(Glasgow) Very committed to the environment, designer Stella McCartney came to Glasgow, where the COP26 climate conference is being held, to defend her vision of less polluting fashion that is more respectful of nature and animal welfare.
Convinced vegetarian, the daughter of Paul McCartney entered this industry 30 years ago with a first credo: not to work with leather or fur. And she – very well – succeeded, despite initial skepticism.
The Kelvingrove Museum in the Scottish metropolis pays homage to him, exhibiting in particular materials on which his label has been working for years.
Like mycelium, directly extracted from fungi to replace leather. Or NuCycl, a technology capable, according to its creators, of endlessly recycling any type of textile waste, natural such as cotton, or synthetic such as polyester.
“I’m here to show what the future of fashion can be,” the designer told AFP. “That there is another way and other solutions, that we can put forward new technologies and new brands to exchange bad for good”.
Fashion is the third largest manufacturing sector on the planet, accounting for up to 8% of carbon emissions, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI).
But the big challenge for these new materials is to dress billions of people at reasonable prices, far from those of the British designer.
“I hope so,” says Stella McCartney. “That these are viable solutions and that we must make known”.
Dirty mode
On recycling, for example. “People wear trendy clothes a maximum of three times before throwing them away. And that means billions of dollars in waste. For me, it’s a business opportunity, ”she says.
“What I’m saying is: bring me these wasted clothes and I’ll show you how I can make a sweatshirt entirely from waste,” continues the one whose brand attracts. fashionistas and celebrities, as evidenced by the presence in the Glasgow audience of actor Leonardo Di Caprio, known for his commitment to the environmental cause.
In her early days, Stella McCartney caused a stir with a video denouncing the treatment of animals for the fur industry. Even unease on Wednesday at the presentation of extracts from this video in Glasgow.
“Twenty-five years later, things haven’t changed much,” she says. “We have to make people understand that hundreds of millions of animals are killed every year for the fashion industry.”
The French group LVMH, world number one in luxury to which its brand belongs, has not generalized its practice, but an “animal welfare charter” governs the group’s supplies. Another French luxury giant, Kering announced in September to end animal fur in all of the group’s collections.
Stella McCartney says “work hard to create beautiful, ethically produced products”. Which can also make sense economically: “I think we have reached a point where we very quickly become irrelevant and where Generation X, Y or Z will stop buying ‘dirty’ fashion”.
And in the end, all these technologies should make it possible to replace current practices “with something better”, for both customers and producers.
After all, “who wants to work in a slaughterhouse? “