Gilles Lipovetsky sees sustainability as “essential” and one of the great challenges of today’s fashion

The philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky has pointed out that the new paradigm of sustainability is “essential” and one of the great challenges of the current fashion world, which is why he has urged the responsibility of brands.

He said this during the interview ‘Fashion and culture: the role of designer fashion in European cultural identity’ at the International European Designer Fashion Conference, a prelude to the 080 Barcelona Fashion catwalk, which will be held on April 13 and 14 at Tinglados in Barcelona.

According to the philosopher, it is important to highlight that in the Middle Ages, when Europe invented fashion, it had no sense of responsibility: “What was frivolous is no longer frivolous, it is something of weight, with importance.”

For this reason, he has defended that this paradigm is undeniable and absolutely new, since no creator had ever fallen into it before while, now, “it is impossible to ignore this dimension.”

A COMPLICATED CHALLENGE

For him, this is a complicated challenge, and he has reflected that fashion “is a game, it is change for the sake of change”, making its compatibility with structural sustainability difficult.

Furthermore, he highlighted that fashion, like many other sectors, has collaborated in destroying the planet and has worsened the carbon footprint: “Maybe there is a certain incompatibility, but we can reduce it.”

In this way, he has called for the responsibility of brands to introduce recyclable materials or revalue second-hand, although trying to avoid “greenwashing”, of course.”

Likewise, he highlighted that Spaniards spend 3% of their budget on clothing, much less than 50 years ago, making evident the entry of new dynamics in the world of fashion, especially among young people.