“Don’t just focus on how you dress. [something]”You also have to care about how it’s made – that’s the only way to legitimize yourself as a fashionista,” says Petros Analitis, head of research at The Glassfactory.
As a former brand owner (he ran streetwear brand Wun-Off from 2018 to 2022), Lasry knows how tough it is to find quality manufacturers. The market is more competitive than ever, making it increasingly difficult. “It seems like a lot of clothing brands have popped up overnight during COVID,” Lasry says. “Brands have to differentiate on quality if they want to have any chance of winning.”
Brands are also starting to get involved: Last month, Puma, for example, released a series of videos made by Gen Z creators showcasing factories in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Turkey, while UK-based streetwear brand Clintos Inc. recently posted a video to Instagram showing the process behind making a sold-out sneaker. “By inviting our ‘voices’ into our supply chain experience, we hope to share the real progress and passion our suppliers have put in, as well as the realities and challenges they face in our efforts to improve,” Puma’s chief procurement officer, Anne-Laure Descours, said in a release about the project.
But experts warn that factory content, whether creator-led or brand-led, never tells the whole picture. Ultra-fast fashion retailer Shein faced criticism last year after it paid a group of influencers to visit its factories in China and post content about them. Social media commentators accused Shein of using the visits to cover up poor conditions in other parts of its supply chain, and questioned whether the factories featured were actually made for the visits. (Shein said in a statement at the time that it was committed to transparency and that the content created was authentic.)
No more gatekeeping
Lasry says The Glass Factory isn’t there to expose the worst offenders; rather, it aims to uncover the perceived values and biases surrounding manufacturing in certain countries. (The Glass Factory’s motto is “No more gatekeeping.”) To do this, the organization works factory by factory. “We’re trying to change the way people label things. We no longer want ‘Made in China’ or ‘Made in Italy’ or ‘Made in Portugal,’ we want ‘Made in this factory,'” Lasry says.
