My plastic-free clothing journey happened during lockdown, at the same time as David Attenborough came out with a documentary. He was depressed. He wasn’t the same David Attenborough, saying things like, “Oh, look at our beautiful world and how wonderful it is.” Instead, he was saying, “We’re actually stuffed,” and I felt like he’d lost hope. To me, David Attenborough has always been a beacon, someone that we should listen to. He’s travelled the world. He’s seen what’s happened to it on a real micro level, and he’s now seen, in his lifetime, this decimation of the natural world. All of this made me think, “Well, what more can I do?”
My thinking crystallised into the idea that we’ve all got to be part of the solution. As Kowtow started getting more media attention, coinciding with an increase in media about the problems of microplastic pollution into the oceans, including the discovery of microplastics in a human embryo, I thought, “Wow. It’s here now. This crisis is here.” As a business, we have a responsibility to the planet, to the natural world, to the people. If governments can’t respond, then as a business, we may be able to respond quicker.
I’ve always thought about taking action and being responsible from the moment of Kowtow’s inception, 17 years ago. At first, our garments were made from three or four different components. Naturally, I thought about the circularity of those components and how they could be recycled or repurposed. Over time, as I discovered the properties of some of our designs, such as our cotton elastane leggings (our best sellers at the time) we had to make the hard call to say goodbye to them. Then we had to say goodbye to our swimwear, even though it was made from regenerated nylon, because the technology didn’t exist to separate the recycled nylon from the elastane.
As our thinking developed, my team and I constantly asked ourselves, “What’s the best route for circularity?” Day after day, we would revisit the idea of using one singular, natural fibre. As our thinking matured even further, we started to discuss what we refer to as “the anatomy of a garment”, which forces you to consider what everything is made up of, and also what components need to be replaced to make them more sustainable.
“Our plastic-free launch is, in a way, also meant to inspire other businesses to make significant change.”
One of the biggest issues we faced was replacing the thread that the garment is stitched with. Most fashion factories are used to stitching incredibly fast with a synthetic yarn that doesn’t snap in the machine, and so moving into an organic cotton created a different process for them to work with. Luckily, we work with the Fairtrade organic supply chain, and our factory owners have the same belief system as us, which is that we’re all working together to improve the industry, meaning they were able to make that change with us.
Fast-forward to 2023, the big question we asked ourselves was, “What does the future of Kowtow look like, and how much do we want to grow?” What I discovered from the insane ambition that everybody felt was that what we are doing is so exciting and so progressive that we are in a position to give bigger brands a run for their money. However the push and pull of art and commerce also made us think, “If we grow tenfold, how do we stay authentic?”
At Kowtow, our ultimate goal is circularity, meaning the end of life for the garment is crucially important: Do we ask the customer to return it? Do we mend it and extend its life? Or do we turn it into a brand new garment? By using Fairtrade organic cotton — focussing on one singular fibre — it makes our circularity journey a lot easier. This has become our beacon. As designers, it’s our responsibility to offer options and to some extent control what happens in the end to what we design. It’s not up to the consumer. That’s why from January 2024 all new Kowtow garments are plastic free.
Our plastic-free launch is, in a way, also meant to inspire other businesses to make significant change in what they design, the materials they use, and how they are remaining responsible for a product’s entire life cycle. Seventeen years ago, when I first started Kowtow, people thought I was just a mad hippie on the diagonal, and now, circularity, sustainability and the environment are front-page news, every day.
My advice for our customers and anyone who buys fashion? Make informed purchases with longevity in mind. As consumers, we vote with our dollar. You can vote for a company like ours to grow. Or you can vote for the Zara empire to grow. Everyone has the choice to buy less and buy smarter.
This article originally appeared in the autumn 2024 issue of Fashion Quarterly.
Words: Gosia Piatek.
