An analysis of sustainable fashion design brands in Ukraine: Reduce, reuse, recycle methods

Abstract

Fifty-seven Ukrainian fashion brands are analysed in this article. All these brands are related to the manufacture of clothing and accessories, and the main part of the production of which is concentrated on the territory of Ukraine. For the analysis, brands are selected considering a hierarchy of waste management, including reduction to avoid waste, reuse of materials and methods to regenerate value, such as upcycling or recycling. Brands are systematized according to: production method (producing from new materials, decoration and customization of existing fashion items, upcycle, recycle), assortment (clothing, accessories, footwear), groups of materials (remnants of new materials, vintage fabrics, outlet and second-hand clothes, materials and components that were in use, secondary materials) and target audience (male, female, unisex). Common sustainable ways of manufacturing fashion products in Ukraine are upcycling, reducing and avoiding waste, decorating, customizing and recycling. There is a powerful raw material base for the production of clothes from secondary raw materials, and there are also textile recycling enterprises in Ukraine. But none of the analysed Ukrainian brands use the products of these enterprises in their production; instead, they use recycled materials purchased abroad. Due to insufficient technological support for the production of new textile materials from recycled raw materials, Ukrainian designers have a request for textiles made from recycled materials. Among the groups of materials by origin, second-hand and outlet clothes are in first place, and textile remnants from manufacturers are in second place. Among the analysed products of the brands, no children’s clothing was found, and almost no underwear and shoes were found. This research can be the basis for finding new niches in the production of sustainable fashion products; for finding new communication channels between stakeholders, such as designers, manufacturers of materials and clothing, consumers, scientists; for finding new ways of selling products and buying raw materials and for further research into technologies for the production of new raw materials from recycled materials.