ARTS & LIFESTYLE
How Covid-19 Affected Small, Sustainable Businesses
BY ANNA PRESTON
18 FEBRUARY 2021
Image Credit: Instagram/jessgrechh
The Covid-19 Pandemic and continuous economic lockdowns have ignited a series of unprecedented challenges for the fashion industry, including the vast decline in consumer spending, businesses claiming bankruptcy and garment factory workers going unpaid, to name a few.
Social Isolation has given us the opportunity to reflect on our actions and their impacts upon the environment. We’ve seen – and rejoiced - in the return of wildlife to places once viewed as uninhabitable and witnessed a drop in carbon emissions amongst some of the most polluted cities in the world; but is this enough for our behaviour to permanently change?
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In 2020, McKinsey identified sustainability as one of the top priorities of the industry in response to the pandemic. Encouraging the reshaping of the industry and introducing a demand-driven, flexible supply chain; introducing greater transparency in order to secure a future for the industry.
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The sustainable movement, however, has been rooted in the life of Jess Grech, owner of the unisex upcycled clothing brand, The Grandad Company, since birth – thanks to her Grandad.
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Image Credit: Instagram/thegrandadcompany
A: How were you first introduced to the concept of sustainability?
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J: Since being little, I've been obsessed with my Grandad and his clothing. I can remember every Christmas when he received clothing, I wanted his over my own! But because my Grandad had OCD, it wasn’t until I was over 18 that he would let me borrow anything. I was only allowed to borrow clothing if he were with me and could make sure himself that I didn’t get it dirty and respected it at all times.
It was this immense care for his clothing that helped me build the mantra that fashion is something that should be treasured and drove me to work with the upcycling charity Traid, who help sell unwanted clothing to prevent it going to landfill, but they also fund international development projects to improve working conditions of the textiles industry.
Working with them really was a wakeup call, being exposed to the unethical processes that dominate the industry like worker exploitation and environmental damage. It allowed me to further educate myself and has stuck with me through education, working in industry and now creating my own sustainable brand.
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A: The industry has seen mass job losses and closures, due to the pandemic, how has your business been affected?
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J: Having a handmade upcycling fashion brand is an extremely expensive business model to run. The cost of obtaining vintage pieces and reconstructing them is very time consuming, as well as the higher price point making it harder to sell. Because of the mass closures and unemployment rates soaring, people have had nowhere to go and nothing to spend which has resulted in sales dropping and having to source alternative strategies. I have begun looking into sportswear as comfortable clothing trends are gaining popularity and offering lower price points for customers with different incomes. Fortunately, because I run this business by myself, I haven’t had to introduce social distancing during production.
Image Credit: Instagram/thegrandadcompany
A: Within the early months of the pandemic, the world saw an increase in wildlife returning to once uninhabitable ecosystems and a vast drop in carbon emissions, what do you think this can teach us about sustainability?
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J: Its clear to see the extent to which wildlife benefits from the human race slowing down. Being able to see how quickly nature can recover because of us slowing down production and consumption rates is really harrowing; it puts things into perspective with how much our actions impact the environment and its inhabitants. It gives hope for the future of the textiles industry as we’ve been shown we don’t need to completely halt production to benefit nature, we just need to slow down and reassess our over-consumptive relationship with fashion.
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A: What are your hopes for the future of the fashion industry?
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J: I hope that the industry can recover but learn from this experience. We need to move towards a more sustainable method of production and consumption, moving away from the fast fashion model and reassessing our relationship with clothing. If demand for clothing continues to drop, I can all but hope that the high street will take this as an opportunity to cease large-scale mass production, producing to meet demand.