When clothing was made custom for us by our families or neighborhood tailors, clothing was made to last. These items were not thrown out after one use because they cost more and lasted years.
In the United States alone, $460 billion worth of clothing items are tossed every year, even though they are still wearable, per Ocean Generation. With stats like that, it's obvious that not only do we need to change the quality of the clothes entering people's homes, but we also need to change the mindset of how we acquire and wear our wardrobe.
CEO of Paloma St. James, Pamela Morris James, is on a mission to make modularity the new norm.
James's journey began in her 20s when she started experimenting with her first designs. She realized that dressing a woman could be more manageable if the clothes had more weight and flow. When an item became easier to style, it became more flexible within a sustainable capsule wardrobe.
"Sustainability is doing more with less," Pamela Morris James told Forbes. "Take our seasonal collections, for instance. We've chosen to produce only eight core pieces per season, but each one can be styled endlessly to suit your personal preferences."
By reducing the number of items per collection, James lowers waste and lessens the demand for manufacturing. In areas of the world where the majority of the world's clothes are made, lower demand is imperative to counteract delays after climate disasters.
"Paloma St. James helps close these gaps by emphasizing ethical production practices, working only with partners who provide fair wages and safe environments. These are small steps, but they aim to disrupt the harmful norms in fashion manufacturing," James told Forbes.
Beyond modularity, other emerging eco-friendly changes that can make a big difference in the world of fashion production are regenerative agriculture partnerships, circular fashion, smart materials, recycling materials, and upcycling fashion, according to James's interview with Fast Company.
What will move the needle the most is a change in consumer demand and an increase in the requirement for brand transparency. James is hoping a cultural shift will occur in how we wear and purchase our clothes. Considering the brand's entire collection is sold out, and there is a waitlist, it seems they are achieving their goals.
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Giving me money back 💰 "I'm modernizing how we design, wear, and value our wardrobes," James told Forbes. "Through modularity, my goal is to make wearable art everyone can experience."
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