SLOW FASHION, what does it really mean?

Slow fashion is a natural, recycled, comfortable and respectful with the environment and people fashion line. It’s the ethical and responsible option in front of fast fashion.

But, what does fast fashion mean? Do we know what it really is?

Buy and throw, and start again. That’s fast fashion. It has taken over one of the most important industries in this world: the textile industry. In fact, the fashion industry has become the second most polluting industry. How do you feel if we tell you that 20% of the waste generated in the planet comes from that industry?

This is because it’s based on creating products quickly and in bigger volumes to satisfy people’s needs. To do this, fast fashion sacrifices good business practices for productivity and profits. Did you know that the average use of any clothing piece is only 7 times? Imagine now the level of production that is needed to fill the huge demand. In fact, to produce that volume cheaply, fast fashion consumes large number of resources, such as huge amounts of water. For example, it requires 3,000 liters of water to make one single pair of jeans!

Due to that high production, a lot of waste is generated and it must be managed somehow. Often, these type of companies do not dispose the waste in an ethical and responsible way, but rather dump it into rivers or the sea, assuming an impact on all the ecosystems life.

Fast fashion is fleeting: it is about the population getting a fashion garment that does not have enough quality to last several years. It makes the product cheaper because they maintain unfair working conditions for the people who works in that companies.

They work many hours for a very low salary, risking their life day by day. Production is usually carried out in developing countries at minimal cost, with a negative impact on their communities and, of course, without any environment respect at all.

So, how can slow fashion reverse this effect?

Slow fashion vindicates the need to be able to dress and consume clothes with a fairer exchange between the parties involved in production and raising consumer awareness of the benefits of this type of fashion.

As there is a greater awareness of the environment, of the working conditions of people and of how it affect our consumption decisions in so many other aspects, more and more people are choosing to purchase clothing with Fair Trade Certificate guarantee. Sustainable fashion garments are manufactured in a higher quality and they’re also more exclusive.

Slow fashion encourages an attitude towards more responsible and ethical
consumption.

Eco fashion supports companies with less, but well paid workers and manufacture locally. It bets on recycling and buying second-hand clothing products to give them even more life usage.

It emphasises that we must donate the clothes that we no longer use and that they return, thus, to the cycle of use. The materials of first-hand eco-fashion are sustainable. Fair Trade is a solidarity exchange whereby the priority of the economic cycle is that profits and benefits must arrive once the people who generate the wealth are in a situation of protection and security to carry out their activity. In other words, Fair Trade will put people before profitability. In addition, one of the objectives is to empower and give value to the local artisans who carry out the activities and manufacture products with a tradition that is many time over a thousand years old.

As you can see, there are many alternatives to continue collaborating in the
destruction of the planet, the pollution of rivers, the precarious situations of millions of people in the world who work for an industry that does not respect their labor rights ... Deciding on ecological fashion options is in your hands and it is easier than it seems.

Are you ready to join the revolution?