respected and not over-consumed. “You have to look really carefully at what you’re supporting,” Kara says. “Clothes have a lot of power in affecting how we feel about ourselves and the world. Buy less and buy better quality. There is nothing frivolous or self-indulgent about that."
Source: Kara Baker website.
Source: Kara Baker website.
