Having led the fashion sustainability conversation longer than most, and amid the growing number of public failures and shifting consumer sentiment, I think we need to stop treating sustainable fashion as a standalone category that will fix fashion’s sustainability problems. Not only is that putting the spotlight in the wrong place, but “sustainable brands” typically don’t scale, which reinforces the narrative that sustainability isn’t viable or a force for economic prosperity.
I was one of the first to lead mission-driven brands, dating back to Product (RED) at Gap Inc. I’ve created two brands from scratch: For Days and Maiyet. I’m proud of that work. However, it’s important to acknowledge that many of the brands rooted in sustainability have done meaningful work and found a strong customer base. A handful (think: Veja, Reformation, and Everlane) have generated more than $200 million in revenue, but they haven’t been able to scale. Their mainstream counterparts that primarily focus on sales growth and margins (Nike, Zara, and Gap) are more than 100 times larger. Patagonia is the exception, having reached north of $1 billion in revenue, but it took 50 years to get there. I am not discrediting the innovators, I’m suggesting we reframe our thinking and our approach.
As I reflect on why we haven’t seen breakout scale from these innovators, I examine fundamentals: design, quality, and price point. Without those working in harmony, things won’t work. I am not the first to point out Allbirds’ recent fire sale and say that the product was ugly. Many were shocked by Everlane’s recent sale to Shein, but the product wasn’t strong and the brand experience was dated. In my own experience, Maiyet was a stellar example of doing things right. We prioritized aesthetics, narrative, and product quality. While we were successful by many measures, scale was not one of them.
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER
Here’s what you should know about sustainability in clothing.
- “Sustainability” isn’t an identity, it’s an ingredient. Consumers don’t say, “I want to buy something sustainable today.” In fact, that approach can be a turn-off. People want something beautiful, well-made, and priced correctly. They want a real connection with the brand and to be inspired. That’s an emotional relationship, not a rational one. The moment sustainability becomes the main message, you’ve turned off emotion and narrowed your audience to a niche that can’t support scale.
- Sustainability is a systems problem. You can design the coolest blazer using deadstock fabric and pay fair wages, and you’ve still barely scratched the surface of scaling a brand or impacting fashion’s environmental footprint. The real sustainability challenges (textile waste infrastructure, chemical processing, agricultural practices, freight emissions) live at the foundational supply chain level.
- It’s a complex, expensive infrastructure problem. Too often, sustainable materials or zero-waste production processes come at higher costs, putting brands at a disadvantage. Reaching cost parity requires scale and supply chain coordination. It’s not easy or cheap, and none of it gets cheaper without volume. A startup doing $40 million in revenue might set a great example, but it will not move the needle on materials innovation or justify a clean energy transformation at scale.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
We cannot abandon innovation and investment, but we’ve been asking the small players to carry a very heavy load. While celebrating the innovators, we need to think more broadly.
The largest brands should speak up: While far from perfect, many brands like Target, Walmart, Zara, Gap, and H&M have done legitimately good things. It’s deeply unfortunate that public rhetoric is quick to punish progress over perfection. While I understand the associated risks, I wish large brands would be bolder in communicating their sustainability successes and challenges. We’ve fortunately made it through the climate hype cycle; perhaps we can now settle in and have real conversations.
Hard cost savings from supply chain efficiency: We need examples of real, measurable economic wins that extend beyond consumer sentiment—that lies in supply chain efficiency. Unilever’s performance under Paul Polman suggested that embedding sustainability into brands boosted sales performance from 2015-2017. This could be true, but I think an even more salient point is that, as of 2021, Unilever had saved €1.2 billion through sustainable sourcing and eco-efficiencies in its factories. Solar is now affordable and AI is driving production efficiencies, which tells me that it is an excellent time to deploy eco-efficiencies within supply chains.
Support infrastructure investments: For large brands, there is a tremendous opportunity to work with supply chain partners to accelerate transformation. I think that deeper partnerships could justify larger infrastructure investments to accelerate change. Renewable energy, physical AI, and materials innovation are all available to us. You can easily pencil out a return if demand is secure. “Pre-competitive collaboration” has been thrown around for years and may have merit, but Goliath companies like Walmart, Gap, and Zara can lead this effort without collaboration.
Open source the solutions: Wouldn’t it be great if innovation flowed more seamlessly throughout the industry? Materials access and supply chain access—bust that open and see what the independent brands can do with it. Startups are the creative energy the world needs, and we should support that without expecting them to build everything themselves.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Real solutions aren’t going to be discovered at the next sustainability conference or in a McKinsey report. There is hard work waiting in the trenches, and I think large brands need in-house capabilities and to set real business objectives, not just ESG targets, to measure success. The founders who’ve spent the last decade building mission-driven brands are a massive resource. They have the conviction, expertise, and credibility that large organizations need. Bring in entrepreneurs as advisors and innovation leads—the people who help craft solutions, rather than the ones begging for a pilot project.
Perhaps it’s my eternal optimism and fierce entrepreneurial spirit, but I can see a world where fashion systematically shifts toward a more efficient, innovation-based, and sustainable ecosystem. It will take time, money, and determination, but I truly believe there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if that happens.
Kristy Caylor is CEO of Trashie.
