
With the report Defining Success: a new vision of success for the fashion industry, and by having ethical and sustainability questions close to heart, Other day is looking for a new way forward for the fashion business that has suffered a lot due to the pandemic. Together with people that are working, or worked, in the fashion industry, Other day are examining what success in the industry means and what it could look like in the future. A future that hopefully is less focused on financial growth and KPIs, but more interested in the collective wellbeing and how our actions make people and places feel.
— I hope this invitation to imagine a new kind of success for the fashion industry helps us find a better balance between creativity, work, and wellbeing for everyone across the entire fashion industry and our planet, states Jodi Muter-Hamilton, founder and CEO of Other day, in the opening letter.
The 41-page report includes a Q&A with the digital fashion house The Fabricant (pictured above) and is accompanied by two podcast episodes. All of them discovering different areas related to success, such as wellbeing, creativity, and how to build sustainable fashion brands.
Here are three key takeaways from the report:
Creativity and success
Creativity is a crucial part of the business, it is an asset that needs to be taken care of, so it can flourish. But, when speaking about creativity within fashion there is always an underlying connection to commerciality. A connection that is also an easy way to measure success — if something is commercially viable, it is a success. But this interplay could be both tiring and frustrating for creatives. What needs to be understood is that creativity exists in several different forms and the definition of creative success could look very different from person to person.
The purpose of a fashion brand
Within fashion, success has historically been defined as economical growth. On top of this, environmental sustainability have become an integrated part of the industry due to the climate crisis. Though, in the report, Laura Gibson, co-founder of Lab 2030, a not-for-profit initiative created by Other day and a fashion sustainability consultant, argues that the business needs to do even more. She suggests that brands need to work towards a regenerative business model, namely to have a bigger purpose than just benefitting a few.
Wellbeing of employees
When speaking about sustainability in fashion, what often comes to mind is environmental responsibility. Though, sustainability is so much more, and to say that a brand is truly sustainable it needs to be so in every aspect. One important thing is, for example, the wellbeing of its employees in the entire supply chain. Is the brand putting its employers’ health primarily or considering them to be a tool that is pushing the brand forward? And could wellbeing be a metric of success on an individual level?

Listen to our podcast with Jodi Muter-Hamilton, founder and CEO of Other day, here