At Paris Fashion Week 2025, while some designers moved beyond token sustainability efforts, many collections continued on with problematic materials, highlighting the need for industry-wide shifts.
The runways of Paris Fashion Week 2025 are confirming what the industry has been whispering for seasons: sustainability is no longer a niche experiment. The global sustainable fashion market is projected to surpass $11.1 billion by 2027, the collections that stood out were the ones that didn’t just claim eco-consciousness but embedded it into their DNA. From biomaterials to upcycling, designers leveraged innovation to push the boundaries of what sustainable luxury can look like.
But, despite efforts from stalwarts like Stella McCartney, Gabriela Hearst, and Ganni, sustainability has been notably absent from much of the week’s 72 runway shows. The disparity underscores the fashion industry’s ongoing struggle to universally adopt sustainable practices.
Stella McCartney, the perennial leader in ethical fashion, doubled down on her commitment with a collection that was nearly 100 percent sustainable. Despite the cringey “Laptop to Lapdance” collection name, McCartney shone the spotlight on the multi-faceted working woman. Power-shouldered suiting, thigh-high boots, and high-slit dresses defined a lineup that merged 1980s glamour with material innovation. McCartney’s steadfast avoidance of leather, feathers, fur, and exotic skins forced her team to innovate with plant-based alternatives and regenerated textiles, proving once again that her brand’s vision is not about limitation, but reinvention.
Ganni, in its first full-fledged Paris Fashion Week outing, signaled an evolution from its Scandi-cool origins to a global player with a sharp focus on sustainability. The Danish label, which aims to source ten percent of its materials from next-generation fabrics by 2025, presented looks incorporating Celium, a premium cultivated cellulose developed with biomaterials company Polybion. Ganni also recently finalized a four-year agreement with Ambercycle to integrate Cycora, a recycled polyester made from post-consumer textile waste, into its core collections — an initiative that will replace over 20 percent of its virgin and bottle-based recycled polyester usage.
For Marine Serre, upcycling has always been more than a buzzword; it is the foundation of her design philosophy. This season, she crafted ten couture pieces from found materials, including antique watches, coins, and furs deemed commercially obsolete. Serre’s process of deconstructing and reconstructing existing materials speaks to an emerging form of eco-activism, one that embraces imagination over mass production.
On the more experimental end of the spectrum, Coperni once again captured attention with its on-demand printing application of cutting-edge materials. The brand’s focus on high-tech, lab-grown fibers hints at a future where materials are grown rather than extracted.
Elsewhere, Gabriela Hearst, long recognized for her leadership in sustainable luxury, emphasized circularity with a collection that incorporated post-consumer waste into high-end tailoring. “She’s built an earth-centered brand, all things being relative in this wildly wasteful industry,” Vogue noted. “Among the notable developments on the responsible design front was the opening look, a coat that might be mistaken for shearling or fake fur, but is in fact silk. The snakeskin that came later was from Inversa, a Florida company that ethically sources python skin from invasive Burmese snakes in the Everglades. And the denim dyed vibrant shades of yellow and lapis blue was made from 100 percent recycled cotton. Refurbishing vintage handbags with new straps was a clever way to say ‘new is not always better.’”
But it was Hearst’s use of real mink that sparked the biggest controversy. The designer’s show included a coat, jacket, and stole made from vintage mink fur. “We bought all these old mink coats in Italy, and pieced them together,” she said. The controversial choice for a label known for its eco commitments signaled a contentious revival of the material. What was once a settled debate has found itself reopened, with battle lines now drawn between those who oppose real fur on ethical grounds and those who reject faux fur due to its environmental impact. Critics argue that mass-produced synthetic fur — often derived from plastic — fails as a sustainable alternative. Even when made from recycled materials, a faux fur coat typically requires plastic, and locks it into a form that cannot be repurposed, diverting it from a multi-use recycling loop and sending it to landfill once discarded. Despite major fashion houses pledging to use fur alternatives, vintage furs are still widely available, and recent trends like the Mob Wife look, have reignited interest.
But recent data shows that 80 percent of global consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable and ethical fashion options. With the fashion industry still responsible for ten percent of global carbon emissions and synthetic fibers taking up to 200 years to degrade, the stakes have never been higher.
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