As the name indicates, Slow Fashion is the opposite of Fast Fashion, directly tied to ethically produced and sustainable fashion.
Slow Fashion, Slow Food and to slow your life down, all are achievable things, with doing something good to you and your environment.
With this article, we want to bring you the concept of Slow Fashion closer.
It can be described as the following:
Slow Fashion is an approach to fashion, in which you buy more consciously in terms of quantity but also considering the processes and resources required to make the clothing.
In other words stepping away from Fast Fashion, focusing on sustainable and ethically produced items.
Slow Fashion is anchored in the following three principles:
1. Shop Less & Buy Less
Slow fashion is standing for an alternative consumption to our consumption-oriented society. The fundament of slow fashion is to shop less frequently and to buy less.
2. Conscious and Mindful Shopping
Slow Fashion primarily is about avoiding Fast Fashion brands and running after the latest trends. The principle is to focus on timeless pieces you’d like to wear for a longer time and not just one season.
But it is not just about selecting the styles you’d like to wear for a longer time, but it is also about being conscious about how the products are being produced and the materials are being sourced.
Part of this is to be informed of what you buy and where you buy it, having an eye open for the so-called greenwashing.
3. Value your clothes
Focussing on products made with a higher quality, makes you appreciate more the value of your clothes. Hand in hand with this goes, to maintain the clothed. Once something gets broken try to fix it. If you don’t like the item any more or it doesn’t fit any more, think about giving it to friends. When making your decisions, keep in your mind the life-cycle of clothing. Don’t treat your clothes as disposable but learn to love the things you own.
Slow Fashion is anchored on ethical and sustainable fashion.
As it happens that there is sometimes some confusions between the terms, we would like to quickly sum up what ethical fashion and sustainable fashion mean.
Sustainable (or eco) Fashion
Shortly said it is often concerned with the environmental impact. It is related to the fibres used in the production and if they are organic, recycled or repurposed. It is also related to limiting the harmful chemicals and dyes used during the production processes of clothes.
Other aspects considered are if production uses less energy, water and waste, choosing low-impact options whenever possible.
Ethical (or ethically produced) Fashion
Shortly said, it is often concerned with human and animal rights. It is related to the people involved: focusing on better working conditions, fair wages and treatment and no child labour. It is also related to how animal-based materials are sourced.
Slow Fashion is actually just a modern trend word for something that our parents and grandparents lived before Fast Fashion became a thing; we suggest you read also the article “What do we mean when we say Fast Fashion”.
And if you want to read more about how our clothes are currently produced, please read our article: “The Unglamorous Truth about Fashion”.
