Tommy Hilfiger and Sustainable Fashion
“Fashion is fleeting; style is forever” and making it “For the people” is what makes Tommy Hilfiger different from other “premium” brands.
Tommy Hilfiger, formerly Tommy Hilfiger Inc. and Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, is an American premium clothing brand, manufacturing apparel, footwear, accessories, fragrances, and home furnishings under parent company PVH (formerly Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation).
After the bankruptcy of People’s Place, Thomas Hilfiger was approached by Mohan Murjani in 1984 to design a men’s wear clothing line which led to the co-founding of Tommy Hilfiger in 1985 by Thomas Hilfiger and the Murjani Group. Hilfiger exited Murjani International in 1992 and the launch of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation was seen, which introduced their signature menswear collection. In 1996, now Tommy Hilfiger Inc. began its line of women’s clothing.
As expected, the brand was very well received by the public for its affordable but quality products. The business steadily expanded in the ‘80s but faltered during the late ‘90s due to an excess of supply over demand of their products which caused the company to fall from 1 billion dollars to 500 million dollars in terms of worth. After being bought over by Apax, the label eventually attained the equilibrium by lowering its sales and marketing, and exiting numerous American departmental stores, and forming an exclusive alliance with Macy’s. In a recent interview, Hilfiger said that the inspiration and guidance for their product lines are derived from pop culture, which tells them what moves society, allowing them to assess market trends. Hilfiger also said that being creative is sometimes not enough in the fashion business and having a financial sense to do business is equally important.
Although Tommy Hilfiger does not have the same luxury image as Gucci or Louis Vuitton, it has always tried to keep to its mission of being the “affordable, accessible, aspirational, and cool American classic”. Although accessible luxury may seem like an oxymoron, that is surely changing! It is essentially the availability of luxury to a wider audience (which is the middle class) at a much more affordable and accessible price without compromising on quality. Its motto of “Wastes Nothing and Welcomes All” embraces not only accessible luxury but also sustainable fashion.
Sustainable Fashion
The fashion industry is responsible for over 10% of global carbon emissions and around 20% of waste-water. While the environmental impact of aviation is well-known, fashion accounts for a significant part of the impact of flying and shipping. The clothing supply chain, from production to transportation, has a rather complex structure which makes it difficult to account for the overall effect it has on climate, not to mention the effect of the disposal of clothing after the consumer has derived maximum utility.
While this may be a problem common to most industries, the fashion industry is particularly troublesome owing to the changes it undergoes in the form of trends and seasonal requirements.
Tommy Hilfiger’s adaptation to sustainable fashion is aimed at tackling climate change and resource scarcity (Wastes Nothing), and prejudice and inequality (Welcomes All). The label recognizes that the initiatives of just one brand will not bring about much of a change but it is a start. The brand is using the tools of partnership and collaboration to promote circular, inclusive, and sustainable fashion. Their partners include supermodel Gigi Hadid, actress and activist Zendaya, and model Winnie Harlow.
What does Sustainable Fashion mean?
‘Sustainable fashion is a movement and process of fostering change to fashion products and the fashion system towards greater ecological integrity and social justice.’ In other words, not using more natural resources than the planet can naturally replace and not producing anything that the planet can’t naturally absorb.
Why are the issues when it comes to the fashion industry and sustainability?
Well, there are four primary problems:
Water consumption and contamination - cotton requires a minimum of 10,000 liters of water to produce 1kg of cotton due to it being a water-intensive crop. If the area is rain-fed then this is not necessarily an issue. However, half of the cotton demands irrigation which causes pressure on water-stressed areas. Moreover, a lot of water is used to produce one cotton shirt, around 2,500 liters. As well as that, we should take into account the huge amounts of water that is being used in the wet processing of clothes.
Energy emissions - the fashion industry, clothes, make up about 4.8% of globally produced CO2 emissions during manufacturing and consumer use. Half of the CO2 emissions are produced mostly by North American, European, and Japanese, from wearing, tumble-drying, and ironing clothes.
Chemical usage - according to the World Bank around 20% of water contamination comes from textile dyeing and treatment. To turn raw materials into textiles around 8,000 synthetic chemicals are used. Some of which are released into freshwater sources such as rivers and lakes.
Waste creation - an average American throws away about 37kg of clothes every year. And about 85% of textiles are thrown away in the USA only. Every tonne of disposed textiles that is reused or recycled can save up to 11 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. China has prohibited imports of textile waste from the end of 2017 and textile landfill bans may arise in Europe as well.
It is essential to know what sustainable fashion means in order to make a conscious decision to shop with sustainable and ethical brands that will make a difference to our planet. Shopping for sustainable fashion is an amazing and easy way to engage in the fight against climate change. As we know, if there will be a higher demand/more customers for sustainable fashion, more brands will be compelled to leap into a clean and more eco-friendly future.
Written by Aidana Assylbek and Zoyah Virani; edited by Alidar Kuatbekov.
