Stella McCartney is the Past, Present, and Future of Sustainability
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Stella McCartney has always been a top innovator in the fashion industry. She has definitely achieved icon status now, and has done so by creating beautiful designs and being kind to the earth and environment.
She graduated from Central Saint Martins in 1995, and her graduation show foreshadowed a successful future with cruelty-free fashion. But her environmentally-conscious beliefs didn’t start there–she was a friend to the earth at a very young age. Her parents were vegetarian, and she got to grow up on an organic farm. She learned how to respect the environment and learned why it was so important to protect the earth as a young girl.
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After her graduation, she was handpicked to replace Karl Lagerfeld as creative director of the fashion house Chloé. At just 26, she was a young designer that was shaking up the industry. At that time, sustainability wasn’t the norm, and McCartney faced many obstacles. However, her hard work paid off, and she turned Chloé into a huge success. To this day, Chloé continues to be an industry leader in sustainability.
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Stella McCartney started her eponymous label in 2001, which, of course, has been a huge success ever since. She even started her collaboration with Adidas in 2004, which now creates clothes for a wide range of activities like tennis, yoga, and running. No matter what she does though, Stella McCartney remains true to her commitment to the earth and sustainability.
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Unlike many brands that say they're committed to sustainability but don’t actually follow through, Stella McCartney takes no shortcuts. She told Vogue, “We’re in the farming industry in fashion.” It’s not just about cutting and sewing, they look at biodiversity and soil, too. They start at the source with the materials they use for their products.
Designer handbags are almost always made from leather–if it’s not high quality leather some people just say no. But Stella McCartney has been leather-free from the start, and that has never impacted the quality or beauty of their products. This challenges Stella McCartney to be more innovative. This year the brand debuted their first ever mushroom leather bag. They have been ahead of the game in sustainability from the start, and now that more brands are turning to more environmentally conscious practices, Stella McCartney is the standard that other brands are looking at.
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Stella McCartney has to be one of the most creative luxury brands out there. They find creative solutions in order to be as sustainable as possible. From reusing deadstock fabrics and fur free fur to recycled cashmere, the fashion house is as transparent and sustainable as it gets.
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Luxury fashion needs to become more sustainable in the future. It is vital for the fashion industry that prestigious brands start to change and turn to environmentally conscious practices. Stella McCartney should be the new standard that other brands look to in order to keep the fashion industry moving with the future.