“I like beauty,” the designer Valentino tells a journalist in the documentary, “Valentino: The Last Emperor.” Cracking a smile, he adds: “It’s not my fault.”

No intention is more pure than the pursuit of beauty, perhaps, and few designers are more fashion-conscious than Valentino. But is he truly the last of a dying breed? After all, over the past several years, more and more designers have been replaced by fast-fashion behemoths; houses have been consolidated under corporate umbrellas; clothes have become “products,” and haute couture little more than a social media tease.

The more that big corporations segment and pigeonhole brands, somehow the more generic it becomes. Go to the shopping district of any major city in the world and you will see the same stores — Zara, H&M, Gucci, and many others — showcasing a dizzying array of the same clothes. Shopping for clothes online fares little better. Chinese retailer Shein is currently the biggest online apparel retailer in the world; it is also the target of hundreds of copyright lawsuits.

The longtime intention of fashion — amplifying and creating beauty — has been replaced by the profit motive. But the backlash has begun. Around the world, younger generations are protesting against the environmental cost of fast fashion, and the United States has prohibited retailers from selling Xinjiang cotton due to unethical labor practices.

Old habits will die hard, of course, but new brands are finding new intentions, such as embracing sustainability. Or, like Toronto-based Aria Noir, they are bridging the new and old by marrying quality, art, and technology. A brand ambassador for the luxe brand says that its intention is to create timeless, wearable art while paying attention to a very modern issue: sustainability.

Studies show that apparel and accessory manufacturers produce up to 10 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. To add to this, the fashion industry is also one of the globe’s largest consumers of water. While many Gen Zers have embraced second-hand clothing websites like ThredUp and Rent the Runway, Aria Noir decided to pursue a different approach: sustainable fashion using high-quality, renewable materials like alpaca fiber and ethically-sourced precious metals. The label uses smaller, handpicked suppliers, which not only ensures a lower carbon footprint, but has proven a savvy business model given the freeze-up in global supply chains lately.

Aria Noir’s brand ambassador says that a big part of its intention these days is being conscious of its raw material sourcing — particularly that fabrics are being farmed responsibly, and that all of its suppliers pay a living wage. This has led, for example, to the 18-karat gold used in its ARCA eyewear line being sourced directly from a mine in Peru—a transition the brand will complete in the third quarter.

Knowing that your sweater, shoes, or sunglasses were produced ethically is itself a luxury, according to the brand, and one that its customers are happy to pay for. Sustainable materials also signal a higher attention to detail and quality that is lacking in what Aria Noir derisively refers to on its website as “McFashion.”

Given the publicity surrounding inflation, an obvious question is whether sustainability is itself a luxury, but perhaps that question should be turned around. With the global population having just surpassed 8 billion human beings, none of us can afford to waste precious natural resources. In 2019, a Princeton University study revealed that fast fashion alone was responsible for more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined, and the price of disposable apparel has surely increased since then.

If the industry does not change its intention to something more sustainable and ethical, Aria Noir’s ambassador says that we will find ourselves living in a very ugly world indeed. And that will certainly be our fault.