Sustainability and Regeneration
As the start of 2021 brings with it renewed challenges, we would like to take this opportunity to spread some positivity with STELAR’s focus this month on the term ‘sustainability’, and what this means to us.
We believe that fast fashion often really is ‘too good to be true’. The lockdowns of 2020 saw swathes of enterprising people take to social media to share their attempts at making good quality clothes and accessories from scratch. Reflecting upon the amount of time and skill this process actually takes, plus consideration of a fair hourly wage, made these people realise that the logic behind cheap clothing simply doesn’t add up.
Ultimately, these trends were constructive conversation starters because they got us thinking more about the full lifecycle of our garments and whether our shopping habits are ‘sustainable’.
For those of us looking to make more conscious choices about what we put in our wardrobes, understanding the provenance and creation of our belongings becomes an invaluable tool. Investing time in reflecting upon where things come from is important to us and we hope it is to you too!
Although the rise of ‘sustainable’ and ‘slow fashion’ reflects a positively changing tide in the industry, we believe that understanding what these buzzwords mean and how they manifest is equally relevant. Having worked in the luxury goods industry for more than 20 years, our STELAR founder Lorna witnessed first-hand the industry’s widespread inattention towards wastage, surplus end-of-season products and the broader environmental impact.
Despite going against the grain four years ago, STELAR’s mission from its beginning has been to help redress these issues and demonstrate that our regenerative approach to luxury fashion works in harmony with both people and planet.
Though metal straws and reusable shopping bags are a now an established norm, this hasn’t always been the case. In the last few years, we have seen David Attenborough’s hugely popular documentaries about wastage and plastic on marine ecosystems, and the emergence of Swedish climate change activist, Greta Thunberg, as a household name. Alongside campaigning of climate change organisations, new laws and social media, growing curiosity about the environmental impact of our behaviours and questioning how we can change started to enter mainstream conversations.
As such, the concept of 'sustainable fashion' has blown up in the last couple of years, with increasing numbers of shoppers not just simply taking an interest in it but making it a priority.
But what does 'sustainability' actually mean to STELAR? This month we will unpack what we think is an often overused and mis-explained word, and outline ‘sustainability’ in the STELAR context. For us, it is regeneration and upskilling that defines our business. This allows us to sustain heritage weaving skills, which helps sustain artisan communities and, in turn, helps sustain integral elements of Balinese culture.
This month we will focus on our three core pillars: People, Product and Purpose. These embolden our mission to create multiple positive impacts, for our wonderful customers as well as for our Balinese artisans, their rich culture and our planet.
Re-imagining age-old traditional weaving techniques in an environmentally and culturally conscious way allows us to craft our elegant and timeless interpretation of laid-back luxury.
Everything from the way we design our versatile and gorgeous unique coded accessories to sourcing local materials to handcraft, is guided by our ‘slow fashion’ ethos.
Our passion for transparency and traceability lies at the heart of what we do and what we love sharing with our customers.
Nonetheless, on our journey we are continually learning, evolving and discovering additional ways to embed regenerative practices into our business and influence much greater change within the fashion industry.