The Sustainable Fashion Quest

"Nikolay Anguelov’s new book makes an important contribution to fashion sustainability scholarship through a critical analysis of the cultural legacy of the fashion industry. It focuses on the historical developments that have created the current industrial reality of unsustainable practices to provide an argument for the need for major cultural changes in consumption and commerce. The book enhances our understanding of what kind of change can support innovation aspects in business and policy towards sustainability."

Kirsi Niinimäki, Associate Professor of Design, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Finland

"Anguelov continues to be a leading voice on sustainable fashion and a highly articulate critic of existing of the industry’s environmental platforms. In remarkable detail and with methodological rigor, he meticulously outlines apparel global supply chains from cotton fields to the fashion shops and retail outlets of the global economy. The picture that emerges is one in which we all bear some responsibility. This includes the young consumers intent on wearing the latest fashion trend promoted by their favorite influencer, to the government regulators incapable or willing to control the global industry.

Anguelov saves his most biting critique for fast fashion executives who have built up this industry by aggressively promoting mass consumption and made billions by failing to pay the ‘social costs’ of public health damage, loss of bio diversity, and climate change. He calls out unacceptable claims by fashion brands for what they are: greenwashing. This includes H&M’s assertion that, by 2040, it will be climate positive by capturing more CO2 emissions than its core supply chain emits, a claim he calls ‘preposterous.’ Anguelov ends on a note of hope that concerned citizens, fashion consumers, and advocacy groups can use their political voice for policy change. This book is highly recommended for everyone concerned about our planet and interested in addressing the fast fashion sustainability crisis."

Mark Anner

Professor of Labor and Employment Relations, and Political Science

Director, Center for Global Workers’ Rights

Director, MPS Program in Labor and Global Workers’ Rights (part of the Global Labour University network)

The Pennsylvania State University

"This is a timely and valuable contribution to the burgeoning literature on fashion (un)sustainability. The author’s 2015 book was at the vanguard of the sustainable fashion movement as one of the first to shed light on the social and environmental cost of fast fashion, and this one is likewise a much-needed addition that makes sense of the wealth of information and publications that now exist. In recent years we have witnessed a surge in interest from multiple perspectives including the media, academia and grassroots organisations to name a few, resulting in a wealth of information, but also a fair amount of greenwash in one form or another. Sustainable fashion has become a buzzword. Fashion brands and retailers are increasingly sharing information about production and supply chain management, but meanwhile expanding their operations globally, speeding up the frequency of new collections and producing ever greater volumes of stock. Furthermore, a more nefarious form of fast fashion has emerged from a new breed of online-only ultra-fast fashion retailers who make heavy use of sophisticated digital marketing tactics to promote an ever-changing array of trendy items at pocket-money prices. As such, there is no topic on which a treatise is more needed to take stock of the current state of play and a look forward towards viable interventions in business, science and policy that could support a transition to a sustainable industry.

This is an authoritative, detailed and evidenced work which takes a deep and critical dive into the paradoxes and complexities of (un)sustainable fashion. Written in an engaging style with numerous original perspectives, it is ideally suited to fashion students in a multitude of disciplines from design to marketing to textile engineering, as well as those working in the industry across various functions, and members of the general public who have an interest in the topic. The book clearly sets out the complex realities of the global fashion industry and explains the cultural, economic and political reasons for its social and environmental impacts in the key areas of waste, carbon footprint, pollution and exploitation. The arguments are critical, balanced and applied, using evidence from research across a range of relevant disciplines such as chemistry, material and environmental sciences, public policy, engineering, data management, marketing and finance – clearly showing that fashion is bigger that you may at first think and that sustainable solutions require multiple stakeholder inputs. For those who are interested to find out more, there is a wealth of references to both classic and recent important scholarship. The book concludes with a refreshingly critical analysis of specific interventions that could support a transition towards sustainability, such as business model innovation, circularity and forms of governance, including an honest consideration of the impact of COVID-19 on the willingness and ability of the sector to transform."

Patsy Perry, Professor of Fashion Marketing at Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University

"Nikolay Anguelov’s The Sustainable Fashion Quest is a rich account of how we have arrived at today’s crisis of fast fashion. Anguelov cuts through the greenwashing of well-known fashion brands, and by grounding the book in current research he lays out the issues of overproduction in a global context. An overview of legislative efforts and various self-regulation initiatives to tackle the crisis completes the book. Reading it invites the difficult, vital questions: how do we transition from a world in which insatiable greed drives fashion business, to one that puts Earth and her inhabitants, including all of humanity, first?"

Dr. Timo Rissanen, Associate Professor of Fashion and Textiles, University of Technology Sydney