Rachel Arthur, is a sought-after consultant, speaker and writer driving systems change within the fashion industry. Rachel has dedicated her career to transformation; tracking and interpreting signals of change, and working with organisations on implementation. She is obsessed with rethinking long-term value creation in order to secure a sustainable future for people and planet, and believes fashion the ideal case study for the economic shift required. She is currently the Advocacy Lead for Sustainable Fashion at the United Nations Environment Programme, where she focuses on narrative as a primary lever for reducing overconsumption relative to the triple planetary crisis and social injustices worldwide.

Your journey into sustainability in fashion has been remarkable. Can you share how it all began? Was there a defining moment that led you to focus on driving transformation within this space?
My career has always been driven by a focus on change and transformation. From my early days in journalism to my current role in strategy and advocacy, I’ve been motivated by a desire to challenge the status quo and push for systems-level improvements. My entry into sustainability was a natural extension of this mindset.
Initially, as a business journalist covering the fashion industry, which is where I spent the first 10 years of my career, I was fascinated by its creativity and cultural impact, as well as the potential it had to lead when it came to innovation. But over time, it became increasingly impossible to ignore the systemic issues lurking beneath the surface—the environmental destruction, exploitative labour practices, and relentless cycle of overproduction and overconsumption.
I don’t think there was a single defining moment but rather a growing awareness, sparked by my work focused essentially on the role of ‘change’ within the sector. Writing and then consulting about these issues gave me a front-row seat, if you will, to the industry's challenges, but also to its potential – and influence – for transformation. Fashion is uniquely positioned as both a reflection of society and a driver of aspiration, which makes it a powerful platform for change. The second half of my career then has been completely focused here, with the aim to actively contribute to solutions.
With a career spanning advocacy, journalism, consulting, and strategy, how has your perspective on sustainability evolved over time? Are there lessons you wish you’d learned earlier?
My perspective on sustainability has deepened and evolved over time, as with anyone’s in this space given how nascent the work is – we are all learning as we go, and as more and more science becomes available to support what we are doing. I would say that in the early days of focusing on this side of my career, I saw sustainability primarily as an environmental issue, rather than recognising its intersectional nature; encompassing social justice, economic inequality and cultural narratives. But also that it is deeply systemic in nature – that change can’t just come about with individual efforts, but must be integrated across all stakeholders groups, and particularly by those with power and influence such as governments and big business. I spent a certain amount of time working in the space of what is referred to within systems thinking as “parameters”; incremental efforts that merely have the so-called effect of ‘rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic’. I wish I had realised earlier not only how little impact this would have, but that it was also deeply dissatisfying. I feel lucky to be able to say no to this work now, and always aim to make a concerted effort to focus on opportunities that I believe will truly contribute to shifting the needle.
You’re currently the Advocacy Lead for Sustainable Fashion at the United Nations Environment Programme. Could you tell me more about your work there, particularly the Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook you authored in 2023?
At UNEP, my role centres on leveraging narrative change to address the deep-seated challenges of overconsumption and overproduction in the fashion industry. This work is grounded in UNEP’s broader mission to combat the triple planetary crisis—climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution—and focuses on the textiles sector as a critical area of intervention, with the aim to accelerate a just transition towards a sustainable and circular textile value chain.
One of the cornerstones of my work has been the development of the Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook, which I authored and launched in 2023. This is a guide for marketers, brand managers, imagemakers, storytellers, media, influencers and beyond on how to take action and responsibility through their work for a sustainable industry. It focuses on how to do so through:
Countering misinformation
Reducing messages perpetuating overconsumption
Redirecting aspiration to more sustainable lifestyles
Empowering consumers to demand greater action from businesses and policymakers
My hope is that this resource will empower such stakeholders to not only communicate more sustainably, but also see their role and the creative opportunity that exists for them to join this movement and contribute to meaningful change.

Greenwashing is a significant challenge in fashion. What advice do you have for both brands and consumers in navigating this issue and ensuring authenticity in sustainability efforts?
Greenwashing undermines genuine sustainability efforts and erodes consumer trust. For brands, my advice is to read the Playbook first of all as this is a key area of focus! :) But otherwise to prioritise transparency. Be honest about where you are on your sustainability journey—share both your successes and the areas where you’re still working to improve. Then it’s about backing claims with verified data, doing things like avoiding vague or misleading language, without explaining what they mean in practice, and avoiding any form whatsoever of exaggeration on progress.
For consumers, my advice is to develop a critical eye. Look beyond marketing slogans and ask questions.
Fashion plays a unique role in shaping aspiration and identity. How do you believe we can redirect these influences to promote more mindful consumption and reduce overconsumption?
Fashion is a powerful cultural force, shaping self-expression, identity and belonging, our values and indeed what we desire. To harness this influence positively, we need to shift the narrative around what’s aspirational. Instead of celebrating excess, constant newness or material wealth as markers of success, why can’t we focus on sustainable lifestyles, on longevity, quality and personal style? The Playbook goes into a lot of detail as to what reimagining values looks like when it comes to how we should be doing this and what we should be focusing on instead, but one area that I think is really fundamental in all of it is about normalising more mindful practices - outfit repeating, repairing, swapping, buying secondhand and so forth. The role that social proofing has to play here is crucial – we are all influenced by those around us, by what we see happening that others deem to be ‘cool’, which makes for a very significant role that content creators/influencers, the media and brands have to play in supporting and role modelling those new norms.
You've worked with organisations like Google, WWF, and Stella McCartney to integrate sustainability into the fashion ecosystem. What insights can you share about fostering meaningful collaboration between technology, brands, and advocacy groups?
Collaboration between diverse stakeholders is essential for systemic change. My work with Google, where indeed we built a partnership with WWF and Stella McCartney, was really about bringing different strengths to the table to bring a project to fruition. The resulting data platform we developed ultimately also ended up being owned by Textile Exchange; another really valuable player in this ecosystem. There are so many incredible organisations and individuals in this side of the industry (and more entering all the time) that have something to offer, so any which way we can support and foster that sort of exchange and collaborative effort is crucial.
You’ve spoken about long-term value creation and rethinking economic systems within the fashion industry. How do you envision fashion acting as a case study for broader economic shifts required to address the planetary crisis?
The fashion industry is a very compelling case study for broader economic transformation because it encapsulates many of the systemic issues driving the planetary crises by the very fact it is rooted in a growth-driven model that prioritises profit and expansion over ecological balance and equity. I’m really interested in and focused on challenging this paradigm, and believe fashion can help model the change that’s necessary. None of that is straightforward of course; this isn’t about incremental adjustments but a complete transformation of how the industry operates.
To that end, last year I wrote a report for Textile Exchange on the topic of ‘reimagining growth’, outlining why this industry needs to shift from exponential increases in production and consumption volumes based on unchecked resource extraction. The paper then provides a vision for the industry to align with regenerative economy and post-growth principles, centering a complete reimagining of value creation. Importantly, I think, it emphasises doing so as necessary to ensure resilience; mitigating future risk due to supply chain instability, resource depletion, over-reliance on finite resources and incoming legislation.
In your view, what are the biggest barriers preventing the fashion industry from achieving its sustainability goals? How can stakeholders work together to overcome these challenges?
The biggest barriers include entrenched business models / a system that prioritises profit over sustainability, and a lack of regulatory frameworks to enforce change and indeed accountability for it. The only way that can be addressed is by stakeholders coordinating efforts – this is all a case of needing ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’, which can feel incredibly overwhelming, so it’s also about finding the individual roles we can each play to contribute towards that. I really like to use the Climate Action Venn Diagram from Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnson to help with thinking on this.
As someone deeply involved in mentorship and start-up accelerators, what advice would you give to emerging entrepreneurs looking to make sustainability the heart of their fashion businesses?
My advice to entrepreneurs, but also to young people entering into this space, is to start by embedding purpose wherever possible into every decision that they make – whether that’s about their business model, or in an individual’s case, with the career path they decide to follow. There isn’t a future industry without that fundamental focus. We’re beyond the stage of checking boxes, but there’s still a long way to go where senior leaders and potential investors truly believe in it and back it, so it's going to be a lot of standing your ground and proving your case in the meantime. Be clear on your values and back yourself.
Also, where you can, think about how you are measuring success. Are you being forced into traditional structures that think short-term and purely about monetary returns, or can you consider wider value creation in terms of positive economic, environmental and social impact? Fashion is at a pivotal moment, and the entrepreneurs entering the space today have a unique opportunity to redefine what the industry stands for.
Looking to the future, what is your vision for the fashion industry in the next decade?
I hope to see an industry that fully embraces circularity, operates transparently, and places value on environmental sustainability and social justice at its core. I want to see a thriving, local secondhand market displacing traditional new sales, policies that truly hold brands accountable and a foundation built on equity for every single person working in this industry. My legacy, I hope, will be a contribution to making this a reality; driving meaningful, lasting transformation in the face of urgent global challenges.
A massive thank you to Rachel for taking the time to chat to me. Make sure you connect with her on LinkedIn, and Substack. Discover The Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook and the Reimagining Growth Landscape Analysis report.
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