The Horizon article written by Bettina Sonnenschein regarding the topic of sustainability in the fashion world, Prof. Fassnacht begins by explaining the still extremely small market share of sustainable fashion with the significantly higher prices that must be achieved due to the more complex production process of sustainable fashion. "Customers are often not willing to really spend more money on sustainable fashion," he says. He further argues "As long as the intention to buy is expressed, but in practice the cheap item is chosen, there is not much to blame the manufacturers for. Especially since the business models currently trimmed to fast fashion also must aim for the element of surprise to be successful.
"After all, we have enough of everything in our closets. So, the industry has to come up with a lot to appeal to us." Nevertheless, the trend towards sustainable fashion is clearly visible and many manufacturers are already setting a good example, but it is not yet sufficiently communicated and has not really arrived in the perception of end consumers. There is therefore still a lot to be done to make the topic more present and to associate manufacturers with the context of sustainability.
Read the article in the print edition of Horizont magazine from February 28, 2022.