SPECIAL REPORT: STREETWEAR HAS A SUSTAINABILITY PROBLEM
“Ethical isn’t a word commonly associated with streetwear,” says American industry veteran and creative business consultant Julie Gilhart, who has worked with everyone from Amazon, Prada, and Jil Sander to Goyard and Mulberry. “It’s too broad of a term, and it doesn’t really resonate with the culture.” Gilhart argues that, although streetwear has long been in the same kind of price point as contemporary and fast fashion, it has always been in its own category. “Responsibility, in terms of sustainability, isn’t written into that culture. So there’s a language that needs to be developed that will resonate.”