I was aware of the Eileen Fisher brand of clothing, but never knew the scope of her mission for sustainability and social responsibility. Upon reading of her brand’s initiative and the feats accomplished, it seems like EF has gone into just about every aspect of the fashion business and sought plans to make them more sustainable. From choice of fabrics to dyeing to second hand selling to worker benefits to empowering women, Eileen Fisher has really gone all out in ensuring that her brand leaves a positive impact on the industry and consumer. This is the first brand that I am aware of that has had such a profound commitment to moving towards better practices.
I find it incredible that Fisher has such passion towards sustainability as well as empowering people. Not only does she aim for lessened impacts on the earth, she is a strong proponent for women’s empowerment and encouraging employees to take more leadership. Fisher seems like the complete opposite of a competitive, for profit CEO. She is willing jump through as many hoops as possible to become more sustainable, even if it means spending large amounts of money on new developments, as shown in her drive to find a solution to chlorine usage in wool. Rather than seeking the spotlight, she encourages her employees to make contributions that can strongly impact the brand positively.
It is wonderful that Eileen Fisher is such as accessible brand, because the more people shop there, the more the brand is able to reach its sustainability goals. It was a smart move to take initiative to include younger consumers in their target market because sustainability should not only be for a certain age range. Young people have more and more buying power with much more influence on the fashion industry. Bringing more younger women into their brand will only make it more widely known and more popular to buy sustainable clothing. While the brand now targets a younger crowd, it is still good that EF has maintained their classical silhouettes that do not follow the fast changing trends. With similar designs over the years, consumers don’t need to constantly buy more and can keep their EF merchandise for a much longer time. Ultimately, EF has an incredible vision and initiative that should be emulated in many other clothing brands, and I hope they are able to reach their Vision 2020 goal.