What is slow fashion, really?
And what we might be getting wrong
In an an age of fast fashion, even faster fashion, and a never-ending pressure to consume more stuff for less, the slow fashion movement is a powerful antidote.
In this sense, slow fashion could be described as the opposite of fast fashion.
But while the movement rose in opposition to fast fashion (just like the slow food movement was born out of a campaign against fast food), slow fashion is so more more than what it is not.
What Does Slow Fashion Mean?
Kate Fletcher — a research professor, author, consultant, and design activist — is widely credited with coining the term slow fashion. (Though the concept itself is certainly not new!)
The author wrote in 2007:
“Slow fashion is about designing, producing, consuming and living better. Slow fashion is not time-based but quality-based (which has some time components). Slow is not the opposite of fast – there is no dualism – but a different approach in which designers, buyers, retailers and consumers are more aware of the impacts of products on workers, communities and ecosystems.”
In other words, slow fashion is really more about better quality than just slowing down production. (Though quality does take time.)
And it’s also not just about slowing down for the sake of it.
As a sustainability thought-leader, Fletcher makes clear that slow fashion considers both the social and ecological impacts too.
Be Aware of “Slow-Washing”
Like greenwashing, there has been a bit of “slow-washing” if you will from brands that aren’t considering people or the environment but claim to produce quality garments.
While there’s no regulation or standardization around the term (just like “sustainable fashion”) the original intention of the slow fashion movement was a holistic approach to fashion’s impact.
Higher quality and slower production is great, but if we’re not mindful of the environmental and social impact along the way, we may be missing the point.
If artisans are making a garment with exceptional craftsmanship but are underpaid, is that really slow fashion?
If garments are slowly made-to-order from polluting materials and toxic dyes, is that true slow fashion?
Here we can see why luxury fashion does not automatically equal slow fashion.
Slow fashion — if we were to go back to that original definition — emphasizes mindfulness throughout the entire lifecycle of a garment.
But what does this all mean in practice?
Examples of Slow Fashion Practices
Again, slow fashion is more than not fast fashion.
It's also much more than buying from certain brands, though supporting slow fashion brands helping to reshape this industry can be a part of it.
Really, slow fashion is a mindset.
It's a mindset for us as “consumers” and citizens and it's a mindset for brand founders and designers.
Slow fashion is about building a long-term relationship with our wardrobe and valuing our clothes. While this can sometimes be associated with “investment pieces”, our clothes have value beyond their price tag.
Even if a garment was cheap to buy — for example a thrift store find or old fast fashion piece — that item of clothing still involved human hands and resources from our environment.
Here are some ways to get involved with slow fashion as a “consumer” and citizen:
Repair before replacing
Embrace the philosophy of fewer, better and look for quality when buying
Put personal style before trends as a filter when shopping
Take good care of your clothes to extend the life of your garments
Become a fashion advocate: push for for public change through sustainable fashion legislation (signing petitions, emailing representatives, joining activations)
Make and/or modify your own clothes
Create a pre-buy checklist
Look secondhand first
Host or participate in a clothing swap
Discuss the impacts of fashion with your friends, colleagues, and family
Support slow fashion brands that align with your values if you can afford it
Deepen your education and stay informed on slow fashion through podcasts, documentaries, or newsletters — like this one ;)
As a fashion brand owner, creative, and professional, you could…
Build genuine partnerships with suppliers, artisans, and farmers to create a traceable, ethical supply chain and ideally removing as many “middlemen” in the process as possible
Ensure all workers in your brand’s supply chain are paid a true living wage (resources like Asia Floor Wage Alliance and Clean Clothes Campaign are great resources to learn more about finding or calculating this number for the region you're sourcing from)
Explore alternative business models like repair, upcycling, and made-to-order,
Design intentionally, prioritizing quality over quantity of pieces
Source more responsible materials with lower negative impacts or from regenerative farming
Educate your customer or audience on what slow, intentional purchasing and clothing care looks like
As you can see, a holistic approach to slow fashion overlaps with ethical fashion and sustainable fashion.
Again, slow fashion is not only about making fewer things in a longer timeframe, but also about considering the livelihoods and ecosystems involved along the way.
Slow Fashion vs. Fast Fashion
Although slow fashion is more than just anti-fast fashion, there are many key differences that stand out between slow fashion and fast fashion.
Slow fashion is more intentional
In a survey conducted by VICE of individuals between ages 18 and 24, 23% of respondents said that they sometimes wear an item just once before throwing it out. Eight percent of respondents said they buy more than ten items a month from online fast-fashion retailers.
A slow fashion approach understands the environmental impact of each garment and prioritizes buying less, but often better pieces. This doesn’t have to mean more expensive — you can find high quality secondhand garments, after all — but it may take more time.
The same philosophy goes for slow fashion brands. A true slow fashion brand will put quality before quantity, often producing versatile collections intentionally rather than creating new stuff for the sake of it, just because it's a new season.
There are even ultra-slow fashion brands with long-term collections — for example Asket offers “permanent designs, obsessively refined”.
These types of brands have decided to refine and perfect their designs, fit, and quality instead of continuously churning out new designs.
Slow fashion has a lower environmental footprint
Modern-day fashion brands were not the start of the industry’s social and environmental woes.
However the decades-long race to the bottom has taken the issues in the fashion industry to new lows with widespread labor exploitation, ecological degradation, and an exponential increase in waste.
Fast fashion — and really the fast fashion-ification of the entire industry — has created a waste crisis and environmental disaster.
As the oft-repeated Ellen MacArthur Foundation stat goes, clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2015 while clothing utilization almost halved. Fashion Revolution reports that 92 million tons of textile waste is created by the fashion industry each year.
Fast international shipping also has a massive impact — the climate group Stand.Earth reported that shipping an item by air freight can produce 80x more carbon than shipping it by sea or truck. In fact shipping by air is a leading cause of fashion’s rising emissions, the advocacy group has reported.
Slow fashion values quality over quantity
Most fast fashion brands churn out new styles weekly, or even daily, and such fast turnaround times inherently mean that corners need to be cut. It’s typical for fast fashion brands to skip the fitting process, for example, leading to a worse fit, higher return rates, and more post-consumer clothing waste.
Slow fashion values quality in the form of fabric choice, fit, feel, and in the lives of the people who made that piece. These brands often produce in small batches and some even produce on a made-to-order basis.
Similar to the slow food movement, slow fashion can also about improving the quality of our lifestyles too.
I have found that when I am more deeply connected to what I wear and appreciate what I have in my closet rather than always chasing the next trend, trying to look like someone else, and on the rollercoaster of dopamine shopping, I feel far more satisfied with my wardrobe.
I have a deeper relationship to the pieces in my closet too.
I will always treasure the dress I mended with my grandma before she was no longer able to sew.
I treat the sweater I’ve worn 200 times as a comfort blanket on a tough day
I trust that I can rely on my favorite handbags when I want to pull together a simple look on a busy day.
Contrast this with my former constant trips to the mall, always looking for a bit of a dopamine hit from finding a good deal — and then coming home to realize that I don’t even like wearing that garment.
Slow fashion puts people before profit
While profit is part of all for-profit businesses, including even small conscious fashion brands, the goal is not profit at all costs. Slow fashion values sustainable practices and paying people fairly, which means that it costs more. This is the true cost of clothing.
Contrast that with fast fashion which resorts to forced labor, not paying workers their owed wages (the pandemic was the largest case in point on this), and the widespread use of toxic chemicals from PFAS to formaldehyde in products that impact both workers and wearers.
And as a “consumer” — or individual that buys clothing — following slow fashion values also involves a level of care for the people who made our clothes.
This could mean looking for more responsible brands. But it also holds true even if we bought an item secondhand or are wearing a fast fashion garment already in our closets. By caring for our clothes, we are valuing the people who made them.
Another way that slowing down our fashion consumption impacts people is the end of life of our garments. Donating our clothes is often seen as an easy, more ethical way to clear our clutter and make space for the new. But what happens to our donated clothes is often not what we had intended.
The influx of massive quantities of low-quality clothes on the Global South is often referred to as “waste colonialism” because it destroys local textile economies, pollutes waterways, and leaves many resellers in precarious financial positions.
What Are Slow Fashion Brands?
Here are some elements to look for when you’re searching for a slow fashion brand.
Offers longer-lasting collections designed intentionally rather than pushing out new styles constantly.
Produces in small batches or on a made-to-order basis. Relatedly, a brand is producing intentionally simply can’t produce as much. If you see a brand coming out with hundreds of styles each month, that’s a red flag.
Creates high quality garments. If a brand is serious about quality, they will tell you and show you. Look at the fabric content, check the seams, observe the hand-feel or look at close-up photos, try on the product or look at online reviews.
Manufactures sustainably. Check if the brand is using natural and lower impact fibers and dyes, takes steps to minimize or eliminate waste through low waste practices, and is minimizing their pollution and carbon emissions through green shipping, renewable energy use, and/or other initiatives.
Has transparency and traceability of their supply chains. If a brand is producing intentionally, they’ll be able to track each step of the production process and ideally have direct relationships with the suppliers or artisans they work with. The best case scenario is when a brand produces in-house either in a facility or just in their studio if they are a micro fashion brand. This enables maximum transparency.
Slow Fashion is Nothing New
As Sofi Thanhauser shares in the book Worn: A People’s History of Clothing, before the Industrial Revolution most garments were handmade in small batches slowly and relatively locally to the customer.
Slow clothing was the default way we engaged with what we wore for most of human history!
And still to this day, many cultures — particularly in the Global South and in lower income regions around the world — still utilize slow fashion practices without necessarily calling it slow fashion.
Think hand-me-downs, rewearing & repairing, taking clothes to tailors, and buying secondhand clothing. Maybe you even grew up with these practices.
Industrialization meant the introduction of textile machinery in England in the 18th and 19th centuries meant that fabric and garments could be produced in larger quantities at cheaper prices.
Mass production made clothing more affordable and accessible for society. Clothing in this sense was democratized and yet the industrialization of fashion also made clothing more homogenous, and it impacted the livelihoods of artisans and craftspeople.
Instead of a fashion economy of small-batch makers, independent designers, skilled weavers and expert tailors, the fashion economy shifted to one of mechanized factories with profit-seeking factory owners and underpaid laborers.
This is important to point out because fast and exploitative fashion does not have to be the default and it’s not our only option.
While we may not be able to — or want to — reverse industrialized fashion, these history lessons show us that we can still look to the past to inspire a better fashion future.
How Can We All Shape a Slow Fashion Future?
That's exactly what this newsletter aims to explore!
You can expect to find:
Ways to reshape our relationship to consumption
Tips for making the most out of our closet
Ideas for integrating slow fashion into our lives
Inspiration and resources to guide your journey
I hope you'll join us. 💚
Note: this post contains content that I originally published on consciouslifeandstyle.com.