Sustainable fashion: It's not just a technical challenge—it’s a human one, too

Attending the C2 Conference in Montreal earlier this year was a powerful reminder that the future of business lies at the crossroads of creativity, sustainability, technology and systems thinking. The focus of the event, in part, was to spark innovative conversations ranging from human-centered leadership and transformative technology—like artificial intelligence—to the role of art and design in reshaping the future of business.

A key takeaway from the conference, however, was that despite the incredible tools at our disposal, and technology and AI that are evolving at an unprecedented pace, there remains a gap between the promised, hoped-for or intended outcomes of these innovations and a business’s success in applying them to challenges like sustainability. Likely, the biggest barrier to sustainable transformation right now isn’t a lack of innovative solutions; it may be a business’s failure to apply human-centered thinking to systemic change.

For instance, in fashion, like in many other industries, this challenge shows up as brands tackle already complex problems with increasingly overcomplicated solutions—more apps, more platforms, more exclusive approaches to sustainability—all of which could over-engineer the problem.

Brands are launching niche “eco clothing capsules” with limited reach—testing new materials like textiles made from recycled water bottles, piloting isolated sustainability initiatives, attempting to come up with proprietary sustainable supply chains—rather than embedding sustainable design principles into their core collections. These efforts are often more about differentiation than transformation. Rooted in a desire to be competitive, the race to find a unique solution detracts from scaling proven strategies that already work but require collective effort, knowledge sharing in a precompetitive space (no more hoarding the secret sauce) and behavioral change to implement.

Rather, the solution, in part, requires taking a hard look at why consumers and companies say they care about sustainability and why that narrative often doesn’t translate into action or successful outcomes. In short, behavioral challenges are largely responsible for this persistent gap between intent and action. Consumers aren’t irrational for buying fast fashion; they’re responding to deep human needs (identity, belonging, affordability, expression). The reality is, people don’t typically buy clothes because they’re good for the planet. They buy them because of how the clothing makes them feel, how the blouse fits, what the shoes signal and how affordable the jeans are. The sustainable choice for consumers sometimes remains elusive and often seems like more of a sacrifice, just because it goes against norms like trendiness, or it's less appealing or can even be more expensive.

Real change in the fashion sector that will scale impact means understanding those needs and building sustainability into existing value systems, weaving sustainability into the very reasons people already buy. The core theme here is that sustainability isn’t just a technical challenge—it’s a human one, too.

Sustainable considerations

To that end, here are some practical ways to bring more human-focused, sustainable practices into fashion and other consumer businesses:

The future of sustainability in business lies in creating solutions that, in addition to the incredible tech and tools businesses now have at their disposal, are also empathetic to fitting into people’s actual lives.

For more, check out additional sustainability insights and resources.