By Will Green Apr 21, 2020

Approaching the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we want to reflect on L’Estrange’s mission in light of the health and climate emergencies we face today.

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Promoting ways of producing and consuming products that respect our planetary limits is central to our design thinking and mission, but with the growing urgency of the climate crisis and the critical state of our economy today, we feel strengthened in our resolve to be a company that works for the betterment of the planet and society. Within 12 months, we aim to transition into a climate-positive company. And we want to use the painful but valuable learnings from this crisis to reach that goal.

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The Power of Choice

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This belief has always underpinned our values, but confronted with the current economic collapse, we recognise that not only is good design more important than ever, but good choices, are critical.

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While we may all feel powerless in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, ironically “The Great Pause” has demonstrated the extraordinary power of our consumer choices in dictating the shape and success of our economy, as well as its impact on the environment.

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The disastrous economic effects of national lockdowns have shown us something we never really entertained the idea of — that as consumers, along with driving the growth-chasing machine suffocating our planet, we can also bring it to a standstill.

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An Evolved Economy

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But a standstill isn’t the answer to our environmental emergency. In the fashion industry, 40 million garment workers around the world could face destitution as a result of factory closures, and in Bangladesh alone, over 1 million garment workers have lost their jobs, 70% of whom were sent home without pay.

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This pandemic has shown that economic downfall disproportionately hurts the most vulnerable among us — those without the luxuries of savings, workers rights or health benefits.

We need a solution that respects our world’s social foundations as much as it does the environment. And this solution won’t simply rise from the ashes of this catastrophe. We need to actively find it together.

We’ve been offered a glimpse into a reality where communal survival is prioritised over economic growth and we have witnessed our power to bring the global economy to its knees. Can we now use this newfound perspective to build a more equal and sustainable system that thrives within the earth’s boundaries?

The Right Decisions

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When we start to ‘reopen’ the world, we’ll be faced with choices that will determine our planet’s future. Will we allow ourselves to be gaslit and cajoled back into unsustainable cycles of produce and consume? Or can we all — producers and consumers alike — hold onto our collective power and use it to evolve our society and protect our planet?

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Although the end of the crisis is not yet in sight, the critical decision-making starts now — including for us, at L’Estrange.

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As a company, we’re taking important steps to reach our goal of becoming climate positive within 12 months. From improving accountability by indexing all of our climate impact, to continuing to innovate with the raw materials we use in our garments and the programs that we offer to improve their longevity, this Earth Day we will be discussing some of the initiatives we are working towards in order to achieve this mission.

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The Future of Fashion

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Today, the fashion industry is being forced to reckon with its own identity. As we’ve discussed before, we strongly believe that the existing culture of seasonal collections and sales/discount models fuels our society’s insatiable desire to acquire more and more.

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As consumers, not only do we need to reassess our own priorities but we need to question those of the brands we align ourselves with. We need to support companies that challenge this culture; those that design clothes built to last beyond a season, innovate with sustainable materials and production methods, and treat and pay their employees fairly.

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Transforming the system means directing our resources and capital to the parts of the economy that we want to see thrive, and requires us to support brands that will work with us, not against us, in building a more sustainable society.

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Our post-pandemic future is uncertain and there’s no shortage of opinion as to what it will look like. Some predict the glorious emergence of an enlightened new world order; others argue that once the dust settles, we’ll all slip back into our pre-crisis ways.

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What we now know for sure though, is that it’s up to us.

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Whether it’s as consumers buying the products, or as companies producing them, this Earth Day we’ve been gifted with the knowledge of our power to change the system.

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Now that we know we’ve got it, it’s time to decide how we use it.