Learn About Sustainability in Fashion: Fast Fashion vs Slow Fashion
Fashion is important to most of us. Sure, we all enjoy looking presentable and fashionable, but fashion is about expressing our identity; it’s about using our clothing choices to tell someone something about ourselves. It brings people together to celebrate their individuality.
However, this industry is not the most eco-friendly. According to the UN Environment Program, this industry is the second-biggest water consumer and is responsible for roughly 8% to 10% of all global carbon emissions.
But why is most fashion not sustainable? A good example is the so-called fast fashion.
Fast fashion can be defined as trendy but very cheap as their clothing ideas are often quickly created to meet high consumer demands.
In simpler words, it’s a term used to describe clothing pieces that are quickly created to take advantage of trends.
Even though it’s not illegal, this business is unethical for many reasons.
Firstly, exploration and child labour is considered modern slavery. To mass-produce so many cheap clothing pieces so quickly, factories often take advantage of unsafe labour conditions with low wages and long working hours. There are also several cases where children are employed, which means their basic human rights are then violated.
When it comes to the environment, this industry is poisonous.
Because these clothing options are so cheap, and the quality is often not so good, we are most likely to throw these pieces away than timeless “expensive” pieces.
These pieces are often made of synthetic fibres such as polyester, acrylic and nylon that unfortunately creates a complex cycle that leaves a terrible environmental footprint alongside the entire manufacturing process.
However, a good alternative to fast fashion is slow fashion.
Slow fashion aims to produce clothing that takes all kinds of the supply chain in the industry into consideration and, by doing, so it respects people, the environment, and animals.
It’s the opposite of fast fashion. For example, the quality of the pieces reduces the waste since the sustainable brands decide to focus on quality (by using materials that are made to last for longer and that are environmentally friendly).
Materials used for their clothing pieces are natural fibres, such as recycled cotton, organic hemp, and linen, Tencel, econyl and qmonos.
Since the fashion is slow, people purchase more mindfully, more consciously and create awareness.
You buy less but more thoughtfully, and better quality.