I was nearly giddy when I heard the news of France outlawing the destruction of unsold clothing. Like, I immediately shared the article to three different people. One of the people I sent the article to was like “This is great! But… I didn’t know this was a thing to begin with?” and it clicked in my brain that I forgot people live outside of the fashion bubble I live in. So let’s talk about clothing brands and their history of destroying unsold goods!

Last year, a TikTok went viral that highlighted the Coach policy of destroying and pitching unsold goods. The Tiktoker, @TheTrashWalker, came across slashed Coach bags while dumpster diving. Shortly after, Coach released a statement saying that they are changing their policy on destroying unsold or returned merchandise.

Burberry had a similar scandal when reports of them burning unsold merchandise was uncovered in 2018. They also had a “change of heart” after they came under scrutiny.

A simple Google search can lead you down a rabbit hole of Louis Vuitton, Victoria’s Secret, Amazon, Nike, Urban Outfitters and many more have been accused of similar practices. Clearly, it’s a widespread problem.

The fact that it takes public outcry to change a clearly problematic policy is just disgusting. There’s no words to highlight how disappointing that is, especially since there are people that work at these companies under the guise of “sustainability” operation managers. What a bunch of bullshit.

When I initially wanted to explore this topic, I was going to simply write about the realities of destroying their products. Sure, they destroy the products to get tax write offs, to keep the brand at an “elevated” level and out of resale stores, and to keep their product exclusive. But my question is- why are these brands so bad at their planning stages that they are overproducing shitty, unsellable product? Why are their buyers so keen on overbuying product that in the end, does not sell? Are they simply throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks and what customers will pluck from the wall of shit?

The main problem is the wholesale nature of the fashion industry. A fashion brand will design a shirt and place an order with a factory for a wholesale price, which usually comes with an obscene amount of that garment. Buyers typically know a ballpark number of how many of this item will sell at retail price, what percentage will most likely be discounted at sale, and what will be left over. Essentially, the brand knows that this is inefficient but will partake anyway because it is so cheap to do so. The more you buy in a wholesale system, the cheaper the manufacturing process is from start to finish. It essentially rewards you for overproducing a garment.

There is a very simple answer to this issue though, but I have a hard time imagining it to work on the same scale as wholesale manufacturing. It’s called on-demand manufacturing, where a garment will be put into production on an order by order basis. It would be great, companies only creating items that are already bought. With this model, you can easily do customizable things as well such as custom trim colors, sizing, and even embroidery. It’s kind of best case scenario for everyone involved.

The customer would have to wait for the item to be shipped though, and they would not get the instant gratification that we all have grown so accustomed to. I’d imagine stores would have basic versions of these items available to be tried on in person, then customers would make their order with their specifications. Then, the customized item would be shipped to them directly or to the store for pickup. No more popping into a store to buy some pants because you ripped yours at work.

I think most realistically, brands would adopt the on-demand model in conjunction with their wholesale manufacturing. Or, in an even cooler move, brands could hire tailors to be available at each store to assemble garments as customers order them at the store. Let me explain this idea a bit further.

• The customer likes a basic version of the item they tried on.
• They put in an order with the store with specific measurements and colors chosen. The customer leaves their phone number, or take a buzzer, that will notify them when their order is ready. They can leave and go continue shopping.
• The order goes to the tailor’s floor, where the tailors sew together the garment based on the specifications using parts that have been pre-cut and easily put together.
• Once done, the customer is notified that their order is ready.
• They can choose to do one more try-on before leaving with their purchased garment.
• Profit.

This would not only make jobs for people, the tailors, but would also give people custom made garments that will fit them and more likely prompt them to wear for a longer time.

Of course, this is asking brands to create garments that are modular- easily put together with little expertise because this would be a system that banks on quick turnarounds. This would work better with “basics” clothing lines that many stores carry.

I think all in all, the wholesale system needs to be phased out. There is no need to make thousands of one garment to sell anymore. It is so easy to find a simple tee- why not make limited runs of clothing that are interesting and will ensure that everything does get sold? Then we can avoid the whole over-production problem in general and we won’t even have to think about companies destroying what does not sell.

The lack of innovation these companies displayed by simply destroying returned or unsold product is laughable. All of these issues and scandals in the name of profitability can be mitigated by thinking of a solution. In an industry that should be pushing for innovation and new ideas, we are continuously given nothing but the status quo and regurgitated ideas.