Environmental crisis and shifts in consumer awareness are making sustainable fashion a trend. Even as vintage grows in popularity, we also hear stories of people who don't buy clothes at all. Yet it is also we who, opening the closet, grumble again today that we have nothing to wear. If you decide to buy clothes again today, what should you consider?
[MUSINSA, which created "greenwashing" guidelines ©MUSINSA]
MUSINSA: Building Trust Through Transparent Disclosure of Information
"MUSINSA," a fashion platform much frequented by the MZ generation, recently published "greenwashing guidelines." The brands listed on the MUSINSA platform number about 8,000. The guidelines guide each brand to provide accurate and transparent product information without false promotion disguised as eco-friendly. MUSINSA—including its own brand, MUSINSA Standard—aims to have all brands apply the "anti-greenwashing guidelines" within the second quarter. It is also preparing for the 2027 mandating of the "Digital Product Passport (DPP)"—which contains information such as product production, sales, and recycling—by applying the DPP to products exported to the EU. MUSINSA's efforts aim at trust with consumers and the building of a sustainable fashion ecosystem.
[A dress made of hanji ©VEGAN TIGER]
VEGAN TIGER, Leading the Evolution of Vegan Fashion
"VEGAN TIGER"—meaning a tiger that eats vegetables—is known as a front-runner of vegan fashion that completely excludes animal-derived materials. This brand's fur or leather garments are not made from materials obtained from animals. VEGAN TIGER's slogan, "Cruelty-free"—stating that it pursues vegan fashion free from cruelty—clearly expresses what VEGAN TIGER wants to say through fashion.
The materials VEGAN TIGER uses are eco-friendly: traditional hanji (Korean paper), nylon recycled from waste fishing nets, regenerated polyester made from waste PET bottles, and more. There are also materials that make use of fruit. Namely, it makes a 100%-biodegradable plant-based leather material using persimmon peels from Cheongdo. Recognized for the authenticity of its vegan-material development not only at home but also at overseas fashion shows, VEGAN TIGER appears set to continue its innovation for sustainable fashion materials.
[Re;code, which makes clothes through upcycling ©Re;code]
Re;code: the Potential of a Circular Economy
"Re;code," a brand launched by Kolon FnC, is a brand that puts resource circulation through upcycling as its top value. Re;code upcycles unsold inventory clothing that is three or more years old to make new products. These clothes take on life again through a process of disassembly and recombination. And they are sometimes produced as limited editions of five pieces or fewer. The "Military Collection," in which military tents and uniforms are reborn at designers' fingertips, drew popularity among the MZ generation with its unique designs. As materials, it also, uniquely, recycles airbags and car seats to make bags.
What Re;code wants to achieve through this brand is to realize social responsibility and environmental protection at the same time. In this context, it collaborates with the "Goodwill Store," an organization for people with intellectual disabilities, contributing to job creation for the socially vulnerable, and also runs eco-friendly-related educational workshops and the like—realizing a vision beyond resource circulation.
Sustainable fashion redefines the concept of clothing consumption. The fashion industry—frequently mentioned alongside the topic of ESG—offsets problems related to clothing consumption and presents a new perspective on consumers' consumption orientation. In this way, the fashion industry, which is settling sustainable directions in the industry—production, consumption, recycling, and beyond a mere trend—is opening the road to practicing sustainability through the disclosure of product information via the introduction of digital electronic passports and the strengthening of anti-greenwashing policies.
by Editor N