Some bold fashion brands are putting 'degrowth' values into practice

'Degrowth' is a term that supports the fairly widely-accepted knowledge that our fixation on economic growth is destructive to both society and the environment, and that balance must be restored in order for everyone to obtain a good life in a healthy living world.

To achieve this, it proposes new economies which operate within the limits of planetary resources, and wherever any economy surpasses them, reducing it to fit.

The problem is that its negative connotations - due to that dodgy 'de-' prefix - can provoke hostile responses before any conversation can start, mainly from people who focus solely on increasing financial profits, and any idea of planning a more proportionate economy as diminishing those profits.

But when you look behind the label, Degrowth is no different to all the things that all sorts of enlightened business leaders are already exploring, like:

• reduced working hours

• localisation/decentralisation

• meaningful work

• more democratic business models, like co-operatives

• circularity

• resource caps

• responsible advertising

to name a few.

All of which also contribute to wellbeing and resilience and a more sustainable future.

In this article from Vogue, we can see that the future thinkers in fashion are not just talking about it, but doing it, and showing us - and boldly calling it 'Degrowth' without blinking an eye.

US brand Toward limits customers to 12 orders per year (responsible production and consumption, resource caps); the UK's Toast Circle offers in-store clothes swaps and repairs (circularity, localisation); Scandinavian Asket only publicises new garments every three months (responsible advertising) - all a far cry from the relentless trends and micro-seasons of the fast fashion brands whose throwaway textiles are piling up in deserts.

Through my Masters dissertation research, I know that the ‘8 Rs’ of Degrowth are Revalue, Reconceptualise, Restructure, Relocate, Redistribute, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

So Degrowth isn't about business going backwards, it's about business moving forwards.

Reclaiming a sense of appropriateness and foresight to restructure into innovative business models that can carry on confidently into the future, inherently linked to measuring our worth in more ways than money. Growth in other ways.

Any hostility just comes from a reactive fear of what lies ahead when a path hasn't been fully carved. But fear is so often just a matter of vision and imagination. And when it comes to vision and imagination, as always, it's the creative industries that lead the way.

So shall we start using the 'D' word now? Because to this creative industries veteran, Degrowth just sounds like creative thinking in disguise.