What Pace is Your Fashion?

Much of mainstream fashion today is what we call “Fast Fashion.” But what does that really mean? It’s the constant influx of new goods into the market. The term Fast Fashion signifies inexpensive, accessible, and on-trend clothing sourced through international production chains. This model poses a huge impact on the environment because it’s happening at such a massive scale. Because the items are produced so quickly and must be sold at low cost, the quality tends to be poor. To follow the train, the items don’t last and are quickly disposed of. They end up in landfills or developing countries. Neither of these are good options for oh so many reasons that we’ll get into at another time!

So what’s the alternative?

Slow Fashion. This often consists of durable products, traditional production techniques, and seasonless design concepts. A shift toward slow fashion aims to affect many points throughout the life of a garment from production to consumer. For production workers, this means higher wages and safer conditions. For the consumer, it could mean higher quality goods, designed and manufactured with greater care. Environmentally, there would be less clothing waste and manufacturing processes that produce less industrial waste. Taken a step further, garments would be made from natural fibers which would be biodegradable - when your t-shirt wears out, you could compost it! This movement would also call for organically grown cotton and fibers that have less impact on the farmers and environment as a whole.

I’ll go in more depth about why this shift in our purchasing habits is desperately needed in the coming weeks!