Sustainable fashion is getting fashionable, but what does it mean to be a truly sustainable brand?
It looks like sustainable fashion is becoming trendy, which is really good for the environment, but we still see many consumers confused about what being a truly sustainable brand means. Are we sustainable because we use “sustainable fabrics”? Well, that isn’t nearly enough for us here at Canussa. Being sustainable is much more complex than simply using eco-friendly fabrics. We actually don’t like saying we’re 100% sustainable, we aim to be as sustainable as possible, and because of this we work every day in every area of our business with a clear objective; the objective of having the least negative impact on the environment and to have the highest positive impact on society.
UNDERSTANDING SUSTAINABLE FASHION
To understand what it really means to be and act in a sustainable way it’s imperative to understand what being sustainable means. So, what does it mean? We would like to start with the ecological definition of sustainability. The definition of sustainability we relate to the most is the one that originated from the Brundtland Report in 1987. Also called Our Common Future, the publication was released by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) and it introduced the concept of sustainable development and described how it could be achieved. Within the report, sustainable development consists in satisfying the needs of the present without adversely affecting the conditions for future generations.
The report highlighted the interconnectedness of economic, social and ecological processes and was the foundation of the three-dimensional concept. This concept is based on the three connected dimensions of environment, society and economy.
IS CANUSSA SUSTAINABLE?
At Canussa, we believe that in order to work towards a sustainable development, we have to adopt the triple bottom line framework, so in order to be a sustainable company, on top of being profitable to survive, we also want to measure the environmental and social impacts.
Do you want to find out more, have a look at our article related to benefits of local production.
Furthermore, from the environmental point of view, we are working on using fabrics that are as respectful as possible to the environment while being fabrics that are recycled, if possible, and of course can be recycled. To us, fabrics also have to have high resistance as we believe one of the issues that fast fashion is generating to the environment is the trash generated from clothes and garments that have low quality and are probably thrown away after a few uses.
OUR SUSTAINABLE FASHION OBJETIVES
The two key objectives we are currently working on and we hope to achieve very soon are:
- Zero waste: We are working on recycling every piece that might result from the production cycle and that used to be deposited in landfill. We are also working on being able to recycle our accessories at the end of the life
- Zero CO2: We are working on reducing as much as possible our carbon footprint, but as there will always be some generation we want to compensate for it, and one of the options would be to plant a tree for every accessory we sell.
Finally, we would like to highlight this statement: Environmental sustainability doesn’t mean living without luxuries but rather being aware of your resource consumption and reducing unnecessary waste. So, at Canussa we want to create beautiful and functional accessories made with long lasting upcycled textiles that can be recycled at the end of their lives.
Sources: Brundtland Report 1987, Federal Office for Spatial Development ARE