As a movement, degrowth is often said to have emerged in France in the 1970s. But that’s not the full story. Non-Eurocentric communities around the world have operated according to degrowth’s ambitions for millennia—proving that our minds create our worlds, not our markets.

Some of the tangible, interdisciplinary actions that take place in degrowth strategies include economic modelling, civic scenario planning, environmental justice lobbying, teaching and communications, care work, industry-level systems design, grassroots activism and so much more—all contributing to and occurring under new policy conditions.

Elsewhere, fashion is betting on the impact of circular business models as a way to decouple revenue streams from production and resource use. According to the Ellen McArthur Foundation, clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2015 while during the same period, utilisation of those clothes decreased by 36%.

And for the diverse movement of people calling for degrowth, the motivation is simple: rich countries must balance their economies with planetary boundaries.

At a high level, degrowth refers to a voluntary reduction of growth in a democratic society. And degrowth is not specific to fashion alone. This transformative process doesn’t come from an “outside” force like, for example, a recession. A recession isn’t degrowth because it’s a reactive contraction, rather than proactive, controlled shrinking.

In 2021, the British Fashion Council’s Institute of Positive Fashion addressed the impact of the fashion industry. Their top key target outcome? Reduce the volume of new physical clothing.

Owing to fashion’s unmatched ability to reflect and influence culture at large, perhaps this industry is well-positioned to move society towards degrowth. It could be the future we choose.

At its core, the ideas behind degrowth call for new strategies: degrowth is a framework that’s about transformation. It builds on the work of ecological and anti-colonial theorists. In this way, the concept of degrowth is closely linked with climate justice, Indigenous rights, and reparations for fashion’s extractive and neo-colonial production... See more

“We don’t want a world where fashion does not exist at all. We want a world where fashion is not overconsumption but freedom of expression”, Tsagkari says. “Imagining this new idea of fashion as something creative but also simple and accessible to everyone can be a great challenge.”