{"id":161747,"date":"2019-06-26T20:24:47","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T20:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/fashions-flying-shame-why-the-industry-should-cut-down-on-air-travel-as-well-as-waste\/"},"modified":"2021-08-12T14:01:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T14:01:57","slug":"fashions-flying-shame-why-the-industry-should-cut-down-on-air-travel-as-well-as-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/fashions-flying-shame-why-the-industry-should-cut-down-on-air-travel-as-well-as-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Fashion's flying shame: why the industry should cut down on air travel as well as waste"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kicking off the recent round of SS20 men\u2019s fashion weeks the luxury Italian giant, Prada, opted to show its men\u2019s collection in Shanghai rather than Milan and Saint Laurent chose Malibu<\/strong>, California instead of Paris. The light-tastic Eiffel Tower was replaced by palm trees and Keanu Reeves - very Point Break<\/em> - as the male models took to a catwalk that followed the lapping waves of the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These trips to far flung destinations, under the pretence of targeting that geographical audience,<\/strong> had become something of a signature of women\u2019s Cruise shows over the past few years. A distraction from the rather boring clothes, brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior and Chanel scoured the globe for the most glamourous and social media friendly backdrops and flew the fash-pack on one giant jolly in-between the usually rigid calendar<\/strong> of traditional global fashion weeks.<\/p>\n Taking a brand and its audience to locations not usually set up for fashion\u2019s extravagance is expensive and indulgent, not to mention costly to the environment.<\/strong> These people won\u2019t be travelling economy. Add everybody from the brand, the models, the buyers and the press and the numbers start to drastically stack up and those carbon emissions multiply.<\/p>\n It seems to go against everything fashion is trying to be at the moment. Fashion is trying to show its less wasteful side and is jumping on the sustainable \u201cwe-really-care-you-know\u201d bandwagon and it will be interesting how they will be able to justify these types of extravagant shows in the future.<\/strong> Admittedly, there\u2019s always been travel in fashion, and getting people to see things in one place is an important part of fashion, but it\u2019s this travel for travel\u2019s sake that seems to feel out of step.<\/p>\n The Scandinavians have lead the way on this and Sweden\u2019s \u201cflygskam\u201d, or flight shame, movement first came to prominence in the summer of 2017<\/strong> when the singer-songwriter Staffan Lindberg wrote an article\u00a0co-signed by five of his famous friends, in which they announced their decision to give up flying. Among the famous Swedes opting for other forms of transport were ski commentator Bj\u00f6rn Ferry, who said last year he would only travel to competitions by train, opera-singer Malena Ernman (the mother of climate activist Greta Thunberg), and Heidi Andersson, the eleven-times world champion arm-wrestler. Finland has spawned its own version of the expression, calling it \u201clentohapea\u201d.<\/p>\n When the 16-year old Greta Thunberg joined London\u2019s \u201cExtinction Rebellion\u201d protest this Spring she took the train.<\/strong> She also travelled by rail to the World Economic Forum in Davos and the climate summit in Katowice, Poland.<\/p>\n