The word sustainability now circulates through fashion with the same overuse—and vagueness—as wellness does to the beauty space. It has become the industry’s favorite catchall: a comforting umbrella term under which nearly every brand claims moral high ground, even as production cycles continue to accelerate. At its most basic, the message is indisputable — wasting clothes and materials is bad — as we know. But in practice, sustainability has often been flattened into a marketing strategy, a shade of greenwashing that allows companies to launch yet another capsule, another accessory drop, another limited-edition sneaker, all while draping themselves in eco-conscious language.
Greenwashing isn’t merely another trend, it has become a common corporate practice, used by large companies to falsely signal environmental responsibility and eco-conscious values. According to research from the University of Built Science, more than half of major corporations, roughly 58% to 59%, have either admitted to greenwashing or have been implicated in misleading sustainability claims, with the fashion industry among the most affected sectors.
“In a 2022 survey of nearly 1,500 CEOs and C-suite leaders, well over half (58%) acknowledged that their companies were guilty of greenwashing, and nearly two-thirds questioned whether their sustainability efforts were genuine in the first place,” the study reported.
What gets lost in this frenzy is the quieter, more demanding discipline of slow fashion. The ateliers, handmade shoes, and the cobbler services that treat footwear not as a disposable trend object but as a living product meant to be repaired, reshaped, and lived in over time.
If there is anywhere this ethos still feels deeply embedded, it is Portugal. The country is more commonly associated with its soccer legacy or coastlines, but behind the scenes, it has long been one of the fashion industry’s quiet powerhouses in luxury footwear manufacturing. Think: Jimmy Choo, Birkenstock, Miu Miu, etc. Among them, they outsource their production to Portuguese factories prized for their technical precision, artisanal heritage, and meticulous standards of quality. Shoes here are not rushed into existence; they are built slowly, deliberately, and with a reverence for process that resists disposability.
That commitment was on full display at a multi-day conference hosted by the Portuguese Footwear, Components and Leather Goods Manufacturers’ Association or APICCAPS, part of its initiative honoring the country’s legacy in shoemaking while charting its future. In Porto, Portugal, through panel discussions and conversations, industry leaders examined how sustainability can move beyond surface-level optics into measurable, long-term systems, rethinking materials, regional production models, and responsible manufacturing at scale. At the same time, speakers explored how emerging technologies, from Ai to digital design tools, might inspire the next chapter of innovation without severing their reputation and industry's integrity from its handcrafted roots.
Rather than positioning tradition and technology as opposing forces, the conversations suggested something more nuanced: that innovation, when grounded in craft, can amplify rather than erase the human hand, while also keeping sustainability in mind, knowing there isn’t a one-solution that fits all. Panelist Albano Fernandes says, “Sustainability isn’t about painting a product green; it’s about measuring consumption, emissions and impacts, improving processes, redesigning products, reducing waste, and making verifiable commitments.”
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