Criterion 2: From business activity to activism and social movement

prioritizes sustainable products. Meaning that there will be stricter EU developed, binding product-specific requirements for “eco-design” by the end of 2022. The proposal also

includes the creation of a digital product passport (DPP). The DPP will provide standardized information on the lifecycle of all products regulated under the ESPR and provide the ability to trace products. This means those products will have to be equipped with specific

information, which could take the form of “classes of performance,” ranging from A to G, to facilitate comparison between products. The DPP will play a key role in enabling customers to make conscious decisions, based on the environmental impact of their purchases (EY, 2022). The upcoming User Responsibility Extension Laws will push recycling, durability and reparability processes. Once EU measures make firms accountable for the end of life of their products, reuse, recycling, and design for circularity will significantly increase. Even though these are great steps, none are taking the necessary steps by capping output growth, which could really pave the way for a degrowth business model.

having to wait for their product, which might contribute to a mindset shift from seeing clothing as ‘waste products’ towards products of which you take great care. Golden Origin never does sales or outlets and both Golden Origin and Bamboo have no-season collections and all products are on the website until they are sold out, thus never leading to overstock.

Next to this, Hells Angel is part of environmental activism and seemingly donates small parts of their huge profits. This can be seen as the easiest way to be part of social

activism and it is in no way comparable to firms that dedicate their entire purpose to changing the industry for the better and taking huge cuts in profits for this. For example the website of Momu states: “If there is money left by the end of our process, it is directly invested into a new community so we can slowly grow this company step by step”.This operationalization therefore has a lot of nuance based on the degree and output of activism. Lastly, the

motivation of customers to consume less or more consciously seems to be a tension field.

Only four out of 13 firms scored a ‘yes’. The platform-based business models that sell

clothing struggle with this, since they have a mission that is degrowth based (to produce less) but the effect, as described in 5.1.2., is often indirectly stimulating overconsumption, which clashes directly with the degrowth paradigm.

Criteria 2: From business activity to activism and social movement

Mom u

Golden origin

Hells Angels

Bali Accessoi res

Flower MAL ORY

Bam boo

LOKI Mint Life cycle Assessme nt Institute

Tick Forec asted Fashi on

Arat ram

1) Part of

social/environmental activism [...] inspiring the industry to become better by knowledge sharing;

Yes Yes Yes A little No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes A

little.

2) Motivates customers to consume less or with more awareness.

Yes Yes No A little Yes A

little

Yes No No Not

relevant Not relev ant

No No

Total points 4p 4p 2p 2p 2p 2p 4p 2p 2p 2p 0p 2p 0p

Table 7. Analytical table for evaluation of the second criterion

5.2.2. Analyzed challenges in relations to the second criterion

Four challenges were analyzed in relation to the second criterion (see Table 8). Firstly, the risk of businesses partaking in social activism is that they do good only for gaining more profit or growth. For example, Hells Angels committed to a “Detox My Fashion” program back in 2011 and had set a deadline to eliminate hazardous chemicals by 2020. Unfortunately, 2020 has come and gone, and there is no evidence it met its target or any communication on this commitment's failure or success. Secondly, this contributes to two other challenges. First, activism seems to be able to push consumerism instead of discouraging it and consumerism inherently goes against the basis of the degrowth paradigm. For example, after the acclaimed 2011 Black Friday campaign of Patagonia “don't buy this jacket” sales figures reached $10 million, quadrupling the company’s estimates (Explain, 2021). And even though they donate everything to environmental protection groups, this indicates that promoting ‘consuming less or more consciously’ has the risk of becoming a pure competitive strategy, which has nothing to do with the belief of degrowth anymore. This is also shown by this quote from Hells Angels: “It's also educating our client in saying that we, as a company, are sustainable, our product is sustainable […] so we should be more favorable to all of the coming generations, because you guys are more aware of these things than past generations.”. The third challenge is therefore greenwashing. Greenwashing has the potential to confuse the consumer even more, while it is already difficult enough to make conscious choices due to the lack of shared language about sustainability standards and the lack of education and knowledge of

consumers. This is the final and fourth challenge: a lack of awareness and knowledge about the harmful effect (fast)fashion has on the planet, which enables overconsumption.

Challenges Definition Exemplary quotations Do good for

profit The use of sustainability policies as a way to generate more profit or growth in market share.

“In addition to it also being a personal company growth model, it's also educating our client in saying that we, as a company are sustainable, our stores are sustainable, our product is sustainable […] And so we should be more favorable to the millennials, and all of the coming generations, because you guys are more aware of these things than past generations.”

Overconsumpti

on The consumer mindset and need for

more clothes than is needed. “If you now look at the conversation that is being held, it is really very much about circularity and not about degrowth [..] and there is still consumer hunger in this [..] we were raised in this way based on the idea, success is great, more… It is very difficult.”

No global measurement standard

No global standard on which sustainability is measured and communicated to customers.

“And everyone does it differently. So in short, how can you compare data?” “You have to use different devices and software for the same task and deliver different teams that do not coordinate on the same software. Understanding it is a nightmare.”

Lack of education and knowledge

The lack of education due to the lack of knowledge related to

overconsumption and the effect of buying fashion.

“I think creating awareness among consumers is the most important thing for the future [...]

You see that now with eating meat. Uh, hardly anyone eats meat every day anymore. In the future we will have to say: nobody buys something new every week anymore.” “But there are really a lot of things that they [consumers] don't know and that they don't find interesting.”

Table 8. Analytical table for challenges in relation to the second criterion.

5.2.3. Possible solutions for challenges analyzed in relation to the second criterion

Based on the interviews, four solutions were mentioned that could contribute to overcoming the above stated challenges. Firstly, when discussing the importance of customer behavior it became clear that consumers have the power to steer the fashion industry towards a different direction. Five interviews mentioned the meat industry and how this industry has heavily changed due to changing consumer demand: “You see that now with eating meat. Hardly anyone eats meat every day anymore. In the future we will have to say: nobody buys something new every week anymore”. The first solution therefore is to change consumers' mindset in regards to consumption, so consumers go from seeing clothes as waste products to really something of value that you take care of, like cars or phones. The only challenge here is that this solution has the risk of fashion becoming a luxury product, contributing to creating a gap between rich and poor, when sustainable fashion should be available for all equally.

How this mindset switch could be achieved is the second possible solution: through heavily educating consumers and creating a wake-up call effect. For example, the documentary Cowspiracy is mentioned as a wake-up call for many people in regards to how harmful the meat industry really was.

The third solution mentioned is related to the setting of global standards, so there will be one ‘language’ through which sustainability is communicated. In this way, consumers can better understand the complex world of sustainability in the fashion industry and make more conscious choices. Fourthly, not producing seasonal collections that end up in landfills, or sold out in crazy outlet sales that only stimulate overconsumption is mentioned as a solution in combination with the transition to timeless design: designing clothes that are not-trend focused, so they will never go ‘out of style’.