Sustainability in the Textile and Apparel Industries by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030385323
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

The Case of Quagga: Mass-Market Brand and Pro-environmental Approach

Quagga is an Italian fashion brand, based in Turin and founded in 2010 by a group of designers. The mission of the company, led by Stefano Bonaventura, lies in creating a brand able to promote eco-fashion and to teach consumers how to dress responsibly (e.g., Fabietti 2015; Mortara and Fragapane 2016). The brand name derives from the real story of a zebra’s subspecies that around the mid-800s was exterminated and that, thanks to a project carried out by Dr. Reinhold Rau and other researchers, was reintroduced in its natural habitat (Fabietti 2015).

In line with its ambition to realize garments that fully respect and protect the environment, Quagga’s production is characterized by the research and selection of both materials and suppliers that respect the environment (Fabietti 2015; Mortara and Fragapane 2016). To illustrate, Quagga avoids the use of fur, wool, feathers, and leathers in favor of textile and fabrics that are made of 100% recycled polyester with Bluesign certification, which is a system aimed at assessing, through rigorous tests, that producers, distributors, suppliers, and brands minimize their environmental impacts throughout all the textile supply chain.6 Additionally, Quagga follows Global Organic Textile standards, which involves manufacturing clothes by using only nylon and polyester free of PVC (i.e., polyvinyl chloride), a type of compostable plastic banned by GOTS.7 In the same vein, Quagga participates in several initiatives aimed at reducing sea pollution. For instance, similar to Mara Hoffman, in 2018 Quagga launched its summer collection QBottles that included t-shirts and sweatshirts made of a jersey obtained by reusing plastic bottles collected in the northern Italy. In this way, Quagga was able to consciously reuse from 9 to 12 bottles of plastic throughout the production of each t-shirt and sweater.

Focusing on the relationship between Quagga and its consumers, the brand avoids using any toxic substances in the production of its textile and accessories, which might potentially harm consumers’ healthiness. Indeed, both offline (i.e., in its store Vestetica Eco-Workshop) and online, the brand offers products that are aimed at protecting the environment and the healthiness of its consumers (Fabietti 2015). At the same time, similar to Mara Hoffman, Quagga promotes a responsible disposal of its products by giving its costumers the chance to bring back to the brand’s office the products they would no longer use. In this way, the production of waste can be reduced, and consumers are directed toward clothing’s reuse and/or recycle, thus learning how to engage in a more responsible consumption process (Fabietti 2015). Moreover, the brand is committed to increase consumers’ awareness about their purchases by bearing the information about the suppliers on the labels of each product (Mortara and Fragapane 2016).

All these activities embraced by Quagga suggest that the brand should be considered as an example of ethical fashion brand that places at the center of all its activities processes that are aimed at respecting and protecting the environment. As such, the brand has the highest rating in of the animal-free

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