Slow Fashion 101 Origin Meaning and 10 Celebrities
Driven by consumer demand for sustainability and higher ethical standards, the slow fashion movement sees increasing support.
A 2021 study by the Global Fashion Agenda, Boston Consulting Group, and Sustainable Apparel Coalition showed that 79% of consumers see slow fashion as the only way forward.
Similarly, a July 2021 ‘Sustainable Fashion’ survey by McKinsey & Company shows that post-COVID-19, apparel consumers shifted toward slow fashion.
In this article, we’ll examine the movement’s origin, philosophy, differences with Sustainable fashion, and key proponents (celebs and brands).
What Is Slow Fashion?
Slow fashion is a ‘global movement’ which advocates for slow-fashion production and consumption, with respect for people, animals, and the environment.
Slow fashion is part of the higher concept of sustainable fashion.
Slow fashion opposes the fast fashion business model and industrial manufacturing – we will detail this below.
As a process, slow fashion relies on local craftsmen and eco-friendly materials.
Slow fashion aims to preserve local crafts and the environment while, in the process, it provides value to both producers and consumers.
The Origin of Slow Fashion
The concept of ‘slow fashion’ is credited to Kate Fletcher, professor of Sustainability, Design, and Fashion at UAL, London.
After the slow food movement grew popular, Fletcher began to compare the eco/sustainable/ethical fashion with the slow food ethical movement.
Inspired by the slow food movement, Fletcher also observed a need to slow down the fashion industry.
“Slow fashion is about choice, information, cultural diversity, identity, as well as balance, durability and long-term quality products. Slow fashion is about designing, producing, consuming and living better. Slow is not the opposite of fast”
Kate Fletcher – coined the term “slow fashion” in 2007.
Before Fletcher, several authors attempted to describe the need to slow fashion from a ‘Cult of Speed’ perspective.
Angela Murrills’ 2004 article in Georgia Straight – a Vancouver-based online magazine – explored ways of challenging the emerging ‘Cult of Speed.’
One of the proposed ideas was the ‘slow clothes concept.’
However, the ‘slow fashion’ movement reached global recognition thanks to one of the earliest critics of fast fashion, Elizabeth L. Cline.
In her 2012 book, ‘Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Clothing,’ Cline assesses the costs of making low-priced garments.
In the process, Elizabeth introduces the readers to her journey of changing from a wasteful to a more conscious buyer.
Ultimately, she learns how to mend clothes and loves locally made slow fashion.
The Philosophy of Slow Fashion
As a movement that’s gaining ground fast, slow fashion encapsulates different aspects:
However, from all aspects of slow fashion, manufacturing, and consumption are the most debated ones.
Slow Fashion = Slow Manufacturing
Slow fashion is made in small batches by sustainable designers or local artisans from high-quality, (ideally) eco-friendly, and cruelty-free materials.
Borrowing from the luxury business model, the slow fashion manufacturing approach emphasizes product longevity and quality instead of quantity and mass production.
As such, slow manufacturing:
- Supports (implicitly) local artisans and their crafts.
- Promotes fair wages.
- Fights climate change with lower carbon emissions.
- Protects the environment.
Slow Fashion = Slow Consumption
The second critical element part of the slow fashion philosophy is consumption.
In slow fashion, the consumption stage can be broken down is several small stages or types:
- The purchase of vintage clothes.
- Redesigning/repurposing old clothes.
- Buying from smaller producers.
- Making your apparel at home.
- Buying lesser but high-quality couture that lasts longer.
As Fletcher put it:
“The slow fashion approach encourages designers to ensure product quality and provide further value by developing the product in connection to people and the environment”.
Slow Fashion vs. Sustainable Fashion
Slow fashion and sustainable fashion are different concepts yet closely related.
The slow fashion movement is part of the higher goal of sustainable fashion and, thus, a cleaner, safer, happier world.
In its construct, sustainable fashion incorporates the whole range of ‘eco,’ ‘green,’ ‘slow,’ and ‘ethical’ fashion movements.
Since slow fashion doesn’t view products as disposable, it is sustainable.
Slow fashion also has an intrinsic ethical construct by looking at the constituting parts of fashion and the links between them.
Slow fashion cares about raw materials, human labor, the environment, and the maintenance of these connections.
In this respect, slow fashion is a ‘workable solution’ to the existing wasteful fashion ecosystem.
Finally, a slow fashion approach could initiate the creation of new strategies for the design, production, consumption, use, and reuse of fashion.
Slow Fashion vs. Fast Fashion
As the opposite side of slow fashion is fast fashion.
Fast fashion is a system built on cheap labor, resource depletion, waste creation, and mindless consumption.
Global fiber production reached an all-time high in 2022 at 169 million metric tons.
Around 97 billion new garments are produced globally each year.
Sadly, 84% of all garments produced end up in incinerators or landfills.
Fast fashion model [manufacturing, returns, and waste] is one of the most significant global heating contributors, known to generate over 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2 each year.
Thankfully, the slow fashion model opposes the 25 years old fast-fashion system.
“The first thing to do when you’re looking at a piece of clothing is to turn it inside out and pull at any piece of string you find. If the garments are cheaply made, the seams start to unravel. Don’t buy it“, advises Orsola de Castro of Fashion Revolution.”
Slow fashion is also about creating garments with cultural and emotional connections relevant to the places and people that made them.
Moreover, slow fashion advocates claim that consumers retain their garments for more than one season if they feel emotionally or culturally connected to them.
Indeed, research shows that slow fashion inspires consumers to buy fewer garments of higher quality, made by local artisans, from sustainable materials.
As such, the slow fashion movement proposes a thoughtful, intentional, and holistic fashion-making approach.
Slow fashion can potentially stop unnecessary production and pollution of the fast fashion model.
It could put an end to wasteful supply chains and reckless consumption.
Moreover, slow fashion could resurface the long-lost art of clothesmaking and celebrate the skills of the artisans that create them.
Simply put, the main goal of the slow fashion movement is to preserve local crafts, people, and the environment while providing customers with higher quality, longer-lasting, and valuable fashion.
More Benefits of Slow Fashion
The adoption of a slow fashion model could be of further benefit to the fashion industry by:
- Offering high-quality and timeless products, allowing customers to wear them for a lifetime.
- Slowing down mindless consumerism.
- Reducing pollution and textile waste clogging landfills.
- Having lower carbon emissions and thus, protecting the environment.
- Supporting local artisans and their crafts, and thus giving them fair wages.
Moreover, the slow fashion model will force brands to take a circular, long-term approach.
Slow fashion brands will be transparent, revealing their manufacturing processes.
Transparency is a vital aspect of the slow fashion model and a way of helping buyers make more informed purchasing decisions.
Slow fashion garments won’t be ‘seasonal bound’ but are meant to last a lifetime.
There won’t be discarded, unused, or wasted materials, as most products will be made to order.
“Slow fashion is about creating and consuming with integrity. It is about connecting environmental awareness and social responsibility, with the pleasure of wearing beautiful, well-made, and lasting clothing“, said the Editor in Chief at ‘Who What Wear’, Kat Collings.
10 Celebrities Supporting Slow Fashion
By going against the current societal norms, which state that more, faster, and cheaper are better, slow fashion is countercultural.
However, many celebrities and influential names are supporting the slow fashion movement.
1. Emma Watson
“I am often asked not what I am wearing but who because in fashion, the idea behind the clothes – the label, the designer, the collection – have more meaning than the garment itself. However, there’s a bigger story to be told about the conditions in which our clothes are made. It’s also about the resources used and the impact it has on communities.”
2. Stella McCartney
“I was brought up to understand that we are all here on planet earth together. The idea of taking responsibility for what we take out of the earth…it’s not something we sat down and had lessons in; as a way of thinking it came quite naturally.”
3. Livia Firth
“These businesses [fast fashion companies] have created an evil system that works so well for them, and they’re not accountable.“
4. Rosario Dawson
“We’re in a really remarkable time right now. There is a consciousness that is happening in every fabric of everything we do.“
5. Gwyneth Paltrow
“I just want to wear things that are ME, in different ways.“
6. will.i.am
“Waste isn’t waste until we waste it.“
7. Sir Richard Branson
“In the modern world, there can be no profit without a well-defined purpose.“
8. Anne Hathaway
“There’s nothing wrong with the fashion industry. What’s wrong is changing yourself for something you don’t really care about just to get somewhere faster.“
9. Pharrell Williams
“Fashion has to reflect who you are, what you feel at the moment, and where you’re going.”
10. Olivia Wilde
“I am really honoured, and very inspired to continue living the vegan lifestyle that has been so good to my body, my animal friends, and the world we live in.“
Support Slow Fashion – Here’s How
Here are 6 simple ways to get involved in the slow fashion movement:
- Take care of your clothes; wash only when necessary and on low-impact washing.
- Repairing your garments; sewing, and replacing missing parts and buttons is simple.
- Engage in thoughtful purchases; think twice before buying.
- Buy only from slow fashion brands.
- Upcycle broken garments to make a unique capsule wardrobe.
- Recycle or donate the clothes you no longer need.
Conclusion
The ‘slow fashion’ approach has inspired many changes in recent years and suggests a complete overhaul of production and consumption.
Not only in the production of clothing but also in consumer behavior.
Thankfully, the campaign for slow fashion shows positive results amongst the younger generation:
“half of consumers prefer apparel from companies trying to reduce impact on the environment. From that, 60% are under-24s. Moreover, we see a reduction in monthly apparel purchases, from 37% to 33%.
explains Samantha Dover, a senior retail analyst at Mintel.
However, while there are positive results and the support for slow fashion is growing, there is still a long way to go.
We must rally and grow the slow fashion movement beyond cheap copycats of celebrity styles FORCED UPON us by marketing tactics of scrupulous fast fashion giants.
We have to keep creating and maintaining awareness of what sustainable fashion should be.
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Finally, as conscious consumers, we must simplify our wardrobes by focusing on quality rather than quantity.
Now it’s your turn…What is your take on slow fashion, and how do you cut your fashion footprint on the environment? Do you support local slow fashion artisans? How? Is there anything about slow fashion you would like us to cover in the future? Would love to hear your thought and comments below! |
source https://thevou.com/fashion/slow-fashion/
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