Across the Celtic nations, fashion designers, creatives, retailers, and others in the style sector are shifting towards greater environmental and economic sustainability.

“Most small companies are trying to make changes to create more sustainable products and business solutions to help our planet,” says Belfast native Linzi Rooney, owner of Born and Bred, a gift and accessories company based in Northern Ireland. “With an ever-changing environment, you are forced to adapt your business – you have to listen to what the customer wants.”

Such a stance is a sign of the times. Firmly established within today’s business and social lexicon, “sustainability” has become the buzzword for many companies, large or small, whether out on true concern for the environment or merely seeking to placate the shifting consciousness of customers.

The term itself can be traced back to the early 1970s when it was mostly associated with pollution control. By 1987, the United Nations Bruntland Commission officially defined sustainability within an environmental, social, and economic framework as, “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

In the latter part of the 20th century, worldwide summits (starting with the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972), and official protocols such as the Kyoto Accord, signed in 1997, were evidence of an increase in awareness of the impact of consumerism on people and the planet itself.

Over time, many larger corporations – in response to changing social mindsets and newly developed regulations – began to address sustainability within their policies, across many industries that included building and development, energy, technology, and eventually, the full spectrum of consumer goods.

Inevitably, the glaring ecology concerns within the fashion world would also come under scrutiny.

Sustainability has since evolved significantly within the fashion industry with many Celtic designers now considering how the planet and profits can be sustained equally.

Historically, the hippie counterculture that spurned the pervasive post-industrial consumerism of the 1960s was the first sign of changing habits on the horizon. Among them, most notably, was an increasing interest in previously used items found in thrift shops – originally perceived as an option reserved solely for those down on their financial luck – that gradually evolved into respect for recycling, as opposed to the stigma of second-hand.

Encouraged by the social and eco-consciousness of Millennials and Gen Z in particular, the self-defeating myths surrounding cast-off clothing were ultimately debunked, transforming vintage shops into treasure troves. One-of-a-kind gently used fashion finds began to function as the defiant answer to unattainable style standards reserved for the wealthy, and apparently, wasteful, one per cent.

Sustainability continues to permeate the fashion evolution/revolution with its latest alteration – the slow fashion movement.

Slow fashion goes beyond the mere favoring of recycled garments – instead demanding that designers and manufacturers amend their processes and resources to produce high-quality, long-lasting, timeless designs instead of trendy seasonal pieces dumped into a landfill after a few months.

In 2007, an article by Kate Fletcher published in The Ecologist compared the emerging ethical fashion trend to the ‘slow food’ movement that encourages awareness and responsibility with its production and preparation, citing that similar, much-needed alternatives be applied to an increasingly disposable ‘fast fashion’ industry.

The collective obsession with acquiring cheaper and easily accessible ready-made clothes and accessories – often hastily manufactured on the sweat of struggling workers in disreputable conditions – placed a significant strain on ever-dwindling natural resources. Much like the industrial pollution concerns of earlier decades, the exploitation of people and the planet from the overuse of water, energy, toxic chemicals, and enormous textile waste, could no longer be sustained.

“The fashion industry contributes enormous amounts of carbon dioxide to our atmosphere and fast fashion items just aren’t designed to last,” explains Katy Collister, founder of Mama & Joey, an Isle of Man-based company that offers sustainable maternity and breastfeeding-friendly clothing.

“I like to stock timeless styles that don’t follow current trends, won’t go out of fashion, and won’t be thrown away in a few months.”

Collister is among many within a growing trend of Celtic innovators moving towards slow fashion, with larger corporations having little choice but to follow suit as social and environmental issues eclipse economic concerns.

Eco-conscious brands like UK-based Stella MacCartney, Pangaia, and Cornwall’s Finisterre, have, by example alone, inadvertently pressured other manufacturers and retailers to step up sustainability practices and protocols that, if nothing else, have become the latest selling point with savvy and selective consumers.

It is not surprising, that with its long and ancient heritage as a people who revered nature and the land, slow fashion has caught on quickly with many Celtic companies.

Scotland. the heartland of wool production – recognized as one of the most sustainable sources of clothing on the planet – has been at the forefront of eco-friendly fashion using the finest of natural materials to create long lasting quality garments for hundreds of years. In addition, its heritage tweed has long been acknowledged as an iconic fashion material and one of the most environmentally friendly designs available.

Clare Campbell, founder of Prickly Thistle – a clothing company based in Scotland -employs a zero-waste policy using local natural fabrics to create made-to-measure clothing that is also made to last for years.

Yet, with timeless designs and long-lasting wear as a cornerstone of the slow fashion movement, how can any business, willing to uphold sustainability, sustain profits?

“It is challenging,” admits Campbell. “At the end of the day, what will be a testament to businesses like ours is that we never compromise on our values. I hope that clearly lays out to people that when you buy from a company like us, you do make a difference.”

While admirable, such sentiments are not necessarily the bottom line for all business owners.

Anthony Burns, chief operating officer for Glasgow-based ACS Clothing, established in 1997, offers a more practical perspective.

“People and other organizations often assume that to be sustainable is going to cost money and reduce profits,” he notes. “However, we have saved a lot of money by changing our processes.”

“At the end of the day, the less you consume, the lower the cost…”

Such a commitment sets an example to other businesses with many companies now seeking to harmonize profits with shifting social norms.

“As sustainability became more widely spoken about over the last few years, we realized that ACS was in a position to enable large brands and retailers to introduce a circular fashion offering into their business model,” adds Burns.

Evidence that a viable blueprint for circular fashion is currently being studied and structured by academics and entrepreneurs alike.

Nancy Bocken, Professor in Sustainable Business and Circular Economy at Maastricht University, Netherlands, identifies tangible profit drivers from her 2023 study of several slow fashion companies.

The results reveal a successful formula that encourages slower consumption that does not appear to slowdown profits. Costs are recouped through more efficient production, and manufacturing is limited to a smaller, highly skilled team focused on creating a high quality and versatile finished product. Ultimately the refined process results in exceedingly high customer loyalty based on shared values in keeping with evolving social standards.

In addition, Bocken’s study also cites that the UK fashion industry is “exceptionally well-positioned” to adopt slow fashion practices, and as the third largest market, a growth of 7.5 percent is projected over the next 5 years.

With consumers demanding more ethical fashion options, advancements in technology that enable everything from the reduction of environmental footprints to fabric innovations, combined with a shifting style narrative that is more mindful of consumption, the popularity of slow fashion is destined to be more than just a trend but an emerging standard that is sustainable.