Eileen Fisher is no stranger to sustainability so it’s only right that I spent Earth Day at their Soho store with the members of Co-lab to dive into their practices and learn how they strive for a greener earth. With the intentions of keeping items from ending up in the landfill, sustainability is at the forefront of their brand ethos.
What is Renew?
The 41-year-old fashion brand created Renew to prevent Eileen Fisher’s designs from going to waste. With Renew, the brand is decreasing carbon footprint by giving garments a second life. All used items are thoroughly inspected to ensure that the condition of the item is up to par to be sold. Most of the time, their team finds that “items still have about 80-95% of usable life left in them when they’re resold.” The Resale Processing Footprint includes repairing and cleaning the garments as needed.
Because “used purchase only replaces a new purchase 60% of the time, and the other 40% of the time, a consumer buying used buys both a used item and a new item,” buying used clothes is still a great way to incorporate some form of sustainability into your life.
How can brands produce designs with sustainability in mind?
Sustainability begins at the inception. The best way for any apparel brand to increase the lifespan of a garment is to prioritize creating higher-quality garments. Choosing higher-quality woven fibers such as cotton allows garments to recycle. Eileen Fisher’s Director of Circular Design, Carmen Gama explains that mono fabrics makes this process easier than blended fabrics. Eileen Fisher pays for fiber recycling. There’s tech that separates cotton from polyester, but there isn’t a lot of tech that separates other types of fabric.
When designing new apparel, “design with the end as the beginning,” Gama explained. Designers should also “think of the possibilities of the life of the garment. Think of where the investment is allocated. When that garment is no longer wearable, can it be repaired?”
How can consumers shop with sustainability in mind?
Choosing timeless pieces encourages consumers to keep their items longer because of an increase of emotional durability which leads one to care for their garments for a longer period of time. Trendy fast fashion designs quickly go out of style, which decreases the lifespan of that product thus increasing the chances of the garment ending up in the landfill.
If designs made with mono fibers are more costly than your budget permits and shopping any brand that is affordable is your usual go-to, you can still practice sustainability by keeping your clothes. Discarding clothes has never been an option for me as my mother raised me to keep my clothes as long as possible (I still have garments from my teenage years) and donate what I no longer want.
SHOP TIMELESS GARMENTS BELOW
It was so great to see Co-lab founder, Kristy Hurt, as I haven’t seen her since the previous Co-lab event that I attended at Diane Von Furstenburg in the meatpacking district.
How do you incorporate sustainability into your life?
Renew is a store that gives garments a second life. Eileen Fisher and the co-owners are doing this great job of given this garments a renewed life. Red cross have stores where they sell used clothing. There are lots of these organizations that will come to your house to pick it up freely. I don’t like used clothing. I still have clothes that I wore over 25 years ago, meaning I recycle my clothes. Thanks Oyin, God bless you. Amen