The Tamesis
In the months following Spring/Summer 2026, we’ve seen major brands welcome a slew of new hires to their communications, marketing and design departments. Our new series, Fashion’s Real Reset Starts Now, looks at all of these changes and how they will redefine the fashion industry in the coming years.
Lubomila Jordanova said she has seen a worrying shift in the way luxury brands balance profitability, creativity and sustainability over the past two years. Faced with supply chain disruptions, climate shocks, geopolitical tensions, tariffs and a general decline in consumption, many are tightening their belts, she explained, noting that “KPI fixation” is killing the latter two goals in order to achieve the first. The recent shakeup of creative directors has only accelerated this trend.
“This year we’ve witnessed the biggest and most complex shakeup in the relationships between CEOs, boards and creative directors,” said Jordanova, co-founder and CEO of sustainability software company Plan A and a member of Chloé’s sustainability advisory board. “Suddenly, the pursuit of profitability starts to question the space for creativity.”
Instead of pushing the boundaries of a brand’s codes and selling dreams, she continues, creative directors are often tasked with shoehorning those codes into “consumer products” — bag charms and small leather goods — that increasingly drive revenue. Under this new mandate to improve profitability, sustainability committees are being dismantled, sustainability teams are being excluded from design meetings, and sustainability-related materials are being reconsidered or eliminated in favor of cheaper alternatives—a trend that continues fashion business Last May’s Sustainability Leaders Survey. “Right now, the most important focus is whether something is going to make money.”
At a personal brand level, a new creative director can make a huge difference to a sustainability team—new energy from a committed individual can drive progress—but it’s easy for a cold or hostile creative director to do the opposite. Faced with this uncertainty, what can sustainability teams and their supply chain partners do to calm things down? We asked the experts to share their strategies.
Find common ground
Aligning creative directors, CEOs and sustainability teams is a rare alchemy at any brand, in any context, but it’s what truly drives progress. “If sustainability is purely technical – based on materials, environmental footprint and supplier partnerships – then it doesn’t feel alive at a brand or business level. So having a creative director join what is considered a sustainability team is the holy grail,” said Elisa Niemtzow, vice president of consumer for corporate social responsibility (BSR) and co-founder of sustainability platform Racine.
With a creative director on board, sustainability teams can more easily connect their work to brand values, creating an emotional resonance among consumers and changing mindsets and behaviors in the process. “Unfortunately, it’s still quite elusive. Sustainability is often not a priority in the first few months of a new creative director’s tenure,” she said.
