The fabric of sustainability

With over 30 years’ experience of working in the fashion retail and manufacturing industries, Jane Robson’s career has taken her all around the world, from Sri Lanka to New York, Portugal to Hong Kong. And she has now come full circle, returning to where it all started, inspiring the next generation about sustainability in the fashion industry.

Robson, whose journey into fashion began when she studied a clothing course at Manchester Metropolitan, is now internationally recognised for establishing the network of supply chains and manufacturers supplying into Next through a period of transition and growth in offshore production.

Now she is using her expertise to help navigate the post-COVID shape of the industry she loves.

The impact of COVID-19 has been significant for the fashion retail industry, with the closure of retail stores, the rise in online shopping and changing shopping habits. And Robson predicts that this trend will have a lasting impact on the industry as the economy reopens.

“There is no doubt that COVID-19 has had a significant change in the shopping habits of consumers, and there are certainly some that will remain – people will have become used to buying not only their commodity items online, but also many fashion items too,” she said.

“The agile retailers have been able to effectively pivot their business to cope with the dramatic shifts in methods of shopping, they will need to focus on customer retention online, whilst consumers also migrate back to the physical retail experience.”

The pandemic has also accelerated change in the industry, with many businesses and retailers closing. However, Robson believes there is a huge opportunity for niche brands to disrupt the fashion industry post COVID-19.

“It has been relatively straightforward over the last year for new fashion brands to enter the market at small scale and test products, fuelled by the ease of marketing on social media platforms to audiences who are tied daily to the world of screens.”

Robson is passionate about promoting more sustainable practices in fashion and has been working hard to change the negative practices within the industry.

She explained: “I’m particularly interested in changing the way that fashion has become unsustainable. I’ve become very aware that we’re living in a world that is not sustainable.”

Robson envisages that the impact of the pandemic will see a significant shift towards sustainability in fashion.

She said: “COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the green economy across all sectors, people have had time to appreciate what is important to them whether that is friends, family, their homes or the environment that they live in.”

She believes businesses have the responsibility to drive meaningful change in sustainable practices, and those who do not deliver will not survive.

“At a high level I believe that businesses who do not take their responsibility for climate change seriously will not survive. The damage that we are doing to our planet is an exponential crisis and cannot be ignored by any responsible business, board or CEO.”

Having worked in the industry during the rise of fast fashion, Robson feels a sense of responsibility. The introduction of fast fashion lowered the cost of clothes for the consumer but at the expense of the environment.

“I became involved in sustainability by sitting on a board working in the circular economy. And that made me think, what are we doing in the fashion industry? We need to change what we’re doing here,” she said.

“I feel passionately myself that I was part of the process to set it up when we were building big supply chains for global retailers. The demand for faster repeat orders, and constant newness was huge for fashion.”

Robson graduated in 1988 with a Clothing and Footwear Institute Diploma which equipped her with the necessary skills and industry experience to kick start her career in fashion.

Robson said: “I think the best thing for me was the close integration with industry and spending time working on placements. I spent an intensive year in the UK manufacturing industry and it really gave me a fantastic insight into all areas of clothing production.”

Her career journey started with a graduate training scheme with Next which allowed her to travel overseas.

“I was very fortunate, I went in as a garment technologist, not a buyer,” she explained. “Garment technologists used to go into the factories, putting styles into work, so I spent quite a lot of time travelling very early on.”

Her globe trotting continued as she was poached to work for an agency in Portugal, where she stayed for three years before taking a role in New York. This new role allowed her to work across Asia, and eventually took her to Sri Lanka, the catalyst for her next career move.

“I was in an unusual position in Sri Lanka early on in my career, I was headhunted to work for another growing business that was setting up in Sri Lanka, with a vision to be a supplier to Next.

“We built a company from very small, it started off with just two people. We built a whole network of garment makers and fabric suppliers, across multiple clothing types, using Sri Lanka as our key location in South East Asia.”

After establishing the company in Sri Lanka, she then replicated the model across multiple countries including Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and finally Hong Kong and the Far East.

“And 17 years later, we’d successfully built a company that started from two people to turning over a billion US dollars,” she explained.

“I’d established a ground-breaking global sourcing company. And I’m pretty proud of that because it was hard. And it was very successful.”

Subsequently Robson successfully built and sold several of her own businesses, including an online womenswear fashion brand. And most recently, she’s been working as a Portfolio Director and mentor for several different businesses and individuals, sharing her knowledge, experience, and expertise.

However, Robson feels that more improvements need to be made to fashion supply chains, both in this country and overseas.

Fast fashion has come under the spotlight during the pandemic. Online retailers, such as Boohoo and ASOS, have seen their sales increase significantly. Furthermore, both have added high street brands to their portfolios – with Boohoo buying Debenhams and ASOS buying Topshop and Topman.

“Ultimately, the credentials of fast fashion need to be cleaned up, these retailers will need to work responsibly and collaborate with their suppliers to establish sustainable supply routes that they can be proud of.”

To implement more sustainable practices post-COVID-19, Robson believes that brands need to listen to their customers and offer innovations and great product solutions that meet sustainable development goals.

“Currently we have a disparity between what the fashion industry is offering to the consumer, regarding price, product and traceability of supply chains; and the lack of sustainable, affordable supply chains with true transparency.”

Robson explains changes will need to be made between the two ends of the industry, consumer and supplier.

“The responsibility to make this change lies with the retailer or brand who is in the unique position of responsibility to drive and influence suppliers to create innovative affordable solutions, which in turn will become available to the end consumer.

“There is an imperative call to action for collaboration across the sector between brands, retailers, and suppliers to join hands to make change.”

Working with the future generation, students who are just starting out in the industry, is also key to making impactful changes.

“What we need is people at the beginning who can change this. It’s great to start with people who are learning. But we need to make sure they’re learning the right things.”

During the pandemic, Robson has been a guest speaker at several universities, talking virtually to fashion students. She has seen significant changes in the interest in sustainable methods of production and brands.

“In a recent survey in one such seminar, there was overwhelming response (98%) of students who expressed that sustainable credentials would influence their choice of purchase.

“This is encouraging news as prior to the pandemic there was significantly less awareness with these kinds of questions, and brings hope for the future evolution of the industry, and the decisions that will drive future consumption.”