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Sustainable Fashion: Three Things Advocates of More Ethical Purchasing Practices Should Stop Saying

Critical nuances for effectively advocating change in the fashion industry.

Kim van der Weerd
JUST FASHION
3 min readFeb 22, 2021

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1. “We need more accurate forecasts.”

More accurate forecasts should not be conflated with improved purchasing practices, or with shared financial risk. Brands will never have a crystal ball to see into the future. Brands will never be able to perfectly predict demand.

Sure, brands getting more accurate at forecasting would be a good thing. For example, it would seriously diminish the industry’s inventory problem and reliance on over-ordering (which, as my podcast co-host Jessie Li likes to point out, is the more apt term for overproduction). It would also reduce net losses (and increase net gains) for the whole supply chain.

But more accurate forecasts don’t fundamentally change how those net losses (and gains) are distributed in the first place. The fundamental question that advocates of better purchasing practices must consider is: when, inevitably, forecasts are wrong… who pays for it? And are those risks (and rewards) distributed equitably?

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JUST FASHION
JUST FASHION

Published in JUST FASHION

Radically reimagining the fashion industry with equity and justice for all. We are writers and industry professionals discussing not only why the fashion industry needs to change, but how to do it.

Kim van der Weerd
Kim van der Weerd

Written by Kim van der Weerd

Co-host of Manufactured podcast, sustainable fashion advocate, former garment factory manager.

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