Are you ‘one in a million or ‘one of the million’?
Slow and sustainable wins the race. Our clothing communicates our beliefs, aspirations, and desires. They either welcome people in for a chat or stop them from forming a relationship. And though these qualities aren’t entirely present, a flawless appearance demonstrates ambition, attention to detail, and leadership abilities. But our clothes are not uniforms to fall into trends. They are in their personalities and are bound to be unique, and real. Aren’t they suppose to be ‘one in a million kinds’? Why are they ‘one like the other million’? Just like our food, is the fashion we follow too fast? Let’s dive deep into the subject.
Is your fashion fast?
Fast fashion is a design, processing, and marketing approach that focuses on creating large quantities of apparel in a short amount of time. To offer low-cost designs to the public, garment manufacturing uses pattern reproduction and low-quality fabrics. These low-cost, fashionable items have sparked an industry-wide shift toward excessive consumption. Unfortunately, this has negative consequences. Many people argue over which came first: the insatiable appetite for new styles or the profession’s star teams telling us that we’re behind the trends. It’s difficult to predict, but we all yearn for the “next best thing” every day of our consumer-driven lives.
Fast fashion is changing fast
Many of the elements of fast fashion—trend reproduction, quick manufacturing, poor quality, and low prices—combine to have a negative effect on the environment and the people who work in the clothing industry. Because of the sheer amount of products they sell, regardless of expense or markup, these brands raise millions of dollars by selling parts at a low price. And garment workers are almost certainly paying much less than the minimum wage. Quick fashion has since made its creators very wealthy.
How bad is fast?
Because of the use of mixed fabrics which are full of lead, pesticides, among several other contaminants, barely degrade. and a lack of recycling techniques. Only 1% of the fabric converts into fresh apparel, resulting in an avalanche of used clothing ending up in landfills. They release chemicals into the atmosphere. Fast fashion’s carbon footprint is unimaginable.
Talk slow
Slow fashion, on the other hand, honors the ecosystem and culture at all times. It not only acknowledges those who work in the manufacturing process but also promotes conscientious consumption. Slow fashion is gaining popularity today, thanks to a new wave of entrepreneurs and environmentally friendly sewing studios.
Slow fashion is a process, involving steps such as these
- Every garment should be made on-demand or custom-made in high quality and timeless style in order to be considered sustainable slow fashion.
- It should be produced in an environmentally sustainable way and with various moral considerations in mind.
- Following that, it should be well-cared for, repaired, and perhaps redesigned so that it can be used for a long time.
- When a commodity is no longer wanted, it can be returned to a secondhand store, sold to charities, or given to families, friends, or a thrift shop to extend its life span.
- When the fabric is fully worn out, it can be returned to a collecting point for clothing material processing, and will then be used to make fresh garments or other textile items.
- Instead of purchasing new clothing, one should try lending, leasing, or exchanging clothing, or purchasing secondhand or antique clothing.
- And this cycle repeats again.
Despite this, the enormous quality of research remaining raises the question of whether fully sustainable fashion is even feasible. Is it an oxymoronic effort to cleanse our guilt, or is it something else entirely? Though unresearched entirely, Slow fashion is a more deep relationship between the designer and the manufacturer; the manufacturer and the fabric; and the garment and the customer. And to answer the previous question, it’s not a fad, it’s a way of living.
Not a trend, it’s a behavior
Fast fashion’s days of polluting the environment and leading to modern slavery are numbered. Why is that? Consumers in their twenties are growing up and realizing who makes their clothes and why they are so cheap. As a result, more people now choose sustainability and comfort over trends. The responsible consumer’s perception is clearly here to live, and a new wave of fashion designers has reacted by proclaiming that slow fashion is the new fast fashion.
Steps towards sustainability
Itahisakala is one such great example. It provides employment and empowerment to women in need. They are trained, taught, and polished to make bags, mufflers, coasters, cushion covers out of ecological safe raw material. Such as jute, cotton, paper, and textile waste using various knitting and crochet techniques.
“Itahisakala is bringing the slow fashion scene in India by reviving the age-old tradition of knitting, weaving, and crocheting various products that are truly sustainable,” says Vrinda Khemka of Itahisakala.
This methodology is not only conscious but also accepting the evolving environment of what constitutes sustainable fashion and ethical conduct. Instead of having a “us vs them” situation, it helps companies and enterprises to change.
