![]() ![]() Some say the breadth of definitions makes it vulnerable to greenwashing: the practice of companies making misleading claims about their environmental credentials to hoodwink customers. Like the term “sustainability,” which means different things to different people, degrowth is used in a variety of ways - and that leads to big disagreements about what it is and what it implies. But essentially degrowth is used here to mean supply chain optimization improved efficiency using raw materials to make more product that actually sells - meaning less wasted product and higher profits. The company wouldn’t elaborate when contacted by The New York Times in October. “We have seen our financials getting better although we produce less units compared to five years ago,” Halide Alagöz, the chief product and sustainability officer at Ralph Lauren, told COP26 conference delegates last year. And Ralph Lauren is exploring what “financial growth through degrowth of resources” might look like. ![]() Fledgling brands like Early Majority, founded by a former Patagonia executive, are being touted as degrowth brands because they urge consumers to buy items only once. In September, the British department store Selfridges announced that it wanted almost half of all customer transactions to be based on resale, repair, rentals or refills by 2030. But decades after Patagonia unveiled its infamous “Don’t Buy This Jacket” holiday ad campaign, some are tentatively exploring how the concept may be incorporated into their business.Īlmost all efforts involve circularity - meaning approaches to ensure that products are continually recycled, reborn and reused. ![]() No household-name companies are fully revamping business models to align with hard-line degrowthers just yet. And so far, many targets set by fashion companies for pollution reduction and better labor standards, or investment into new green technologies and systems, are having little effect. Framework Convention on Climate Change.Īt the same time, unpredictable weather patterns and dwindling resources are affecting supply chains, including cotton fields in Pakistan and the Amazon rainforest, making sourcing and production of materials more difficult. Still, it seems a particular challenge there, given global apparel consumption is projected to rise by 63 percent by 2030, from 62 million tons to 102 million tons, according to research by the Boston Consulting Group (the equivalent of more than 500 billion additional T-shirts.)ĭegrowth may be especially resonant now because evidence suggests that as climate change accelerates, emissions from textile manufacturing are projected to skyrocket by 60 percent by 2030, according to the U.N. In the debating parlors of London, the How to Academy is presenting events like “ The Pursuit of Growth Is a Disaster for Our Country and Our Planet,” and degrowth shows up on TikTok too, through quirkily edited explanations that appeal to Gen Z.ĭegrowth discussions aren’t limited to the fashion industry. The term, coined in 1972 by the French political theorist André Gorz, is becoming more common as consumers become more aware of catastrophic levels of global warming.ĭegrowth is popping up on the bookshelves of Tokyo, where Kohei Saito, the philosopher, has published “Capital in the Anthropocene,” a popular book on the subject. ![]()
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