Incorporating Sustainability With Limited Funds, Resources, And Time
Have you been thinking about how you can incorporate sustainability in your brand with limited resources, funds and time? We understand that this can be a challenge for many slow fashion founders and we want to equip you with the right knowledge in this blog post.
If you want to incorporate sustainability into your business as a small to medium-sized business, you need to choose your priorities. Since you likely don’t have huge budgets or massive amounts of resources, it’s important to select 1–2 priorities to focus on.
Although you’re picking 1–2 priorities, it does not mean that you are doing nothing in the other sustainability areas. For example, if you don’t choose ethical labour as one of your priorities, that does not mean you are going to be employing a child labour factory. Instead, view this as an opportunity to focus on the sustainability items that truly matter to you so that you can move the needle.
Here is a high-level overview of what we usually walk through with clients to help them prioritize their sustainability efforts. Please note that this is in no particular order:
Carbon Emissions
Water Usage
Harmful Dyes
Plastics
Animal Cruelty
Ethical Production
Textile Waste
Out of this list, you should pick 1–2 priorities that resonate with your brand’s mission and values. We do want to emphasize that just because you didn’t choose an area to focus on from the list, it does not mean you are going to do nothing. Your efforts in other areas even if you don’t prioritize it is still going to be a lot better than fast fashion brands.
When you have limited budgets, resources, and time, you cannot take it upon yourself to shoulder the whole fashion industry’s problems. Instead, pick the areas you want to make a difference in and do them well. Put enough money in those areas and spend time doing it so that you can make an impact.
If you’d like help with your sustainability strategy, sustainability priorities, sourcing materials and manufacturers, reporting impacts, and communicating efforts to customers — we can work together through our Sustainability Consulting Services. Our team only works with a limited number of clients every year so if you’re interested in working together, you can request a complimentary consultation to see if it’s a fit to work together and create a tailored consulting package for your needs.
