How Diversity Impacts Sustainability in Fashion

Black people are no strangers to hype culture. If anything, they invented it.

Black Fashion

It started with players like Dapper Dan, who remixed high-end luxury material into one-of-a-kind fashion pieces. He eventually got the recognition and respect from the brands he made accessible because he created hype around his brand. Then, there's Rihanna, who's not afraid to take risks and experiment with different looks, and she is the only black woman to have ever led a luxury fashion house under LVMH. She is a fashion icon and is on everybody's moodboard. Then there are newer trendsetters like Telfar Clemens, whose Telfar bags have taken over New York City. You can't go one block without seeing one of his designs.

There are many examples throughout history of Black Fashion leading hype culture because their style is limitless and culture has so much swag, people want the sauce. But there's just one problem. Black voices are constantly left out of conversations about the future of Fashion, especially when we celebrate sustainability and social impact. There needs to be more representation in the space.

I decided it was time to document the Black perspectives on these issues and designed a study to draw inspiration from people working in Fashion. During the study, I not only learned how to make sustainable Fashion cool, but I also learned how to create a better shopping experience that's more intentional. Before I spill all the tea, let me tell you some more of the fashion industry's dirty secrets.

Fashion Lacks Equity

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest apparel manufacturing center after China because it's one of the cheapest places to produce clothes. Brands source over $30 billion worth of garments from Bangladesh because the minimum wage is roughly 32 cents an hour, or $68 a month, and their working conditions are poor. You would only step into work if the building were secure and provided proper bathrooms. These workers have little choice because they either love what they do or are so skilled that it would be difficult to find other forms of work, and they have a family to support.

Not only does the industry exploit people, but it takes zero responsibility for the clothes it produces. When nobody wants a garment, the garments don't disappear or absorb into the earth. They have to be either repurposed, destroyed, or landfilled. These landfills may be natural environments like deserts and seashores in foreign countries, and they develop because we promise clothes at a cheap price, but most of it is trash. 15 million clothing items are shipped to Ghana weekly from North America, China, and Europe. Almost half of that is worthless and goes straight to the trash yard. Dumping our clothes somewhere else so no one has to see them has become the de-facto waste management strategy for the fashion industry. 

We clearly need a reality check.

Black Culture

The fashion industry thrives on hype culture. Every brand is looking for its viral moment and products to sell out, and most of those moments originate from Black culture. I wanted to know how Black people are good at creating hype culture, and this first nugget of knowledge came from a friend who's a fashion designer. 

He said, "Black people are not afraid to bend the rules to their liking, and people are attracted to that level of freedom."

Black people don't allow our struggles to define their future or hold them back. Black people find ways to move through it. Black people exist in spaces that are not designed for them and are often taught to assimilate into mainstream culture to survive. At a young age, my parents had to sit me down and teach me about racism and discrimination, and this happens very often in Black families.

It's impossible to erase our culture. Black culture is familial and community-driven. It's love and celebration. It's also struggle and resistance, but the resilience in the face of inequality makes Black people unique. Whether Black people are at work, school, or public spaces, it feels like being under constant surveillance and scrutiny. But they are liberating themselves from the symbolic shackles, opening the door to shades of blackness, like Black Girl Magic and Black Boy Joy.

Another friend of mine who works in fashion law, which is a very corporate and serious place to be in, shared that she intentionally wears her natural hair and Air Jordans to the office because she wanted to set an expectation that she wasn't changing for anyone. Black people don't innately desire to follow the status quo; they desire to stand out.

When Black people were taken from their homes and sold into slavery, they had no choice but to create a sense of home away from home. To them, creating symbols and meanings wasn't just culture, it was survival. Those terrible conditions bred creativity that manifested in Black hair, clothes, and the language. It's in their DNA to take things and do them differently. Black people learned the art of remixing to make anything unique to their culture or more accessible to the community. 

Hype Culture

Much of hype culture today lives online, and it's easier for their attitude and self-confidence to spread. Social media connects Black people all over the world and increases Black culture's visibility. Whether it's TikTok dances inspired by Black musicians or popular Black sayings, Black culture rules the internet. We even have our section of Twitter, Black Twitter. Social media leads to broader adoption of Black culture, thus creating hype culture, and society loves to take from Black culture because their tenacity is something people aspire to achieve.

Being Black is learning how to get comfortable creating their own safe spaces when there is none. It's about taking risks. Most people aren't comfortable with stepping outside their comfort zone. Black people don't have the luxury of safety. With Fashion, when they put on an outfit, they have no choice but to rock it confidently. But that confidence comes from inside. Doing it well comes from a more profound sense of self-awareness. This is what makes them masters at setting trends. There's so much more to hype culture than just putting together great outfits. It's what you know about Fashion and culture and how you carry yourself. 

Now, everyone has access to the hype and wants to participate, but while people are busy copying Black people, Black people are living their lives. Their behavior makes them masters at setting trends, and hype culture is a by-product of Black culture. Now, if only Black people could make sustainable Fashion a trend, we might see significant shifts in the industry.

Sustainability

Sustainable fashion means minimizing negative environmental and social impacts by designing and disposing of clothes to promote long-term eco-balance, social responsibility, and economic progression. Fashion thrives on trends and newness, which conflicts with sustainability's promise to reuse and recycle. Sustainability alone is a complex and opaque topic that lacks transparency and accountability, and slapping the word sustainable in front of Fashion is strange because Fashion is the exact opposite of sustainability.

Everyone views the problem differently. Some individuals focus on clothing materials, others focus on working conditions, and very few acknowledge the landfills. Sustainable Fashion can also be costly, and it's often marketed to luxury consumers who can afford the premium price tag and offset the cost for brands. Black people mentioned there being few options that are affordable and not bland.

Some mentioned the H&M conscious collection being affordable but getting dull over time. Years later, it was revealed that the H&M conscious collection wasn't as sustainable as it had led on, nor was it meeting its goals. But nobody wants to purchase a plain white tee for $50 to save the planet. It feels like a drop in the bucket for a huge, complex issue.

Black people also had difficulty viewing sustainability as a social justice issue. They see climate change as a class issue and believe it should be handled by people in power, like the government, who have the time and resources to address it. If only they knew the people who spend the most money on clothing are the people least impacted by pollution. Foreign countries in the Global South, like Ghana and Chile, are victims of post-consumer textile waste. Therefore, countries in the Global North (United States, England, Japan, etc.) aren't under enough pressure to solve those issues. They benefit from the system. The industry already struggles with diversity and inclusion of Black voices, and this information proves there's an even more significant imbalance and inequality.

Sustainable Fashion means everything and nothing simultaneously. I thought about how I could make sustainability relevant to Black people. However, the question needs to be turned on its head and ask how sustainability will be relevant without Black people. Black people continue to be misrepresented on the issue and don't have all the facts, so they don't connect sustainability to Fashion.

Personalization and Impact

Sustainability doesn't create an emotional connection to the garment. If we want clothes to have emotional durability, we must focus on what matters most. So, I sent out a survey to all participants and asked them to rank what is important when shopping for clothes. #1 was fit, #2 was style, and #3 was the price. Sustainability was dead last. As much as I wanted sustainability to be in the top three, it wasn't important. Sustainability should be a bonus to finding exciting pieces worth investing in. Fashion is about you and what you like. It's personal, and every garment has a story. Sustainability should come through personalization instead of being the sole reason people gravitate toward a product.

Based on my research, a plausible answer to the fashion sustainability paradox is through personalization and equality. The answer is not simply to shop better; it's about shopping with intention and how brands design and sell clothes for consumers. It can happen through technology that adapts to someone's fit, style preferences, and behaviors. Enhancing style is also enabled through style stories about longevity. Most importantly, the message that Fashion without harm is possible should connect to the customer. By showcasing people who are out there doing work, we can change the image of sustainability.

For more on how diversity impacts sustainability in Fashion, tune into The Right Hype Podcast.