5.3.3 Redirecting aspiration

Fashion communication has historically created desire through novelty, seasonal change, scarcity, status, and replacement. Responsible circular communication needs to reconsider what is being made aspirational.

This does not mean removing beauty, emotion, or cultural relevance from fashion. It means using those qualities to make care, longevity, versatility, repair, memory, second life, and fewer, better products more desirable. A repaired garment can communicate skill and continuity. A pre-owned product can carry history and individuality. A long-lasting product can gain value through use rather than lose relevance as soon as a new collection appears.

Reframing aspiration therefore means expanding the sources of desirability available to fashion — from newness alone towards craftsmanship, continuity, uniqueness, use and retained value.

Figure 5.7. Redirecting Fashion Aspiration. Circular communication can redirect desire from constant novelty and replacement towards care, continued relevance, attachment, and longer product use.

GFA RESOURCE: 2030 Fashion Sector Vision — Global Fashion Agenda, 2023. Developed through a year-long consultation with over 900 fashion stakeholders, the Vision sets out a shared industry ambition for 2030, including championing consumer messaging that promotes circular models over traditional ones, publicly accessible and standardised transparency, and a 50% reduction in GHG emissions across scopes 1–3. For campaign designers, it signals a clear sector-wide direction: redirecting aspiration from novelty towards care, repair and reuse.

Source: https://globalfashionagenda.org/resource/2030-fashion-sector-vision/

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