How Fashion Can Use Excess Product for Social Good
Fashion companies’ sustainability efforts have to account for both the planet and people. And as COVID-19 increases the population of people in need, providing social support has become even more important.
A recent webinar hosted as part of The SynZenBe Show conference brought together four individuals who are involved with the nonprofit Delivering Good to talk about the role the fashion business can play in supporting those in need, particularly now.
“For disaster relief organizations, it’s the perfect storm, but there’s nothing perfect about it, because obviously millions are suffering,” said Lisa Gurwitch, president and CEO of Delivering Good. “But this is also an opportunity to help, and everyone wants to help. This situation also points out what we have known that has become true, is that purpose and values drive business, so there’s a business motivation here to help.”
Celebrating its 35th year, Delivering Good’s mission is to get brand new essential items into the hands of those in need. Over its decades, the organization has distributed more than $2 billion worth of donated products.
Michael Kors recently made a $35 million donation to the organization in June. Gap Inc. also chose to get involved as a result of COVID-19, as the group found itself with excess goods during store closures.
Vincent Adams, chief financial officer of the Banana Republic division of Gap and a Delivering Good board member, explained that some of its options for overstocks included moving merchandise to online channels and marking down inventory. The company could have also left goods overseas to avoid duties, but they would have likely been destroyed. Donating them therefore emerged as a valuable alternative.
“Thinking about it from a sustainability strategy…we would much rather put it in the hands of people who can actually use it. So that’s another good example of how these things are really circular, and by doing some of these things, you can actually help people and avoid doing harm to the environment,” Vincent said.
Even outside of the pandemic, the fashion industry has gotten into wasteful habits. Moderator Tricia Carey, director of global business development at Lenzing, noted that one of the major areas of waste is in clothing that is not destined for consumer sales. “When I go into different offices of various brands, and I see how much waste is in the samples that they buy, when you can’t even walk down the hallway, there’s so many rolling racks,” she said. “And you just think to yourself, these get discarded or they have some small mutilation and people think that they’re no longer wearable.”
Speaking of her experience in the fashion business at companies including Ann Taylor, L Brands and Guess, Andrea Weiss, founder of The O Alliance and chair of the board for Delivering Good, explained that she often saw goods destroyed because retailers were trying to protect the brand identity or channel distribution. “It never seemed right to me, but I was often not the decision maker,” she said.
Pennsylvannia Second Lady Gisele Fetterman, community partner of Delivering Good, had an outside perspective that led her to the cause. She emigrated to the U.S. as a young girl from a third-world country and her family would dumpster dive. “As a young kid, I remember seeing a dumpster full of destroyed clothing from clothing stores, and just being in shock,” she said. “Coming to this country of excess, and not being able to understand, knowing that my family was in need, as were so many, why these products were being destroyed.”
Similarly to how the restaurant industry has come together to tackle hunger, Delivering Good sees the potential for a similar joint effort in fashion.
“We’ve got a big vision at Delivering Good,” Andrea said. “Not just of this more equitable world, but for this industry to really come together and to begin to think in this more holistic way.”
Watch a recording of the conversation here.
SynZenBe offers the world’s leading fashion brands an end-to end solution that brings identity, reputation and sustainability to the textile supply chain. Learn more here.