Do fashion brands destroy their unsold clothes? Fact.
In the first episode, we see Paloma Castel (Zita Hanrot) and Ye-Ji (Park Ji-min), partners in the Berlin-based, inclusivity-minded brand Doppel, raid a garment destruction/incineration facility, where they happen upon discarded, unworn pieces from two premiere fashion houses: Ledu (run by Vincent Ledu) and Rovel (run by Diane Rovel).
In reality, both luxury and fast fashion brands engage in the controversial and woefully wasteful practice of incinerating unsold goods—and yes, this includes luxury handbags and footwear. Luxury brands are motivated by the rationale that their unsold inventory is better destroyed than made to seem cheap by being massively marked down or sent to an outlet. For fast fashion chains, on the other hand, in some cases there’s a tax advantage to burning vs. storing excess inventory.
The European Environment Agency shared that “it’s estimated 4-9% of all textile products put on the market in Europe are destroyed before use, amounting to between 264,000 and 594,000 tonnes of textiles destroyed each year.”
Do brands use discarded fabrics from other brands? Fact.
Early on in La Maison, we see a Doppel runway show featuring garments bricolaged together from old Ledu and Rovel pieces rescued from the aforementioned incineration plant.
