BoF is away for its annual break until 2nd January. In the meantime, we invite you to explore highlights of our news and analysis from the year.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2024 | | | Dear BoF Community,
Sustainability is falling down executive agendas, supplanted by concerns about the global economy, geopolitics and trade tensions. At the same time, the risks of inaction for fashion are growing.
That tension was at the heart of many of the stories we covered in 2024. This year was the hottest on record, with soaring temperatures giving rise to deadly and chaotic weather extremes. In manufacturing hubs in Asia it got so hot this spring that workers sickened and machinery stopped working. But the industry still isn't really treating climate change as an imminent threat, with most companies lagging on environmental targets and investments.
In fact, it's proved a brutal 12 months for many sustainability-minded fashion businesses, with high-profile brands like Mara Hoffman closing shop amid a "slow fashion recession" and material innovators struggling to commercialise. Patagonia, one of the industry's most ardent advocates for climate-friendly capitalism, is still trying to figure out a business model that resolves the contradiction between its environmental goals and the damage caused by its operations.
Elsewhere, we chronicled the cost of a business-as-usual approach. Luxury brands, beset by a market downturn, saw excess inventory levels balloon into a billion-dollar problem — one made much more challenging by new rules that forbid the destruction of unsold goods. A scandal that linked Dior and Armani to Italian sweatshops added fuel to growing skepticism about luxury's value proposition. Shein, one of the industry's most successful brands in recent years, has also become its most polluting, according to data the company published in August.
The situation puts fashion on track for a sustainability reckoning and raises the risk companies could slip even further behind on their targets in the coming year. Sarah Kent, Chief Sustainability Correspondent |
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| The State of Fashion 2025 by McKinsey & Company and BoF Insights | Fashion executives are feeling pessimistic about 2025. A long-expected post-Covid spending slowdown has arrived, while geopolitical tensions remain high. But there are still pockets of opportunity in promising new markets, in underserved customer groups and at new frontiers in customer experience, powered by artificial intelligence. Download The State of Fashion 2025 now to explore the 10 themes that will define the industry in the year ahead. | | |
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