Like any manufacturer or workable brand, a latex designer often feels the snapping bite of modern business on our wares and work. But, this is part of making and selling something in our modern times. We have shipped, visited, and designed our latex pieces and full wardrobes to and with people and partners around the world, and there is no way to get around the cost of doing business these days. As much from supply chain woes in our Covid-times to surfing laws and surely paying our share of taxes, there is a lot to negotiate.
But designer Stella McCartney had something sure to say this week about what this article calls her “U.S. leather tax shock.”
Urging current U.S. President Joe Biden to change the existing U.S. taxing structure on goods and to “police” the fashion industry, McCartney says in the above piece that since fashion is not subsidized in what she feels would be a “positive way,” she often gets taxed over double for her non-leather items. The 51-year-old designer is an animal rights and sustainability activist, and makes the point that if her items even had a small amount of animal leather in them, she’d get taxed less.
McCartney claims she doesn’t charge her customers for the extra she has to pay but wants a change in the current tax structure. To this end, she has addressed a G7 conference and has spoken to Biden and other politicians. In the article, McCartney clearly states that most of the time, she feels like she is wearing two hats, one for fashion and one for politics.
Most recently, McCartney teamed up with biological recycling firm Protein Evolution, Inc. Her hope with this collaboration is to turn “unwanted” polyester and nylon into “good-as-new” products. And last year, she introduced the first luxury bag made from mushroom leather.
There just might be a better way to conduct our fashion businesses, and Stella McCartney might have some answers on how to.
