Why European fashion executives should talk to farmers

It seems like people have forgotten the link between clothes and the land. Especially in Europe. Indeed, when I mention the word soil in the same sentence as fashion, people look up in surprise. And you can forgive them for this reaction.

When you buy apples, carrots or bananas, labels will show you in what country they grew and the name of the company that grew them. Advertisements may show the fields where they grew and the people who cultivated the land. Clothing labels, on the other hand, have labels hidden somewhere on the inside that indicate only where the last part of production took place – the last part in a supply chain of anywhere between 5-10 steps. Advertisements might highlight the designers and the artisans that make the product, yet very rarely will they show the piece of land or the animal where the material originated.?

In Europe, you will not see fields of cotton or rubber trees. You might see some flax but probably wouldn’t recognise it as that used to make linen. A hemp plant probably won’t make you think of a t-shirt as flowers probably won’t make you think of textile dyeing. And although when you see sheep, you might think of a woollen sweater, when you see cows, you probably won’t think of shoes or a bag.?

Today, only a small percentage of clothes and shoes that are sold in Europe, are made in Europe, let alone grown in Europe. There are exceptions, especially in southern Europe. But we are a far cry away from a hundred fifty years ago, when most clothing items were locally made, and the average person was aware of what their products were made from and how they were made. With the advent of petrochemical fibers, and massive globalisation through companies seeking ever-lower prices, supply chains have become opaque. Middlemen trade fibers and skins for the lowest possible price, they travel the world, are mixed with those from other origins, are processed in bulk and are sent on. In fact, fashion companies themselves often do not know where the fibers they use originated.

The average fashion company takes no responsibility for the land where the fibers are grown or the farmers tending to that land. Equally, the farmers who grow skins and fibers for the fashion industry, have no idea where their ‘produce’ ends up.

Designers and farmers should hang out more together

To meet the immense environmental challenges around emission, climate, and biodiversity that we face, fashion companies need to shoulder their part of the responsibility.?Fashion companies rely on healthy soil, plants, and animals to be able to make all clothing, accessories, and shoes that don’t come from the petrochemical industry. They should ensure that they are taking part in protecting the soil too. They should be working with farmers, researchers, and other stewards of the land to see how they can ensure that both the land and those tending the land are better supported.

Today, fashion is not included in European discussions around agriculture. Farmers are seen as producers of food only: they need to work efficiently to produce as much as possible for the lowest possible price. In many countries, wool is thrown away as it has no value in Europe. Skins, as a by-product of the meat industry, are sold at minimum value to traders who send them to third countries for processing and reselling. Farmers have little incentive to grow plants that could be used for making fashion fibers.

Yet, what if large fashion companies went back to working with local growers of raw materials?

What if European-based fashion companies did seek to use wool from Irish, Finish, British, Danish, Swedish, German, Dutch farmers? What if they did seek to use locally grown flax, hemp, and natural dye plants to make t-shirts or trousers? What if they did choose to source some of their materials from the areas where their consumers purchase their finished products?

While it would be impossible to produce enough clothes in Europe to meet current demand,?ensuring some production of raw materials happens at a hyper-local level would allow fashion companies to reconnect with the source of the clothing. Seeing resources grow ‘in their own backyard’ would drive designers, makers, and buyers to work closely together with farmers growing their raw materials. It would enable them to see the challenges farmers face and would encourage them to seek ways to better support the farmers in diversifying their activities. It would push them to explore how they could help put in place regenerative farming techniques, develop carbon sinks, and protect biodiversity. By offering locally grown products, they can also foster renewed awareness and respect among consumers for the origin, craft, and value of clothing. And by learning how they can contribute to environmental protection at a local level, they can seek to also do this for their global operations. Thereby, they can help bring about the systems change that is needed to meet today’s environmental challenges.

The European fashion industry earns billions through its European consumers. They should be part of the solution in conserving the environment for those same people. We encourage the European Union as well as all individual European countries to reach out to fashion executives to see how they can support in reaching environmental goals. Likewise, we urge European fashion companies to take on the challenge, to see whether they can produce one, two or maybe a whole collection of products locally; to seek ways that they can support the?EU Common Agricultural Policy?(see image) and/or other national agriculture goals. With its reliance on agricultural products around the world, fashion unquestionably should be part of the conversation.

Are you working on agricultural policy and curious as to how fashion could be part of the conversation? Or, do you work with a European fashion company and want to support local soil, biodiversity and farmers? Let's talk.

This article was written by Bryony Jansen - van Tuyll and Martine Nieuwenhuis, co-founders of Good Brand Guru. They are both, in different ways, actively involved in growing the Fibershed movement in Europe.

The global?Fibershed?movement, launched in 2010 by Rebecca Burgess, seeks to develop regional fiber systems that build soil and protect the health of our biosphere. Today, European affiliates in 11 different countries are researching and building networks of forward-thinking farmers, producers and makers that are (re-)developing local supply chains for the fashion industry.