Is carbon neutrality the silver bullet fashion has been hoping for?

The industry's carbon footprint is under increasing scrutiny, but critics argue that offsetting lessens guilt rather than reducing harm

Tiny clutch bags, conceptual knitwear and carbon neutrality - the ideas that fashion chooses to embrace each season aren't always those you might expect. But thanks to a recent shift, no doubt spurred on by the "Greta Thunberg effect", carbon - as well as the practice of offsetting it - has become a hot topic for many of the biggest names in the fashion industry.

At New York fashion week in September, luxury fashion designer Gabriela Hearst staged fashion's first carbon-neutral catwalk show. Hot on its heels, Gucci announced it would go carbon neutral with chief executive, Marco Bizzarri, stating that "the planet has gone too far". Next up, luxury fashion conglomerate Kering, owner of big-name brands such as Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta, announced that its entire group would offset 2.4m tonnes of carbon dioxide in a bid to "become carbon-neutral within its own operations and across the entire supply chain."