fp Fupei is not a sustainable brand, but an anti-consumerism brand.
The most famous and respected sustainable brand is Patagonia in the United States. Patagonia is where it is today for two reasons, one is sincere and the other is enduring.
At present, brands all over the world talk about sustainable development, and even take concrete actions, but most of them are green washing. Uniqlo, this is a great brand, right? Uniqlo also has a great repair and recycling service, which is a real action. However, fast fashion itself is bound to be a huge waste and rapid iteration. Maybe some people say that Uniqlo is not a fast fashion, ok, then HM and ZARA are better examples. This is the same as luxury brands. Prada currently advocates recycling plastics from the ocean, and then recycling them into fibers to make clothes and bags. Is this a very good action? Of course it is. But the essence of luxury brands is extravagance and waste, otherwise how can you flaunt your superiority? Under the condition that the essence remains unchanged, any superficial behavior can only be called washing green, which is to serve better sales. Patagonia is different. If they must choose between sustainable development and financial report, it chooses sustainable development.
Persistence is an important reason why the last sentence of the above paragraph is credible. If a brand jumps out today and tells you that I am the most environmentally friendly brand in the world, how much do you trust it? It is nothing more than a brand that takes environmental protection as its sales propaganda. However, Patagonia was founded more than 50 years ago. When it was unknown or only used by a few mountaineers, it devoted itself to sponsoring some grassroots environmental activists to organize small-scale activities. Today, when I look at many brands, especially those in northern Europe, their sustainable development behavior is also very sincere and consistent, but the years are not long enough and their influence is not as good as Patagonia’s. Of course, this is only one of the reasons. Perhaps many sustainable brands will never reach the height of Patagonia. This is also linked to its ideological atmosphere and spending power in California.
Why is fp not a sustainable brand?
Because that’s not my complete idea. Maybe the concept of sustainable development is just a part of my concept, or it is not deep enough.
The formation of each concept is bound to have its dissatisfaction with the current status quo. Obviously, the rise of the concept of sustainable development lies in the endless demand and consumption of natural resources, which affects our harmonious coexistence with nature. Westerners are afraid that resources will run out in decades, so they must change.
Musk dismissed this. Human beings are going to become interstellar civilizations, and we will have new resources. Instead of spending time on “throttling”, it is better to put it on “open source”.
See, except for the idea that there is no logic at all, any idea has its correctness, so it is a choice, not right or wrong. Don’t be politically correct or stand on the moral high ground.
Just like left and right in politics, if a left thinks that right is useless, then there is no need to argue with such people, because people are not here to reason, but to compete for benefits.
My anti-consumerism idea comes from the excessive influence of consumerism on us, which affects our happiness.
The key word is excessive. Of course, the definition of consumerism itself represents excesses.
Can consumption bring happiness to individuals? The answer is yes. Whether consumption can bring prosperity to economy, the answer is yes.
But is consumption the only source of happiness? Is there a limit and a backlash to the prosperity brought by consumption?
Do I feel satisfied when I face my deep wardrobe and shoe cabinet? Yes. But more than 50% of emotions are guilt. It’s my self-questioning about why I need so many clothes and shoes.
It should be noted here that I am not picking up anyone to accept my point of view. I always think that when you see something and nod your head, it’s not because you accept his point of view, but because he just says what’s in your mind. And your inner thoughts are formed slowly for a long time, which is caused by multi-dimensional information and subconscious.
I think the happiness brought by current consumerism is less than the anxiety and guilt it brings, so I want to fight against consumerism, and my brand, fp, is a tool.
How to become an anti-consumerism brand.
My current shallow thinking is three. I hope I can constantly deepen and refine these contents and then publish a book.
Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, has published a book, The Responsible Company, which is about how to become a sustainable development company. I hope I can follow the example of the sages.
These three are product durability, brand self-limitation and social persuasion.
Product durability
To become an anti-consumerism brand, one’s products should be anti-consumerism. Consumerism is to advocate constant buying. If this product can be used for a long time, then at the product level, it can be regarded as anti-consumerism.
In order to realize the durability of products, we need to pay attention to two aspects: first, materials and structure. Welted shoes may be the best example, and jeans and jackets are also good examples. Second, style. Classic menswear is the best example, and many workwear items also have stood the test of time.
The two are equally important, and even the latter may be more important, because now that the goods are discarded, we say that T-shirts are good, mostly not because they are broken, but because they are out of fashion and don’t want them.
Brand self-limitation
When talking about customers, every brand has an indicator, CLV, Customer Lifecycle Value. Simply put, how much profit can I squeeze from the same person? It is difficult and expensive to attract new customers, while it is easy and almost cost-free to let an existing customer buy your new product. Therefore, even if you spend a lot of money to pull new ones, it is worthwhile. It’s okay not to make money for the first time.
However, at any time with the idea of hoping that others will buy more is consumerism. Why buy more? Because shopping makes me happy. Will it make you guilty to buy things that you don’t really need so much? No, finally throw it away. How do you feel?
Therefore, what the brand should do is to suppress the impulse to launch new products and only take solving problems as the base. For example, at present, there are four lasts of dress shoes. If I want to launch new models, I can launch hundreds, but only a few models are available, that is, nothing new is given, so you have nothing to buy.
This is what I talked about. Levi’s is such a great brand, and its products are obviously durable goods, why are there so many (deeply) discounted goods? Because of overproduction. Why is there overproduction? Because of fearing my customers couldn’t buy it when they wanted it, and they chose another brand. So pile up inventory.
Back to my example, I don’t have anything new, but others do. Did the money just go into the pockets of other brands? If you still look at this matter from the perspective of business, of course, but what I want is a social movement!
Social persuasion
This is not who I want to convince, or educate, or make him accept my point of view. This sentence means that brands not only makes their products durable and their customers buy less, but also make changes that the society can see together with their customers or people with the same ideas.
Shoe Donation is a good example, and I will have more activities in line with the anti-consumerism concept later.
I’m a seller, and anti-consumerism is to kill myself, right? Right.
Is this right? Right.
