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Sustainable fashion – when does collaboration become collusion?

An EU probe raises questions about how a cut-throat industry can make itself more efficient and sustainable without violating antitrust regulations.

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FILE Ñ Outside a store having a closing sale in New York, Dec. 3, 2020. Adhering to antitrust regulation while negotiating collective sustainability targets is proving tougher to navigate for some in the fashion industry. (Harisson Weinstein/The New York Times)

A cutthroat industry faces the question of how to be green and efficient without breaking the law.

PHOTO: NYTIMES

Elizabeth Paton, Ephrat Livni and Jenny Gross

In the spring of 2020, during the earliest and darkest months of the coronavirus pandemic, a group of clothing executives and designers began talking – tentatively – about upending some of the global fashion industry’s hidebound practices.

Over several Zoom calls, they talked about ripping up the calendar that demands fall designs be presented in the spring, and spring clothes in the fall. Others suggested delaying the traditional discounting periods and cutting down on mid-season sales, which eroded profits.

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