‘Most harmful industry on planet’: Designer Stella McCartney advocates sustainability at COP28

Fashion designer and climate activist Stella McCartney, who is in Dubai for COP28, spoke about sustainable fashion and ethical consumption during an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday.

McCartney spoke with Bloomberg about collaborating with other designers to inform people to consume less and needing incentives in the future and policies in place in order for the industry to help it become cleaner.

“I’m really trying to shine a light on how harmful the fashion industry is, at times the people that work in it and to the animals that are killed for it.”

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McCartney was one of the first couture designers to halt the use of leather in her products, opting for alternate options.

“As a brand we don’t kill any animals, use any leather, fur or PVCs,” she added. “Im here to provide sustainable solutions and to also to encourage leaders to wake up, change policy and bring in legislation.”

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Responding to a question about sustainable materials, and how she is using grape leather in a collaboration with Veuve Clicquot, adding how the brand has been researching alternative materials for over 25 years.

Last year, McCartney launched a $200 million start-up fund jointly backed by LVMH, for whom she is a sustainability adviser, according to The Telegraph.

Some of the start-up’s first funding projects are on display in Dubai, including a technology that uses enzymes to break down plastic waste and turn it into infinitely recyclable material, and a fake fur made from natural materials, added the report.

McCartney unveiled a coat made with plastic-eating enzymes adding how there is a way to be sustainable and fashionable at the same time.

“Out of $500 billion worth of waste in the fast fashion industry, there are business opportunities, such as converting waste into usable material.”

Adding how their job is to keep customers informed of these practices while offering them a choice of products, showing how one does not need to be harmful to the planet.

“Customer needs to know that over one billion animals are killed every year and that tanning leather can cause cancer in those working on it,” she added during the interview.

“If one has that information, then, hopefully, people will consume in a more conscious way.”

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Moving on to policy, she added how fashion is one of the most harmful industries and that it needs limitations put on it like any other industry, as well as incentives in order to practice more sustainably.

“We should consume less and consume better,” she added during the interview.

“Its hard but its the right thing to do.”

McCartney is the daughter of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and the founder of the brand Stella McCartney.

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