Sustainability Isn’t a Checkbox, It’s a System
There’s a quiet disconnect I’m seeing over and over again in the fashion industry.
Trends are forecasted. Materials are pushed. Countries are stamped as “good” or “bad.” And somewhere along the way, we forget that production doesn’t work in absolutes. Just because one factory in a country is clean, compliant, and well-run does not mean all factories there are. The opposite is also very true.
Where the misunderstanding starts
A lot of sustainability conversations are driven by optics, not operations.
Someone visits a single factory, someone hears a supplier story, someone reads a certification label. Suddenly, an entire region gets a reputation, good or bad, based on very limited exposure.
But production is layered.
Factories differ by:
- ownership
- subcontracting practices
- wage structures
- safety enforcement
- material sourcing
- pressure from buyers
Two factories on the same street can operate under completely different ethical realities.
When departments see different parts of the system
Part of the issue is that different teams are only seeing one slice of the supply chain.
Marketing and sales often view production through:
- claims
- certifications
- timelines
- what can be communicated clearly and confidently to the customer
Design teams, on the other hand, are usually closer to:
- materials
- development constraints
- sampling pressure
- factory relationships and feasibility
Neither view is wrong, but on its own, neither is complete. When marketing pushes sustainability narratives without understanding production realities, oversimplification happens. When design makes decisions without understanding downstream sales pressure, timelines get compressed, and factories absorb the stress. Sustainability breaks in the gaps between departments.
Trend pressure hides real consequences
When the industry pushes speed and novelty for the next season, the pressure trickles down fast.
Factories are asked to:
- produce faster
- reduce costs
- absorb last-minute changes
- meet unrealistic timelines
And when those asks are made without cross-team alignment, someone else pays the price, usually the people making the product or the environment absorbing the shortcuts. Most designers and brands don’t intend harm. But lack of shared understanding doesn’t cancel out impact.
Sustainability requires shared literacy
Ethical production isn’t about:
- chasing the “right” country
- copying what another brand claims to do
- assuming compliance based on surface-level proof
It does require:
- marketing teams understanding how production actually works
- design teams understanding how products are sold and communicated
- shared language between creativity, operations, and commerce
- timelines and costs that don’t force exploitation
This probably means something uncomfortable but necessary:
Both sides need a lesson from each other.
Design needs visibility into commercial pressure.
Marketing needs literacy in production systems.
Sustainability lives where those perspectives meet, not where they stay siloed.
What we need more of
The industry doesn’t need more guilt.
It needs more clarity.
More education around:
- how factories truly operate
- why transparency is ongoing work
- how internal decisions affect real people
- why “clean” isn’t a permanent label
Sustainable fashion isn’t about perfection.
It’s about responsibility and being willing to look beyond the surface.
Because protecting people and the planet starts with understanding the systems we participate in — together.