Be Cool But Conscious? - H&M's Success with the Conscious Collection

Have you ever wondered how to be cool but conscious? Or, are you an eco-conscious consumer but find it hard to be the same when it comes to fashion?

If you do, you are not alone, dear readers! I, too, have a hard time finding organic or recycled fashion very appealing. Also, I find seeking sustainability in fashion simply confusing. A post on the blog Fashionista-at-Law from December 2009 asked: “Is Fashionista acting sustainably if she buys organic or fair trade clothes and what exactly are ‘ethical’ clothes? Fashionista would love to see those terms on labels so that she no longer has to spend her time researching a brand that claims to be ethical, green, organic, before facing the tricky question as to whether it is more ‘green’ to order the item of desire online or to check for its availability in a shop close by.” Is it that hard to be cool but conscious?

SimpleShoes, from Santa Barbara, CA, offers eco-certified shoes made from recycled products and is run with a sustainable business model. When Simple Shoes was first introduced, we were all very excited and applauded the company's philosophy and business model. Now, unfortunately, the business is closed. Simple Shoes' website said, "after 20 years of shoe making, Simple was ready for a vacation, a ‘creative re-engineering.’" But why did Simple Shoes fail? Did Simple Shoes serve a broad enough audience to keep its business going? And why don't we see similar success stories like Simple Shoes' with other companies in the fashion industry?

Despite what we see -- a slow development of sustainability in mainstream fashion -- sustainability in fashion is becoming one of the key concepts for success. Vanessa Friedman, the Financial Times fashion editor, says words such as “sustainability,” “green,” “eco,” “organic” and “ethical” are increasingly a part of the fashion conversation. Mintel, the international market research company, notes: “As consumers demand more from the companies they do business with, they’ll want . . . more scrutiny on ethical claims than ever before.” So why hasn’t the fashion world sought more sustainable business models?

The answer is partly because a concept of luxury doesn't sit well with environmentalism. Why? Because an industry based on not need but desire is one that is often associated with indulgence and excess. It sits at the opposite end of table from the concept of collaborative consumption that I introduced in my previous post.

On my search for a cool summer dress for my recent vacation in South Beach, Miami, I finally found the answer. The answer had a label on it; it reads the H&M Conscious Collection. H&M, a global fashion house, is trying to revamp the image of its eco-friendly line, the Conscious Collection, into something that’s going to appeal to consumers who cannot compromise on their sense of style, even for a worthy cause. Despite the huge success of the line, the Conscious Collection had failed to capture the attention of the few who live and breathe fashion. And H&M knows how to communicate its effort with us cool-but-conscious consumers. But did you know that H&M is the biggest users of this eco-aware fabric in the world? No longer is the Conscious Collection the domain of tree huggers and hemp fetishists pretending to be trendy.

Finally, sustainable fashion is becoming a legitimate option for the true-blue fashionista. We can continue being cool while being conscious and smart about our choices.

Do you have any sustainable fashion stories to share?

I am wearinga a dress from  the H&M Conscious Collection
 in South Beach, Miami (via Instagram)