Not long ago, I found myself in one of those surreal life moments. I was sitting on a panel in actual Parliament. Yes, real Westminster. Ornate ceilings, lukewarm coffee, the whole thing. The topic was sustainable fashion, community-led design, and how we build a better future for ethical brands in the UK.
Somewhere between someone saying “circular economy” and another person nodding earnestly at the phrase “textile waste,” I had a quiet little realisation. The room was full of people talking about us, but barely anyone who was us. No one had run a pop-up from a market stall. No one had sold a single hoodie on Depop to pay studio rent. No one had stitched their way through burnout just to get a collection out. They were talking about change, but the people actually creating it weren’t even in the room.
And that is the real problem.
Let’s start with the usual suspect. Gen Z. Apparently, we’re the ones ruining fashion. Or so the headlines keep telling us. You’ve seen them. “TikTok is destroying trends.” “Young people only care about fast fashion.” “The £2 dress is killing the planet.” But blaming young people is lazy. It’s also inaccurate. Sure, some of us are buying cheap outfits online, but we’re also the ones who turned charity shop hauls into content gold, made visible mending look cool, and launched brands that actually care about the planet.
The issue isn’t apathy. It’s access. You can’t expect people to choose “better” fashion when rent’s overdue, wages are low, greenwashing is everywhere, and ethical clothes are priced like they’re made for the 1 percent. Sustainable fashion shouldn’t be a luxury, but right now it often is. And then we wonder why “conscious shopping” isn’t the norm.
But here’s the bit no one talks about. Policy is shaping all of this. Yep, policy. I know, the word sounds dry enough to put you to sleep. But fashion has always been political. From who gets paid to make our clothes to who gets funded to innovate, policy decides who survives and who gets left out of the room again.
Right now, there’s real movement happening:
- The UK is looking at Extended Producer Responsibility, which could finally make big brands accountable for the waste they create
- The EU’s textile strategy is already putting pressure on UK retailers to clean up their supply chains
- Funding bodies are quietly shifting, with grants and innovation schemes starting to come with environmental strings attached
Huge stuff. And yet, most of it is being decided without the people who actually understand sustainability on the ground. The ones who’ve built brands out of scrap fabric and student overdrafts. If you’ve ever used Insta DMs as your PR plan or turned leftover denim into a collection, you probably know more about circular design than the average policy adviser. No shade, just facts.
The real issue is that creativity without access isn’t equity. Fashion loves to say it’s investing in the next generation, but when that next gen actually shows up with receipts, it gets awkward. No funding. No seat. No space.
What we need is simple:
- Paid positions for young people on fashion councils
- Youth-led advisory boards in government departments
- Real money going to grassroots makers and microbrands
- Transparent, low-barrier funding routes that aren’t designed to keep marginalised people out
Because the future of fashion isn’t going to be a shiny government PDF or a panel in Westminster. It’s already happening. In bedrooms. In borrowed studio spaces. At weekend markets and late-night sewing sessions. We’re not waiting for permission. We’re already building the future. The question is whether the system will catch up.
So here’s a thought. What if we treated policy like we treat design? Test, learn, adapt. Imagine if councils partnered with local tailors instead of just tech bros. Imagine if kids learned how to sew as part of the curriculum. Imagine if community studios were given the same funding as fashion accelerators in Mayfair. Imagine if sustainability didn’t mean exclusion, but ownership.
Because we don’t need more people talking about us. We need them to talk with us. Or better yet, hand us the mic. We’ve been here. We’ve been doing the work. And we’ve already got the blueprint for what comes next.