INTERVIEW #120 MALIN VIOLA WENNBERG

Hi Malin, welcome to A Sustainable Closet. Can you please tell our readers who you are and what your background is?

At the moment I am researching the market for sustainable fashion in pursuing a PhD at Stockholm University. My hope is that if we can obtain a better understanding of how this market is taking shape and which stakeholders are involved, we can use those insights to build a more sustainable fashion industry. 

I had my first job in the fashion industry at the age of 15, picking orders at a warehouse. Since then, I’ve worked in retail, public relations, fashion design and production as well as research implementation and policy for the fashion industry. As for prior education, I have an MA in Fashion Studies from Parsons the New School of Design in New York City. During my time in NYC, I worked for some of the most well-known designers in the field of fashion. Though all of them talk about sustainability as being a core aspect of their work, my experience was something else entirely. As a response to my not-so-great experience working with established houses, I decided to start my own business instead. I worked with up-cycled post-consumer denim on a very small scale using only local factories in New York. I made no money at all and could barely pay for food, but at least I felt I was working for the good guys this time. 

In summary, I’ve spent the last decade and a half studying and working in the fashion industry moving between countries and collecting insights from different parts of the system – insights which I’m now utilizing in my research.

When did you get interested in sustainability in relation to fashion?

Sustainability was my focus from a young age, but I did not understand this until later in life. My mom’s side of the family is from Borås, the textile capital of Sweden. Everyone on this side of the family worked in the textile industry. This meant I was taught early on how to sew, how to recognize high-quality fabrics and how to inspect the inside of garments before buying something new. Buying clothes that will last, both in terms of quality and in terms of what you like is one of the fundamentals of building a sustainable wardrobe. When you make the dress yourself you became aware of the hours of work put into making every piece. It makes you cherish the garments even more. 

How would you define fashion and is there such a thing as sustainable fashion? 

My understanding of sustainable fashion is in constant change. The fashion system is such a large and complex system. It is in a sense too large of a concept to define. There is no one definition, and there is no one solution. Instead, I view sustainable fashion as an umbrella term. 

We can build hypothetical scenarios of a sustainable fashion system, but these are often utopias. Take for example the idea that second-hand would be the ultimate solution. The second-hand market is booming. We are seeing both old and new companies developing resale channels and consignment business models. In theory, the increased interest in second-hand fashion should simultaneously show a decrease in the demand for newly produced fashion. However, in practice, this is not the case. In fact, some studies suggest an increased prevalence of second-hand channels could lead to consumers buying even more first-hand garments. The studies hypothesize that consumers are 1, counting on the possibility of re-sale and 2, feeling like they did good when they sold their old clothes and then celebrating by buying something new. I’m not trying to say second-hand is a bad idea – we simply need to understand this business model as a part of a larger system and calculate for the sometimes-irrational consumer behaviour. 

Can you tell us more about your research questions and what it is you are trying to understand?

The idea of sustainable fashion is a complex and systemic issue. To better understand the changes needed, who is in control of change and how that change is implemented I’m taking on the market of sustainable fashion as a macro-level study. My research is not only looking at companies and organizations in the fashion industry, but I’m aiming to include more things that might affect a market. This includes legislation, state policy or investors decisions that could make or break a new business. 

What are some of the most common questions people ask you related to fashion and sustainability?

Anything related to numbers. It seems that humans, in general, have an urge to quantify concepts, maybe because it makes the world easier to understand. We want to know exactly how much water is used in making a t-shirt and exactly how much CO2 we can save by renting instead of buying. The truth is – it is an impossible question to answer in general terms. The numbers make the headlines because they are easy to understand, not because they are necessarily true or accurate. 

For example, a common question is which textile fibre is the best. The emission/water use/anything else really-difference between two producers of the same kind of textile fibre can be larger than the difference between two different kinds of fibres. It is never as simple as saying that cotton is always superior to viscose – or vice versa. On the same note, only the fibre content of a garment can never determine how sustainable a garment is in terms of the garment’s entire life cycle. If we produce a garment using the best possible textile fibre but then no one wants to wear that garment it is a waste of resources. Hence, claiming sustainability by only changing one parameter is not possible. 

There are a lot of buzzwords out there regarding the negative impact fashion has on people, nature and the climate, what are the most common ones you see and can we truly know that they are true?

Overproduction is a real problem. We are producing more clothes than we can possibly use or have use for. We are not producing clothes on a basis of need – we are producing on a basis of want. However, this is not a problem which should be ascribed to the consumer alone. The idea of consumer demand is a part of the fashion system, is upheld by all the stakeholders in the field.  

It is true that the fashion industry has a large impact on global greenhouse gas emissions, but again, it is hard to estimate exactly how large. A jointly agreed upon estimate among researchers in the field lies somewhere around 5-10% of all GHG emissions. The headline that the fashion industry would produce more emissions than maritime and flight shipping combined is a misleading statement. The problem with statements like this is that they normally don’t make sense if you look at the method for calculation. If you compare the total GHG emissions from the full life cycle of global clothing consumption (including all transports) and compare it to one stage of the global shipping industry, we are comparing apples to pears. 

What would you say are some of the most significant research out there related to the negative impacts of fashion? What do we know that is good to know?

The Mistra Future Fashion program running 2011-2019, a cross-disciplinary research program funded by the MISTRA foundation in Sweden, was a great example of research making an impact outside of academia. I was fortunate to work with the program for the last three years of it running in the role of Communications Manager. One of our last published reports was the environmental assessments of Swedish clothing consumption by Dr Gustav Sandin et al., 2019. This report highlights that 80% of all emissions caused by Swedish clothing consumption stem from the production phase.

I still see this number on company websites, in industry reports and in policy documents. Receiving that level of impact is rare. Though, the researchers behind the report are very clear in their statement that life cycle assessments should be updated approximately every 5th year to stay accurate. The fashion industry is a fast-moving industry in constant change. New and improved techniques in the supply chain and/or changed consumer patterns affect the outcome of a life-cycle assessment.

The main argument from the report is that all clothes already produced should stay in use for longer. This insight is still valid and important. However, the exact number of CO2 emissions or other numeric facts might be different today than they were in 2019.  

Any brand or company reading this wanting to exist in the fashion industry while doing as little harm as possible, what advice would you give to them? What are the aspects they actually need to look into?

We need companies challenging the existing norms. However, an important aspect of sustainability is of course financial sustainability. If the business is not making money the business cannot continue working towards a more sustainable system. For new business models to compete on the mainstream market – there needs to be a sound and sustainable financial plan. In general, the fashion industry is built on the foundation of people from all parts of the supply chain working for free, from unpaid internships at luxury fashion houses to severely underpaid garment workers in, sometimes, unregulated factories. This is hardly a good foundation for a sustainable business.

For the people, who love clothes, the consumers, what advice would you give to them? How can they enjoy clothes without doing harm?

The very simple, and possibly boring answer is to use what you love and use what you already have. The most sustainable garment is the one you actually use. Furthermore, and this is important to me, we should not forget about fashion as a tool for communication, belonging, art and a symbol of hope. Fashion as an art form is spectacular. The craftsmanship that goes into creating a couture dress, weaving lace, draping the perfect flow of a skirt, or just finishing a hem is astonishing. We should celebrate this. 

Lastly, how would you describe your own style and what does your closet look like? What is your personal relation to the consumption of clothes?

My personal relationship with clothing consumption is challenging. Saying that I’m not affected by trends would be a lie. I’m a consumer like anyone else. On the one hand, I’m dedicating all my awake hours to researching on why the fashion industry is harmful to our planet. On the other hand, I’ve been in the industry for almost two decades. When you work in the industry you are constantly gifted with samples or other pieces that never made it to production. I rarely buy new, but I have a closet full of clothes. My go-to garments are dresses, often blue. Most of the items in my wardrobe are blue. This way outfits are easy to put together. I still make my own dresses when I have time, but time seems to fly these days.