Comment: How technology is enhancing sustainability

Tahira Taylor, strategy director at retail experience design agency Fitch, discusses how embracing technology, fashion brands can better evolve to create sustainable alternatives to fast fashion.

As young activists such as Greta Thunberg, organisations including Extinction Rebellion, and naturalists like Sir David Attenborough raise awareness around climate change, there has been a remarkable drive to make the fashion industry more sustainable. We’re seeing plenty of progress supported by a range of different technologies, right across channels and formats.

Shoppers are turning to the secondhand market for their fashion needs more than ever before. The UK’s secondhand clothing market is set to become 1.5 times bigger than the fast-fashion sector by 2028, secondhand fashion marketplace ThredUp’s 2019 Resale Report suggests. The infrastructure put in place through high-performance such as Depop, incentivised exchange platforms including Swish and social media marketplaces has enabled the take-off of this trend. Meanwhile, brands such as Rent the Runway in the US are showing that it’s possible to sustainably keep up with preferences to change outfits often, while saving money, the environment and space. […]

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