There’s two ways for brands to be sustainable

Longevity matters

I just got back from presenting a talk in Oslo for Oslo Runway, Norway’s fashion week. Scandinavia feels like a place made for human beings — with big, open public spaces, bike lanes everywhere and great public transport. You can really feel how these countries value sustainability and that’s especially true for their fashion industries (even if Norway’s economy is built on oil and gas, but that’s a story for another day). I was in Oslo to host a talk on greenwashing — why it’s a disaster for the long-term health of the industry, and how brands so often come across as annoying virtue signallers when they talk about sustainability.

Before the talk, I met up with the guys at Livid, a local contemporary brand that makes very good jeans. The brand’s designers, Jens and Charlie, talked about how longevity is so often forgotten in the sustainability conversation.

It’s a point I come back to a lot in my book, and it got me thinking about how there are two different ways for brands to approach sustainability.