owadays, there’s nobody sceptic enough to believe that sustainability in the textile and clothing industry is a fad. On the contrary, the question is: how can the Portuguese industry work that concept, and its inherent options and practices, to its advantage?

From top-notch luxury brands, that created top-level executive groups dedicated to finding good sustainability practices, to the Fast Fashion giants who joined Stella McCartney in the Make Fashion Circular initiative, adopting its principles and commitments – all of them already live and breathe sustainability.

What we found is that there are common traits in all of them. All of these companies make communicating their strategies a priority, enhancing their sustainability tactics and raising their brands to the level of the exclusive label (see for example http: //equilibrium.gucci.com).

Another thing they have in common is an Omni sustainability approach, that not only focuses on raw materials, production processes and traceability, but also on the apparently collateral issues, such as the workers living conditions and the industry’s environmental impact (participating in platforms such as www.treedom.net).

However, and despite having all of the above in common, the companies try to differentiate from each other in a creativity dispute that takes place on advertising and media initiatives. This only proves that, nowadays, more important than doing, is to show that you do it. Sustainability is now, most definitely, a matter of positive differentiation.

Even so, what strikes me the most is the undoubted importance of communicating sustainability strategies, which means that brands thought about the subject and established guidelines in this matter, at least for the next decade.

And it struck me that it wouldn’t be a bad idea if each Portuguese textile and clothing company wrote, at least for itself, what they’re planning to do in this area for the next few years.