While Clear Fashion just put out a call, the day before yesterday, to the members of its community to become ambassadors for a more eco-responsible and transparent fashion (see here), Le Boudoir Numérique talked with Rym Trabelsi, co-founder of this application designed to help consumers make better sustainable choices when buying clothes, in the respect of the environment and sentient beings.
By Ludmilla Intravaia
Le Boudoir Numérique : How did the Clear Fashion app come about?
Rym Trabelsi, co-founder of Clear Fashion : Marguerite Dorangeon, the co-founder of Clear Fashion and I are concerned consumers, in the sense that we seek better ways to consume food, cosmetics, etc., by buying products that have the least impact possible on the environment. Regarding fashion, we couldn’t help but wonder : what is hidden behind the clothes we buy? How to consume fashion responsibly? We started looking for information about this sector to realize how negative its impact was on the environment, human beings and animals and that we did not have the means to buy more responsibly. Indeed, if many reports demonstrate that consumers want to consume better, it is does not reflect in a massive increase in greener purchasing acts on the fashion market. In 2018, we conducted a number of interviews and surveys to understand the reasons for this situation and we highlighted a communication problem, born of several obstacles.
Which ones?
For 82% of those questioned, the first obstacle is the lack of information. Indeed, very little information on this subject reaches the consumer and when he wants to be informed, it is very complicated for him to find his way in the different existing alternatives. When you are in a store, ready for the act of purchase, the only information available is the price and some unknown certification logos which, in the fashion sector, have less reputation, and therefore less value for the consumer than food logos, for example. The mention made in France can also be displayed but consumers take little account of it, either because they are poorly informed about this appellation, or because they are wary of it. Many people are aware that made in France may represent only the last step in the manufacture of a garment, an embroidery for example. Another obstacle is a huge distrust vis-à-vis the communication of brands on matters of social responsibility. When a company communicates about its environmental commitment, people think it's greenwashing because they are much more knowledgeable of marketing techniques and less fooled by them. So, consumers are lost, the only way to find information being to seek advice from friends or do research on the internet. But the subject is complex, with many different themes, environmental, societal, health, etc., not to mention animal abuse and people have a hard time analyzing all of it. That’s why we decided to co-build a solution directly with them.
So what is Clear Fashion exactly?
It is an application which aims to provide its users with simplified, clear and comparable information on the brands and clothing of their choice, on four themes, environment, social, animal welfare and health on which the levels of business engagement are noted. In June 2018, we created a prototype and started to bring our community together. At the beginning, there were 20 of us, then up to 15,000 people who are testing the app to continuously improve it, who are helping us analyze the data to assess whether a brand is eco-responsible or to identify new criteria and functionalities to add to it, so that our solution is accessible to the greatest number. For instance, on May 15, at the request of our users who want to know where the clothes are made, we updated the application to indicate the places of manufacture but also new criteria on the lifespan of clothing: Is it repairable? Is a warranty service operated by the brand? Does it offer a rental service? Likewise, we now provide information on the number of collections produced per year by brands because some users prefer to buy products from slow fashion, rather than fast fashion, which favor unnecessary overconsumption. Today, nearly 130,000 people have downloaded our application, launched in September 2019. And if the first feature of Clear Fashion is to inform, it is also a tool to get the brands more committed to sustainability.
What do you mean by that?
On the app, users have the option of asking a brand to reference itself. With these requests that prove how important this subject is for their customers, Clear fashion contacts the brand in question to explain the procedure to follow to be evaluated. The more consumers ask, the more brands get involved, we see it very clearly. This shows the power of consumers. Of course, brands can voluntarily contact us to be evaluated and be more transparent with their community. Since our launch, 250 brands have asked to be referenced. So far, 124 brands are already rated on our app.
How do you do this evaluation?
The 15 brands most sought after by our community are evaluated by us, whether they participate or not. For this, we are carrying out an investigative work, on the basis of public data, on the Internet for example. When brands contact us, we send them a questionnaire to fill out on their design, manufacturing, control practices, etc. The brand provides supporting documents and evidence from independent third parties, auditors, certification logos and other actors such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, association for the defense of animal rights - see here, AN), whose verification work on the field gives reliability to their statements.
During the Coronavirus crisis, you continued to probe your community’s views, including on deliveries during lockdown, a survey that resulted in an open letter to merchants (see here). Have you noticed, due to this Covid-19 pandemic, an evolution of mentalities towards a desire to consume in a more eco-responsible way?
We often hear about ecological upheaval and global warming, but if we don't experience it directly, we don't feel it with the same urgency. With this health crisis, people realized that our society could change overnight and that all of our choices are important. They started to sort through their wardrobe, to try to buy more locally, to support eco-responsible brands, in short to change their consumption practices. Many people realize that this kind of crisis could happen again and that a degrowth-based lifestyle might be better for them than what they are experiencing now. In my opinion, this crisis was a quite strong moment of awareness, when people realized that it is possible to continue to have fun buying beautiful clothes, while making sure to value the citizen actors who will make the world better tomorrow.
A world of tomorrow where fashion transparency would be a given?
Exactly. Today it seems logical to know where the meat you eat in the restaurant or the tomato you buy in the store comes from. But for fashion, it's not yet the case. In five years, I would like the label of each item of clothing to show its carbon impact, where its materials come from, where it was produced, etc. We are optimistic because things are moving in the right direction. An initiative like ours is shaking up the fashion sector. Brands are well aware that transparency is becoming an unavoidable subject, that they will have to change the way they manufacture and communicate about their practices, while being sincere about their approach. And if they have to improve, they just simply have to say so, not to hide it. Currently, some brands do not have the knowledge of their entire production chain and it does not matter, they will do better tomorrow. If a company does not know this year where its cotton was produced, the goal is to find out next year. The important thing is that transparency in fashion becomes the norm to provide as much information as possible to consumers. In this context, we receive more and more requests to open the application to users abroad and we would be delighted to offer the possibility to people in Belgium, Germany, England or even in Japan, to inform themselves on what they want to buy, thanks to our solution. To do this, we need the commitment of our users, that they help us improve the application, that they share it around them, that they push brands to commit to sustainability because it’s all those things that brings Clear Fashion to life.
* Clear Fashion website is here. Clear Fashion is looking for ambassadors to help it in its mission (organization of physical or digital actions, master classes on sustainable fashion, etc.). The registration form is there.
* Continue reading on Le Boudoir Numérique with these following articles :
- "Our apple leather sneakers are another step towards sustainable and circular fashion"
- "To invest in lab-grown French diamond"
- "Promoting textile hemp through research and development"
- PETA - "Technology can help end the exploitation of animals for fashion"
- "Technology has a role to play in fashion traceability"
- "Eco-responsibility needs technology"
- "Linen tells the collective story of French know-how"
- "Augmenting garments functionalities, thanks to biomaterials"