What is Slow Fashion and How It is Changing the Fashion Industry
The term ‘Slow Fashion’ is an opposite to ‘Fast Fashion’. In order to understand the term slow fashion, first you need to know what fast fashion is. Fast fashion is companies recreating the styles and trends seen on the runways at fashion week (like Paris). The number of people who can afford to buy those stylish and trendy outfits exhibited on the runways at a fashion week are very limited, so companies and businesses recreate them to sell at a price affordable for everyone.
Some of you may have heard the term slow fashion for the first time. If you are one of them, this article will try to answer what’s on your mind.
Slow fashion is about designing, creating and buying garments for quality and longevity. It means fewer garments that are made with ethical values and timeless designs that can be used for longer times. These days we hear a lot about slow fashion movements and it’s gaining increasing traction more and more because of the sustainable way of thinking. The term slow fashion is said to have been coined in 2008 by a designer named Kate Fletcher. She wrote an article published in The Ecologist about slowing down in fashion and what is the true cost of choosing quantity over quality. Kate Fletcher is now a well-known Ecological Design Consultant and when she talks about slow fashion, she mainly talks about style, design and quality of the garment. She also brings a lot of attention to the intentions behind how it was made.
Here are some other examples of slow fashion brands:
It has been ten years since the term slow fashion was first used. Sadly, there are still a lot of people out there who don’t know that about it. I have to say that while it may feel arduous at first (like anything slow usually), the slow fashion movement has helped a lot in explaining the actual ways fashion is made by most big companies. Most of you have probably already seen how the fashion industry has started changing the way it operates in fear of losing all their customers. Few years back we were not much concerned about the way most of the fashion products are made. Now people are concerned about human and animal rights thanks to their respective awareness movements.
I mean, we all know the feeling you get if you are told that an animal was harmed badly just to make the shirt you are wearing. Doesn’t everybody have the right to live happily (animals, nature or us humans). Nevertheless, you would be shocked at how many animals are being harmed to make clothes. Silk worms, sheep, rabbits, seals, foxes, lambs, chiru, minks, beavers, dogs and cats are also on the list, and with fast fashions closed door manufacturing you rarely know where it’s made or how it’s made (or who was harmed in the process).
It’s nice to see these days more and more people prefer products which are environmentally friendly. Some also call it as ‘Ethical Fashion’. It is a sign that the fashion industry has started to undergo change towards better, and companies are finding ways to do business without being unethical with nature and earth. Ethical fashion (and fair trade) mainly focuses on how the clothing was made, for example how the cotton was grown and how the company treats its workers who make it. There is no doubt that slow fashion and ethical fashion movements have helped stop sweatshops, child labor, and other work abuse. People are the assets of a company and they must be treated with great respect.
There are also slow fashion trends which are more focused on the impact of production on the environment. The term sustainable fashion is also used to refer to the effects of the production of clothing on environment. Earth is a beautiful planet but you cannot imagine the damage we have done to it over the past 200 years. Since the start of industrialization. It looks like slow fashion movement is fighting on a number of fronts. They are also raising awareness about the state of the earth and climate change, for example about the harmful effect on earth and environment caused by pesticides used to grow cotton. Slow fashion movements also speak in the favor of fair wages. These movements want businesses to take every possible step in order to improve the quality of workers’ life.
Most of the countries have started taking action against fashion production causing damage to the earth and environment. Many of us have a lot of clothes, but still don’t know what we should wear. Fast fashion is called fast fashion because it is about the latest trend and fast fashion is always short lived.
Slow fashion industry, on the other hand, is making lives of people simple. Sometimes fast fashion wants us to buy clothes we don’t even like but we still buy them just to keep up with the latest fashion trends. But you should wear what you feel comfortable wearing. Moreover, slow fashion and sustainable fashion focuses on quality over quantity. Some of you may say that clothes produced by slow fashion movements are very expensive.
And yes, it is mostly true that you will have to spend a bit more when you are buying quality, but it’s not always so. The use of organic, high quality material and resources make the prices somewhat higher, but the slow fashion brands tend to decrease their own markup and be transparent about it to compensate for the prices. And even if you were paying little extra, you are still buying quality materials that last.
Just imagine, how many t-shirts you have now which you bought from fast fashion last year. You are only thinking about the latest trends and don’t pay much attention to the quality of the clothes. Slow fashion industry is a growing force and people who use their clothes are more satisfied than others.
Some say that slow fashion does not have much to offer, and well. Even though it’s not that old of a movement, there is plenty of brands to choose from who have unique approaches and great ideas behind them.
