Streetwear Has Begun to Resemble Fast Fashion
We need to make sustainability the new trend in streetwear by promoting a completely different set of values, and we can best do it by collaboratively sharing knowledge and accountability with everyone within the culture.
(Image Courtesy: Wtvox.com)
Brief History of Streetwear Fashion
“Streetwear represents the streets. It represents having fun, a specific energy, in music and fashion, which is remixing words, remixing culture, remixing brands, and coming up with our own language”
Streetwear refers to a distinctive style of casual street fashion, which typically includes oversized t-shirts and sweaters, baggy jeans, fitted baseball caps, and sneakers. It is all about personal expression and often referred to as being the movement of the people. It is not bound by strict rules, and it is always changing and evolving according to the creativity of the street. Heron Preston, the creative director and founder of Heron Preston, explains for CBS News that, “Streetwear represents the streets. It represents having fun. It represents a specific energy, in music and fashion, which is remixing words, remixing culture, remixing brands, and coming up with our own language.”
There is not a single distinct event or movement that would mark the birth of streetwear fashion, but instead, streetwear has its roots in inner-city sub-cultures, as well as skateboarding and surfboarding cultures. It encompasses characteristics of hip-hop fashion, popular culture movements, and modern high fashion and haute couture trends. Some argue that streetwear was born when Shawn Stüssy, the founder of a California-based surfboard brand Stüssy, first began printing his logo and politically rebellious punk art onto t-shirts in the 1980s. The sub-culture movement started by Stüssy quickly gained popularity before being fully integrated into counterculture in the 1990s. Wearing streetwear became the visual representation of contemporary counterculture movements.
Shawn Stüssy & Süssy Surboard (Image Courtesy: Stüssy)
Stüssy Archives (Image Courtesy: Stüssy)
Another subculture that has significantly influenced modern streetwear is the American hip-hop, breakdance, and graffiti culture that was born in Bronx, New York, around the 1970s as an outlet for inner-city Africa-American communities to express their voice against political and racial injustice. Led by artists, such as RUN-D.M.C. and Sugarhill Gang, the pioneers of the hip-hop community adopted streetwear trends, including all-white Nike Air Force 1’s and Adidas Superstars, Kangol wool bucket hats, Timberland boots, athletic tracksuits, gold necklaces, and oversized t-shirts as part of their aesthetics and personality.
Darryl McDaniels (Left), Jason Mizell (Middle), and Joseph Simmons (Right) of RUN-D.M.C.
Wonder Mike (Left), Big Bank Hank (Middle), and Master Gee (Right) of The Sugarhill Gang
As popular culture trends shifted from rock and roll to hip hop around the turn of the 21st century, streetwear gradually became the dominant fashion trend for young people in the western world. Today, streetwear evolves with new sub-culture trends. New innovations quickly turn into popular culture trends due to social media, as well as the culture around streetwear keeps attracting an ever-wider audience as luxury brands like Balenciaga, Gucci, and Alexander Wang have begun to produce luxury streetwear. The antithesis of this; however, is that the fashion industry - whose primary catalyst is now streetwear - is the second largest industry polluting the planet. As more fashion brands shift into streetwear, the negative externalities of fashion aggravate, and the amount of streetwear produced around the world increasingly exceeds demand.
The Global Fashion Industry Is a Threat to Our Planet
(Image Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal)
Climate change is argued by scientists around the world to be the greatest threat to human civilization ever in our history. While there are many reasons for the warming of our planet, the global fashion industry is among the most significant ones due to the increasing market demand for cheap “fast fashion” items that lack longevity. According to Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future 2017 report, “An estimated USD 500 billion value is lost every year due to clothing that’s barely worn and rarely recycled. If nothing changes, by 2050, the fashion industry will use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget.” The research shows that an equivalent of an entire garbage truck full of clothes is thrown out or burned, every single second.
As seen in the 2016 Circular Fibers Initiative graph below, the average number of times a garment is worn has been steadily decreasing all over the world throughout the 21st century. Evermore alarming is that Boston Consulting Group (BCG) projects that the global apparel and footwear industry will grow by 81% during the next ten years (Boston Consulting Group, 2019).
(Image Courtesy: BBC News)
Christopher Morency, a Highsnobiety writer, argues that “With a rise in consumer spending coupled with a customer base that expects new products to be delivered at the speed of Instagram, fashion appears more and more disposable by design.” The fashion industry is not only wasteful but also significantly polluting our planet as textiles release 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean every year, which is equivalent to more than 50 billion plastic bottles. These microfibers may be impossible to clean up and are believed to enter food chains.
“ An estimated USD 500 billion value is lost every year due to clothing that’s barely worn and rarely recycled. If nothing changes, by 2050, the fashion industry will use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget”
Our Beloved Streetwear Culture is Part of the Global Ecological Crisis
(Image Courtesy: The University of Queensland Australia)
The expansion of the Internet and social media have demolished many typical barriers for entry to join the business side of fashion. The opportunities are limitless when anyone can launch a fashion brand in their bedroom in less than an hour. All they need is a simple online store, which can be easily done in less than 30 minutes using modern online website builders, such as Squarespace or Wix. If they do not have graphic design skills, the Internet is full of platforms where they can pay someone less than $5 US for a professionally designed logo that can then be placed on different clothes using the simplest technologies available. The only thing missing is the actual clothes, which is not a problem either when there are thousands of websites for custom-made textile printing studios that can print and ship the clothes straight to ultimate customers.
While it is great to see young kids establishing entrepreneurial ventures to make some money on the side, there is an ugly flipside to the phenomenon. The streetwear market has become saturated with young designers who place environmental and social responsibility low on their priority list. Cultural relevance has become the defining value of streetwear instead of the inherent value of the materials, labor, and other resources used in production.
“Combined with pressures from social media, the current state of streetwear culture pressures customers to make weekly purchases to stay relevant, resulting in many of the products becoming irrelevant only a week later”
Most large brands are no exception. Streetwear companies, such as Supreme and Kith, typically rely on product scarcity and word-of-mouth referrals to generate a massive hype and a cult-like following around their brands. They sell out their weekly releases of thousands of products in a matter of minutes; however, their business models are unsustainable in the long run. Combined with pressures from social media, the current state of streetwear culture pressures customers to make weekly purchases to stay relevant in the community, resulting in many of the products becoming irrelevant only a week later.
The brands established by cultivating defiant subculture trends are at the risk of cannibalizing themselves when the streetwear culture niche is rapidly transitioning into becoming the new trend in popular culture. While streetwear brands like Supreme have been able to gain over one billion USD valuations in recent years, traditional high fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton and Prada have turned their eyes onto streetwear fashion and began collaborating with sneaker and streetwear companies. This has resulted in shoes, such as Prada x Adidas “Prada Sailing” limited to 700 pairs and Louis Vuitton Sport Supreme Whites. More money often means more problems, and streetwear brands are starting to resemble fast fashion brands that have a significant impact on the current state of our planet.
Prada x Adidas “Prada Sailing” (Image Courtesy: Adidas)
Luis Vuitton & Supreme “Sport Supreme” (Image Courtesy: Supreme)
As I mentioned earlier, the mass-production of sneakers generates a significant carbon footprint when sneakers - and the variety of resources used to produce them - are shipped back-and-forth all over the world. The materials used in sneakers are not sustainable themselves either. Most sneakers typically include varying amounts of leather, and rising cattle represent 65% of the livestock sector’s greenhouse emissions globally, while livestock accounts for 14.5% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in the world, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
“ The materials used in sneakers are not sustainable.”
The majority of sneakers soles are made of plastic, which is not biodegradable and might take hundreds of years to decompose in landfills. Even worse, since sneaker soles are traditionally glued to sneakers, the plastic soles become impossible to recycle because modern recycling systems are not able to recycle materials that have been altered with chemicals, such as glue. The list goes on, and every sneaker manufactured pollutes our planet a little more. When unsustainable production practices are taken into account with the trend-driven aspect of the sneaker market, streetwear’s total contribution to the global ecological crisis only becomes clearer as sneakers represent only a portion of the entire streetwear culture.
Social Media has provided another fundamental change to the streetwear world as we know it today. The majority of streetwear enthusiasts get their streetwear-related news from Instagram, while Facebook groups similar to our "HYPEND Marketplace” have been the most prominent reselling platforms in the world for over a decade. One could even say that brand values are directly proportional to the number of followers on Instagram when the brands that generate most profit also seem to have the largest number of followers on Instagram. For example, Versace is valued at around $2 billion and has 20.5 million Instagram followers, Supreme is worth slightly over $1 billion and has 12.5 million followers, and Virgil Abloh’s Off White brand was recently valued around $700 million while it has 9 million followers. Instagram has also enabled streetwear company owners to brand themselves as an integral part of their brand, allowing them to gain a vast following from streetwear enthusiasts all over the world. However, these brands nor the people managing the brands rarely talk about their contribution to global ecological issues.
For a community that represents everything hip and cool and celebrates social consciousness and equality, the streetwear culture has failed to acknowledge its issue with sustainability. As Dao-Yi Chow, co-founder of the streetwear brand Public School, explains in a Highsnobiety interview with Christopher Morency, “While streetwear has always been on the forefront of social consciousness, there hasn’t been the same urgency to address climate change in the same energy as other social issues.” Famous streetwear models and “hard-core” collectors have been able to attain millions of Instagram followers by regularly posting pictures showcasing their new purchases of the most sought-after streetwear items. Yet, they are also among the first people to publicly voice their concerns on global social issues and to share pictures highlighting ecological disasters caused by climate change without ever mentioning their personal impact on the planet. So, it seems that the whole industry is riddled with hypocrisy and double standards.
“it seems that the streetwear industry is riddled with
hypocrisy and double standards”
What Could Be Done to Streetwear’s Issue with Sustainability
1. Encourage Discussion About the Importance of Sustainability:
I find it disconcerting that streetwear insiders fail to talk about streetwear’s issues with sustainability. According to The Pulse of the Fashion Industry 2019 assessment of the fashion industry’s environmental and social performance, “more than 50% of consumers plan to switch brands in the future if another brand acts more environmentally and socially friendly than their preferred one.” So, the question is no longer whether the fashion industry should improve on sustainable business practices, but rather how long it will take before consumers begin boycotting and speaking against brands that do not act responsibly. At a time when social media influencers and pop-artists are advocating for healthier lives, and when people are becoming increasingly more responsible as consumers, it would be a smart business move from streetwear brands to assume leadership in conversations about fashion’s negative impact on our planet.
“Streetwear is setting the trends in so many ways and also speaking to an audience that has a lot of power, so if they would also start to talk about taking more conscious consumption choices, it would affect how a lot of people would think about their role in society”
Eva Kruse, the CEO and president of Global Fashion Agenda, explains in an interview with Christopher Morency that, “Streetwear is setting the trends in so many ways and also speaking to an audience that has a lot of power, so if they would also start to talk about taking more conscious consumption choices, it would affect how a lot of people would think about their role in society.” Streetwear was founded on the notions of free speech and inclusion, and streetwear brands have been able to obtain significant influence throughout the past decades. This is primarily due to streetwear brands' inclination to act as spokespersons for counterculture movements and marginalized communities. It would be phenomenal to witness streetwear brands staying true to their founding values by becoming spokespersons for a healthier planet and a more sustainable future of fashion.
2. Make Small Changes First:
The streetwear business model has typically been to create a need for consumers by releasing limited quantities of new products weekly into the market and most streetwear clothes have been made with cheap labor and even less expensive materials in underdeveloped countries. While this business model has allowed streetwear brands to rack up more revenue and influence in the fashion industry over the years, it has shown to be unsustainable in the long run. However, making it more sustainable would not require an extensive nor costly re-structuring. Gradually shifting away from the overproducing that results in over-consuming should be the priority of streetwear manufacturers, but they should also turn their focus into fixing other ecological issues inherent in the streetwear.
“streetwear brands should slowly shift away from the overproducing that results in overconsuming and turn their focus into fixing ecological issues inherent in the streetwear”
According to The Pulse of the Fashion Industry 2019 study, “Most companies have yet to commit fully to sustainability and lack a clear strategic direction and corresponding internal structure.”
Streetwear brands can begin building a foundation for sustainability with a formal commitment to sustainability by making small changes first (Lehmann et al., 2019). For example, shifting to sustainable materials in producing basic products, such as t-shirts and sweatshirts, would allow them to explore their readiness to handle new resources, materials, and strategic partnerships. Successfully executed small changes would inspire them to scale up sustainable practices, thus empowering streetwear brands to make ever-further changes to their organization, one small change at a time.
3. Create More Sustainable Products:
Streetwear culture cannot become a role model of sustainability solely through the small actions of individual firms or by talking about the issues surrounding fashion and climate change. According to The Pulse of the Fashion Industry 2019 findings, key priorities that drive transformational change toward a more sustainable fashion world include improving the efficient use of water, energy, and chemicals, as well as building circular fashion systems by designing, producing, selling and collecting products that enable the reuse and recycling of post-consumer textiles at scale. The leading streetwear brands with more money in their bank accounts could lead the way by beginning to invest more in research and development to find more sustainable ways to produce streetwear clothes.
In turn, smaller brands and consumers can shift their focus on the recyclability of streetwear. As Veikko Eromäki explained in a recent HYPEND article about Archive Fashion, there is a relatively new sub-culture trend within the streetwear culture called Archival Fashion that refers to collections derived from the history of streetwear while placing significant value on the materials, cut-and-sew, and symbolic messages of the clothing pieces. Signs of wear-and-tear, colorful patches and dissimilar buttons are all typical to Archival Fashion’s slightly more rugged aesthetics. Due to Archival Fashion’s highly reworked and recycled nature, traditional streetwear companies could begin working more closely with Archival Fashion’s most prominent designers to be able to scale up the creation of sustainable streetwear items.
4. Unite Under a Common Cause:
The commitment to sustainability needs to be felt throughout the culture. Creating a sustainable streetwear ecosystem requires collaboration among brands, consumers, and regulators. This includes that streetwear companies need to share new innovations with their competitors. Fortunately, the streetwear culture is well-equipped for collaboration. It has typically been united under the notion of being the “looked-down-upon” sub-category of the fashion industry. As I mentioned earlier, streetwear is often referred to as the movement of the people - for the people. This is also why the streetwear industry is more commonly referred to as a ‘culture’ than ‘industry.’
As Christopher Raeburn explains in the Highsnobiety interview for Morency, “Streetwear has such an opportunity to educate and inspire through the way it works – it has an immediacy for younger communities and also legitimacy in terms of its narrative that you don’t get anywhere else in the industry.”
“We need to make sustainability the new trend in streetwear by promoting a completely different set of values, and we can best do it by collaboratively sharing knowledge and accountability with everyone within the culture.”
We need to make sustainability the new trend in streetwear by promoting a completely different set of values, and we can best do it by collaboratively sharing knowledge and accountability with everyone within the culture. Streetwear brands need to understand that the relationship they have with their customers, and strategic partners should not be purely a transactional one. Anyone can buy a pair of sneakers from the mall, but one can’t buy culture. The streetwear culture as a whole must nurture the notion of community that attracts new young people, new customers to the culture in the first place.
“Anyone Can Buy a Pair of Sneakers from the Mall, But One Can’t Buy Culture”
We, the Streetwear Community, Need to Act Now to Make Streetwear Sustainable
A school strike protesting against climate change, led by a 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, has attracted millions of young students around the world during 2019. He exponential growth of the movement just goes to show how much younger generations might expect sustainable values from the brands they support.
No matter how much the streetwear culture hoped that streetwear would be known for its sustainability, it cannot become a role model of sustainability solely through design innovations of individual firms or by merely talking about its contributions to climate change. We need to make sustainability the new trend in streetwear by promoting a completely different set of values, and we can best do it by collaboratively sharing knowledge and accountability within the culture.
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