Reasons to be positive in 2023
The alpha humans among us are already on their seventh workout of the year, have said good riddance to alcohol in January and have accomplished five of their 23 goals for 2023. I, on the other hand, achieve the same level of satisfaction by covering a triple word score tile on Scrabble to kickstart my year (for those interested, I still lost).
Yes, the new year often arrives with cliches to make this year the best to date. Adopting this mindset I’m trying to channel more positive thinking, so in 2023 I’m hoping to see more steps being taken towards a responsible fashion industry. No doubt we’ll continue to read headlines of waste, overconsumption and pollution, all sprinkled with a good dose of greenwashing (read: we see you H&M, Boohoo Group, Inditex), but temporarily blinkering myself with positivity, I asked a few respected individuals what they are feeling upbeat about, because despite my pessimism, there’s a lot to feel good about.downicon
DAVID TELFER, SUNSPEL CREATIVE DIRECTOR
“The last few months have given me the opportunity to spend a bit more time in our factory with our incredible craftspeople. It has reminded me about the huge benefits of designers working closely with makers – understanding how to work together to make the best product possible. As a designer, to meet and know the maker of our product at a personal level is incredibly humbling and gives me so much respect for their skill and knowledge. As long as we continue to maintain those relationships going forward, I know our product will continue to get better and better.”
CHRISTOPHER RAEBURN, RÆBURN CREATIVE DIRECTOR
“Personally, I'm feeling positive about the progress we're making as an industry towards circularity - it's not going to be easy of course, but considering mono fibre products or designing them for disassembly really helps with their overall impacts and what happens at the end of their lifecycle. At RÆBURN we've been fortunate to partner with Timberland for a number of years and one of my favourite projects has been Earthkeepers by RÆBURN; the footwear is all designed so that you can separate the different materials into different waste and recycling streams; I'm looking forward to building on this project and more in 2023.”
MIKKEL HAMMERSHØJ, NN07 PR MANAGER
“I’m feeling very positive about the commitments we keep seeing from brands of all sizes to focus and act more and more on inclusivity, be it on gender, non-gender, skin colour, ableness, bodytypes and other identity markers. Mental health is becoming an increasingly worrying matter for the young generations, so for the fashion industry to do better and make sure everyone feels they’re equally welcome in the fashion sphere is something I’m feeling positive about - and I’m looking forward to seeing more consumers demand this kind of behaviour from the brands they support.”
AUGUST BARD BRINGÉUS, ASKET CO-FOUNDER
“At the heart of the fashion industry there are two systemic defects, designed obsolescence and constant growth - with ASKET we envisage a new system that tackles both. With our permanent collection, I hope we have offered a case study on how to achieve degrowth with smaller volumes and economic stability at the same time - now we want to demonstrate the same for resale.
So, for 2023 we’ll specifically look to scale the ASKET Revival Program. Our goal is to show that resale can be self-sustaining - with it further arguing the case for garments designed with material and emotional durability at their core - it’s not only needed to extend the use-phase, but also ensuring they maintain a fair resale value when passed from one customer to the next.”jbicon
Could 2023 be the ultimate year of sustainability for fashion? Probably not, but there are some positive things happening if you look for them.