Slow Fashion

Are Second-Hand Garments Slow Fashion? Pros And Cons Of Buying Second-Hand

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Are Second-Hand Garments Slow Fashion Pros And Cons Of Buying Second Hand

are second-hand garments slow fashion? pros and cons of buying second-hand

table of contents

  1. what is slow fashion?
  2. are second-hand garments slow fashion?
  3. pros of buying second-hand
  4. cons of buying second hand
  5. summary

what is slow fashion?

Slow Fashion is a term used to describe the fashion movement that directly opposes Fast Fashion and its short manufacturing cycles that destroy our planet and exploit its workers. Fast Fashion quickly turns trends into clothes its customers can devour with no regard for its impacts on our planet and society, today, Fast Fashion is responsible for 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and for 20% of wastewater production that pollute our rivers and seas.

Slow Fashion promotes sustainable clothes, small brands, and an ethical business model that cares for the environment, the people, and the customers. It opposes the buy-n-throw Fast Fashion culture, overproduction, and unnecessary consumerism that generates tons of textile waste every year. We will talk a little bit in more detail about this subject because there is a lot more to be talked.

Slow Fashion combines other movements like Sustainable Fashion, which especially focuses on the ecological sustainability of its clothes, using organic and ecological materials and production processes, and Ethical Fashion, which focuses on the welfare of the textile workers who are exploited in the Fast Fashion industry. At the end of the day, they all want to achieve the same thing, a sustainable fashion industry but have different means of achieving that goal. If you want to know more about these differences be sure to check this article on What Is The Difference Between Slow Fashion And Sustainable Fashion.

are second-hand garments slow fashion?

We all know what Second-Hand garments are, they are clothes that were once used, but now the owner wants to sell those for whatever reason they have. But, is this form of „fashion” slow fashion?

Well, we first have to take into account that by buying second-hand garments you are consuming fashion without contributing to the effort of creating additional clothes, polluting and leaving a carbon footprint on our world. Not only that, but you are also preventing those garments from being thrown and ending up in landfills, polluting the soil even more with the toxic chemicals that the garment is probably made of.

On the other hand, you’re still kind of demanding fast fashion garments, just second-hand fast fashion ones. This could incentivize some people to buy very cheaply fast fashion clothes and resell them to you as second-hand, which is definitely not ideal.

Overall, you could say that buying Second-Hand is kind of Slow Fashion, it is definitely better than buying fast fashion directly, so it’s a 6/10 on the sustainability scale. Now that you know this, what are the real pros and cons of buying second-hand?

Are Second-Hand Stores Slow Fashion

pros of buying second-hand

We have seen before why second-hand is somewhat considered to be slow fashion, but we are now going to discuss a few of the pros, and the advantages that buying from these types of stores have. Having said this, here are 5 pros about buying second-hand:

  1. You are saving money, by buying second-hand you are definitely saving some money that the same item in the original store would have cost you, and the garment may not even be that bad or old for the price it is selling at. It is great if you are struggling with money.
  2. You are helping other people, by buying from these stores you are helping others that are selling their old clothes (although many times the items are from other sources) financially, because who knows for what reason someone started to sell second-hand items, you may be making someone else’s day by purchasing their products.
  3. You are not directly contributing to additional pollution, by purchasing these already-worn garments you are not directly contributing to the additional carbon footprint than making new products involves, which is always a great thing.
  4. The garments are offered a second life, as we said earlier, you are buying already-worn garments, which means you are also giving them a second life without them being thrown away and ending up in landfills polluting our soil even more.
  5. There are many undervalued items waiting to be discovered, you never know what you will find in a second-hand shop, sometimes you may even find gold at a bargain price, don’t think that only because the price is low the item’s quality is the same.

These were 5 of the pros of buying second-hand garments, we have a similar list with thrift stores and sustainable fashion, if you want to check that out you can do so by clicking this link right here.

cons of buying second hand

Now that you know the pros, you have to know the cons, just to be fair, you know. Although buying second-hand has many advantages, it also has many disadvantages that you want to look for. Having said this, here are 5 cons of buying second-hand clothes:

  1. The products have no warranty, when you buy already-worn garments you already-know that you have no warranty on those, as the person who sells the items to you is not the same as the one who made them. This can make you encounter some bad situations.
  2. You are still consuming Fast Fashion indirectly, you are buying garments that have already been used, but those garments are still Fast Fashion, which you still want to avoid at all costs as a conscious consumer. Many times the toxic materials used in Fast Fashion make it so that the garment never stops polluting our planet, not even after its lifetime is over.
  3. Second-Hand garments are not Ethical Fashion, as we have said before, these garments are still Fast Fashion items that were used once, which means that the garment itself is probably made with modern slavery methods of production, which is definitely something no one wants to be involved in.
  4. Although it is better than buying Fast Fashion directly, it is not nearly as good as buying Slow Fashion; directly choosing Slow Fashion or Sustainable Fashion garments is the superior action, you should always try to consume sustainable, ethical fashion and never unethical fast fashion. Although some people with poor financial conditions, college students, etc. may not be able to spend money on more sustainable garments in the short term.
  5. You are developing a bad mentality, by buying second-hand garments you are subconsciously assigning a low monetary value to all garments as a whole, so in the long run, you may be tempted to choose Fast Fashion clothes instead of Slow Fashion ones just because the former has a price range closer to the second-hand clothes you were used to purchasing.

Overall, buying second-hand has many pros and cons. With this list, however, we are not trying to convince you to not buy these garments, we are just trying to show you a few of the inconveniences and positive aspects of it.

Cons Of Buying Second-Hand Slow Fashion

summary

We hope you have learned today all about Slow Fashion and second-hand garments, if you want to learn more about the subject feel free to check out our articles linked below or directly from our blog, where we have tons of different articles like these that you can enjoy.

We are thrilled to teach people all around the world 🙂 Also, did you really know what Fast Fashion really is and its terrible consequences for the environment, the planet, the workers, society, and the economy? Do you know exactly what the Slow Fashion or Sustainable Fashion movement is? You should really take a look at these articles about this forgotten and unknown but very urgent and important subject, click here to read „Can Fashion Ever Be Sustainable?”, Sustainable Fashion, Ethical Fashion, Slow Fashion or Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet because knowledge is one of the most powerful strengths you can have, while ignorance is your worst weakness.

We also have a big surprise for you! Because we want to give you the right to know us better, we have prepared a carefully dedicated About Us page where we will tell you who we are, what our mission is, what we do, a closer look at our team, and many more things! Do not miss this opportunity and click here to check it out. Also, we invite you to take a look at our Pinterest, where we will pin everyday sustainable fashion-related content, clothing designs, and other things that you will surely love!

What Are Some Of The Disadvantages Of Slow Fashion? (And Are The Advantages Worth It?)

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What Are Some Of The Disadvantages Of Slow Fashion And Are The Advantages Worth it

what are some of the disadvantages of slow fashion? (and are the advantages worth it?)

table of contents

  1. what is slow fashion?
  2. what are some of the 5 disadvantages of slow fashion?
  3. what are 5 advantages of slow fashion?
  4. is slow fashion worth it?
  5. summary

what is slow fashion?

Slow Fashion is a term used to describe the fashion movement that directly opposes Fast Fashion and its short manufacturing cycles that destroy our planet and exploit its workers. Fast Fashion quickly turns trends into clothes its customers can devour with no regard for its impacts on our planet and society, today, Fast Fashion is responsible for 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and for 20% of wastewater production that pollute our rivers and seas.

Slow Fashion promotes sustainable clothes, small brands, and an ethical business model that cares for the environment, the people, and the customers. It opposes the buy-n-throw Fast Fashion culture, overproduction, and unnecessary consumerism that generates tons of textile waste every year. We will talk a little bit in more detail about this subject because there is a lot more to be talked.

Slow Fashion combines other movements like Sustainable Fashion, which especially focuses on the ecological sustainability of its clothes, using organic and ecological materials and production processes, and Ethical Fashion, which focuses on the welfare of the textile workers who are exploited in the Fast Fashion industry. At the end of the day, they all want to achieve the same thing, a sustainable fashion industry but have different means of achieving that goal. If you want to know more about these differences be sure to check this article on What Is The Difference Between Slow Fashion And Sustainable Fashion.

what are some of the 5 disadvantages of slow fashion?

All things in life have good things, and also bad things. Slow Fashion is not an exception, although it may seem like the perfect, flawless sustainable fashion movement, it does have its flaws. Having said this, here are 5 disadvantages of Slow Fashion:

  1. It is rather expensive, because the garments are made with respect for the environment and the workers producing them, they are generally more expensive than Fast Fashion, which outsources its costs to the environment and the workers. This can be a throwback to many conscious consumers who would want to become sustainable but cannot because of the price.
  2. It is a new concept, we have said it many times before, new technologies or ideas take quite some time before they become profitable and widespread, the analogy we always use is electric cars, which were barely even known a few years ago, but recently they because accessible for the general public, all because customers became more conscious about the consequences of gas cars.
  3. Doesn’t appeal to a younger audience that much, young people are not generally so mature to care about the world’s problems and our planet’s health, therefore they are not really interested in Slow Fashion or what it stands for at all, they may even find it boring. There are some exceptions tho, and if you’re a young person who is interested in this topic, congratulations! You’re quite mature for your age.
  4. Many big companies are using it to greenwash their activities, many Fast Fashion corporations like Zara are trying to mask their harmful activities with „sustainability” promises that they’re never going to meet, lying about how they care about the environment and the welfare of their workers… This is called Greenwashing, and it is pretty obvious when a corporation is doing that, especially if they are known for literally inventing Fast Fashion.
  5. People don’t even know what it means, most people don’t know what Slow or Fast Fashion is, and many times they are not even interested to learn. This is a problem because if people don’t know that a problem exists, they are never going to do anything to solve it. And that is why we are always promoting that you should spread awareness about the subject, kind of like we’re doing here with this blog, this can even have a greater effect than actually doing slow fashion yourself, although you should do both, you know, predicate with example.

Here were some of the 5 disadvantages of Slow Fashion, now that you know the bad part, we should also take a look at the good aspect of this sustainable fashion movement, just to be fair you know.

What Are 5 Disadvantages Of Slow Fashion

what are 5 advantages of slow fashion?

We have reviewed the negative aspects of this fashion movement, however, it has a lot of positive aspects or advantages too, you may argue a lot more than disadvantages, but that is something we will be going to talk about next. Having said this, here are 5 advantages of Slow Fashion:

  1. Slow Fashion fights against Fast Fashion, which is one of the biggest polluters of human history. Just by fighting against Fast Fashion, it is already doing a lot to make this planet a cleaner and more sustainable one.
  2. It promotes slow manufacturing cycles, these make creating sustainable and fair garments possible. One of the best examples of these slow manufacturing cycles is On-Demand production, which creates garments on-demand, which means when the customer orders the product. Not only storage costs are reduced, but also overproduction and potentially throwing the garments before they are even bought.
  3. Slow Fashion and Sustainable Fashion go hand in hand, one compliments the other, and they basically want to achieve the same goal. Sustainable Fashion especially focuses on the environmental aspect of the industry, but both want to achieve sustainability.
  4. It promotes a conscious mentality, Slow Fashion wants to avoid the unnecessary consumerism Fast Fashion promotes, and it supports healthy consumer habits like buying only garments that you will actually wear and buying more quality rather than quantity.
  5. Slow Fashion helps the development of producing countries, because Fast Fashion creates cheap, low-added-value garments, the producing countries do not see much of the wealth that the fashion industry produces. However, Slow and Ethical Fashion support fair trade and the humane treatment of the factory workers, with its slow manufacturing cycles and higher-added-value garments that can help the producing countries actually develop, which will also help them become more environmentally friendly in the long run.

These are only 5 of the greatest advantages of Slow Fashion, however, there are many more we could name here. Now that you have both advantages and disadvantages, which is heavier? Do the pros outweigh the cons or the other way around?

is slow fashion worth it?

To reply to the earlier answer: Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? We shall compare the nature of both advantages and disadvantages. Here is how to do it:

The disadvantages of Slow Fashion are of a transitory and superficial nature, it’s not really that the movement has intrinsically something wrong, but rather that the customers and businesses are causing the disadvantages. For example, people do not demand or know about sustainable garments or the corporations that are trying to greenwash their activities for their own benefit. These issues are 100% resolvable and are transitory, the majority can be fixed by giving the general population more knowledge on the subject. Regarding the price, we have already explained why that is also transitory, with the example of electric cars.

The advantages, on the other hand, do not seem transitory at all, or that they would change anytime, they are intrinsic to the Slow Fashion movement in itself. The conscious mentality and the environmentalist aspect are inherent to the movement and what it stands for. Even after we destroy Fast Fashion from the face of the earth, these sustainable ideas will still be at the movement’s core.

Overall, the advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages, this decision is not biased in any way and you will easily understand that when we will make a pros and cons article on Fast Fashion. Like you should already know how destructive Fast Fashion is to our world, even the advantages of not wearing clothes at all outweigh those of Fast Fashion’s (or maybe not in this case, but it’s the intention that counts). We recommend you check this wonderful article written by McKinsey about the subject.

Is Slow Fashion Worth It

summary

We hope we have cleared your doubts a little bit and you now know what are some of the disadvantages of Slow Fashion, but also the advantages, which are very important to know too. If you want to learn more about the subject, maybe about Fast Fashion, check out the articles linked below or read our blog, where we have tons of different articles like these for you to enjoy.

We are thrilled to teach people all around the world 🙂 Also, did you really know what Fast Fashion really is and its terrible consequences for the environment, the planet, the workers, society, and the economy? Do you know exactly what the Slow Fashion or Sustainable Fashion movement is? You should really take a look at these articles about this forgotten and unknown but very urgent and important subject, click here to read „Can Fashion Ever Be Sustainable?”, Sustainable Fashion, Ethical Fashion, Slow Fashion or Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet because knowledge is one of the most powerful strengths you can have, while ignorance is your worst weakness.

We also have a big surprise for you! Because we want to give you the right to know us better, we have prepared a carefully dedicated About Us page where we will tell you who we are, what our mission is, what we do, a closer look at our team, and many more things! Do not miss this opportunity and click here to check it out. Also, we invite you to take a look at our Pinterest, where we will pin everyday sustainable fashion-related content, clothing designs, and other things that you will surely love!

How Does Slow Fashion Actually Help The Environment?

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How Does Slow Fashion Actually Help The Environment

how does slow fashion actually help the environment?

table of contents

  1. what is slow fashion?
  2. how does slow fashion help the environment?
  3. what’s the difference between slow and sustainable fashion then?
  4. how to promote slow fashion to help the environment
  5. summary

what is slow fashion?

Slow Fashion is a term used to describe the fashion movement that directly opposes Fast Fashion and its short manufacturing cycles that destroy our planet and exploit its workers. Fast Fashion quickly turns trends into clothes its customers can devour with no regard for its impacts on our planet and society, today, Fast Fashion is responsible for 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and for 20% of wastewater production that pollute our rivers and seas.

Slow Fashion promotes sustainable clothes, small brands, and an ethical business model that cares for the environment, the people, and the customers. It opposes the buy-n-throw Fast Fashion culture, overproduction, and unnecessary consumerism that generates tons of textile waste every year. We will talk a little bit in more detail about this subject because there is a lot more to be talked.

Slow Fashion combines other movements like Sustainable Fashion, which especially focuses on the ecological sustainability of its clothes, using organic and ecological materials and production processes, and Ethical Fashion, which focuses on the welfare of the textile workers who are exploited in the Fast Fashion industry. At the end of the day, they all want to achieve the same thing, a sustainable fashion industry but have different means of achieving that goal. If you want to know more about these differences be sure to check this article on What Is The Difference Between Slow Fashion And Sustainable Fashion.

how does slow fashion help the environment?

Slow Fashion helps the environment in many ways, we are going to explain some of the 5 ways that it does this. With this in mind, here are 5 ways Slow Fashion helps the environment:

  1. Slow Fashion fights against Fast Fashion, which is one of the biggest polluters of human history. Just by fighting against Fast Fashion, it is already doing a lot to make this planet a cleaner and more sustainable one.
  2. It promotes slow manufacturing cycles, these make creating sustainable and fair garments possible. One of the best examples of these slow manufacturing cycles is On-Demand production, which creates garments on-demand, which means when the customer orders the product. Not only storage costs are reduced, but also overproduction and potentially throwing the garments before they are even bought.
  3. Slow Fashion and Sustainable Fashion go hand in hand, one compliments the other, and they basically want to achieve the same goal. Sustainable Fashion especially focuses on the environmental aspect of the industry, but both want to achieve sustainability.
  4. It promotes a conscious mentality, Slow Fashion wants to avoid the unnecessary consumerism Fast Fashion promotes, and it supports healthy consumer habits like buying only garments that you will actually wear and buying more quality rather than quantity.
  5. Slow Fashion helps the development of producing countries, because Fast Fashion creates cheap, low-added-value garments, the producing countries do not see much of the wealth that the fashion industry produces. However, Slow and Ethical Fashion support fair trade and the humane treatment of the factory workers, with its slow manufacturing cycles and higher-added-value garments that can help the producing countries actually develop, which will also help them become more environmentally friendly in the long run.

These are some of the 5 ways this fashion movement helps the environment. You may have noticed that we have talked about Sustainable Fashion, but, how does it differ from Slow Fashion? We shall find out next.

How Does Slow Fashion Help The Environment

what's the difference between slow and sustainable fashion then?

These fashion movements are often used as complete synonyms, however, it is not correct to use them that way, because there are some substantial differences between both terms. Here are the main differences between Slow and Sustainable Fashion:

Slow Fashion

This fashion movement focuses on the lifecycle of the garment, how it’s produced, how long it will last… Slow Fashion aims for, as its name implies, a slower and more sustainable production model for garments, directly opposing Fast Fashion. It searches for small producers and stores and high-quality clothes, strongly avoiding overproduction and unnecessary consumerism.

The best example of Slow Fashion, as we have talked about just before, can be an on-demand business model where garments are produced by command, eradicating overproduction completely as the items are produced at the time of the purchase. A business model like this is a complete game-changer to the industry.

Sustainable Fashion

Sustainable Fashion focuses more on the materials used and the production processes the garments go through. You can say it didn’t directly come from opposing Fast Fashion but rather from an eco-friendly green background.

It differs from Slow Fashion because it really focuses a lot more on the ecological materials they use, utilizing materials like organic ring-spun cotton, hemp, or other sustainable and biodegradable materials. If you want to know more about this fashion movement feel free to check out our articles on the subject.

At the end of the day, they may be very similar and may even seem to be the same, as they both promote sustainability in the fashion industry, but the difference, while small, is still there.

how to promote slow fashion to help the environment

Now that you know how supporting these fashion movements help the environment, and the differences between them, you may also want to know what you can do to support them. Well, one of the best things you can do is to spread awareness about the subject. Having said this, here are the best ways to promote Slow Fashion:

  1. Our duty as respectable inhabitants of this earth is to spread awareness on this important subject, and this can be done in many ways, just remember the VSB acronym. The first one (Voice) is very simple, which is simply telling your friends and family about the topic. Telling people you trust is a great way to spread awareness on any deserving matter.
  2. The second one (Social) is similar to Voice and consists of spreading awareness through social media, whether it’s your Facebook, your Instagram, YouTube… By this method not only can your close family and friends know about this movement but also people from the internet you may not even know! While using this method you should share informative posts, videos, news, that can make people at least informed on what fast fashion is and why sustainable clothing is important.
  3. The third one (Blogging) is what we opted for ourselves. It consists of creating a blog or any internet-related activity that is mainly focused on slow fashion and wants to spread information to as many people as possible. This can be extremely effective but also very time-consuming, we think it is totally worth it though.

Having checked all of these VSB’s off your list, you’re now an active member of the slow fashion movement, Congratulations! Now the only thing to do is to predicate with your own actions, you can learn how to do that here.

How To Promote Slow Fashion To Help The Environment

summary

We hope you have learned today everything you wanted to know, we invite you to check out our other articles on the subject, which you can find from the articles linked below, or by checking out our blog, where we have tons of different articles like these that you can enjoy!

We are thrilled to teach people all around the world 🙂 Also, did you really know what Fast Fashion really is and its terrible consequences for the environment, the planet, the workers, society, and the economy? Do you know exactly what the Slow Fashion or Sustainable Fashion movement is? You should really take a look at these articles about this forgotten and unknown but very urgent and important subject, click here to read „Can Fashion Ever Be Sustainable?”, Sustainable Fashion, Ethical Fashion, Slow Fashion or Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet because knowledge is one of the most powerful strengths you can have, while ignorance is your worst weakness.

We also have a big surprise for you! Because we want to give you the right to know us better, we have prepared a carefully dedicated About Us page where we will tell you who we are, what our mission is, what we do, a closer look at our team, and many more things! Do not miss this opportunity and click here to check it out. Also, we invite you to take a look at our Pinterest, where we will pin everyday sustainable fashion-related content, clothing designs, and other things that you will surely love!

How Does Slow Fashion Work Exactly?

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How Does Slow Fashion Work Exactly

how does slow fashion work exactly?

table of contents

  1. what is slow fashion?
  2. why is slow fashion important?
  3. how does slow fashion work exactly?
  4. how to support slow fashion?
  5. summary

what is slow fashion?

Slow Fashion is a term used to describe the fashion movement that directly opposes Fast Fashion and its short manufacturing cycles that destroy our planet and exploit its workers. Fast Fashion quickly turns trends into clothes its customers can devour with no regard for its impacts on our planet and society, today, Fast Fashion is responsible for 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and for 20% of wastewater production that pollute our rivers and seas.

Slow Fashion promotes sustainable clothes, small brands, and an ethical business model that cares for the environment, the people, and the customers. It opposes the buy-n-throw Fast Fashion culture, overproduction, and unnecessary consumerism that generates tons of textile waste every year. We will talk a little bit in more detail about this subject because there is a lot more to be talked.

Slow Fashion combines other movements like Sustainable Fashion, which especially focuses on the ecological sustainability of its clothes, using organic and ecological materials and production processes, and Ethical Fashion, which focuses on the welfare of the textile workers who are exploited in the Fast Fashion industry. At the end of the day, they all want to achieve the same thing, a sustainable fashion industry but have different means of achieving that goal. If you want to know more about these differences be sure to check this article on What Is The Difference Between Slow Fashion And Sustainable Fashion.

why is slow fashion important?

As you may already know, Fast Fashion is a terrible business practice that is destroying our planet, generating 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of the global wastewater, polluting rivers, seas, and even soils with their garments made from harmful materials. We recommend you to check Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet if you want to learn more about it.

Slow Fashion is very important because it aims to achieve a sustainable fashion industry, an industry that is accelerating the destruction and pollution of our planet in today’s world. But there are other reasons for its importance, here is why Slow Fashion is so important:

  • It promotes Sustainable Fashion, which is a movement that promotes garments made with respect for the environment, it especially focuses on the ecological aspect of fashion.
  • It promotes small businesses, which comes with competitiveness and innovation that will modernize the fashion industry. By supporting small businesses you’re not only supporting the environment, but also the workers and the small business owners themselves.
  • It opposes consumerism, which makes customers buy unnecessary garments they may not even wear, throwing them and polluting the soil, even more, when they end up in the landfill. Fast Fashion is the embodiment of over-consumerism.
  • Fights against overproduction, which causes environmental and social problems during the production and the disposal of the garments that did not get purchased, greatly polluting our rivers and soils with its toxic cheap materials.
  • Protects the workers, who in the Fast Fashion industry have terrible working conditions and inhuman wages. Ethical Fashion especially focuses on this problem, promoting garments made with ethical work and fair trade.
  • Promotes high-quality garments, made with organic and biodegradable materials that will last longer and will have a low impact on the environment, protecting the planet and consumers’ wallets long-term.

These are one of the most important aspects of this fashion movement, but surely there are a lot more to point out. If you want to know more about this subject, check out Slow vs Fast Fashion.

Why Is Slow Fashion Important

how does slow fashion work exactly?

This fashion movement focuses on all aspects of the production process and supply chain, by doing so it aims to protect all the workers and small businesses involved, but also the environment and the garments themselves.

The word „slow” fashion comes from the fact that it opposes Fast Fashion by creating garments with slow manufacturing cycles. Why does this matter? you may ask, well, there is a point where clothes cannot be created so quickly and cheaply without harming the environment and the workers.

With slow manufacturing cycles, you can guarantee that the garments produced can be sustainable. These slow manufacturing cycles mean that the garments produced are not really produced according to new trends that may last a few weeks, they mean that the clothes can be made from sustainable higher quality materials and that the workers are not exploited in order to produce enormous amounts of items in one sitting.

A great example of a slow fashion production model is on-demand fashion, which means that the garments are produced when the customer orders them online. This is a true game-changer, as not only storage costs (and environmental costs) are reduced, but also overproduction is avoided, eliminating the possibility of the garments being thrown away before they are even sold to the consumer, which is sadly something that happens very often with Fast Fashion.

Overall, Slow Fashion is a more generic fashion movement that focuses on all aspects of fashion, while Sustainable Fashion and Ethical Fashion are more specific movements that focus either on the environmental or social aspects of fashion. Either way, these three movements go hand in hand, and their ultimate goal is to end Fast Fashion and combat all the terrible consequences it has on our world.

how to support slow fashion?

Now you know how Slow Fashion really works, we are going to give you a few tips and tricks so you can begin to put this information into practice. Here are some tips to do Slow or Sustainable Fashion:

  • Choose small businesses, this way you will promote small entrepreneurs, innovation, and competitiveness.
  • Look at the materials used in the garment, choose cotton, preferably organic or recycled ring-spun cotton and avoid synthetic materials like polyester which are not biodegradable and leave small microplastics polluting our waters.
  • Look into the brand you want to purchase from, learn if they use ethical business practices or if they respect the environment.
  • The 3 W’s Rule, When you see an item of clothing for the first time in an undisclosed amount of time and you ask yourself What? When? From Who? then you know you have too many clothes that you don’t need.
  • The 30 Day Rule, whenever you decide to buy some clothing product ask yourself „Will I wear it a minimum of 30 times?” if the answer is true yes, then go on. You will be surprised to know how many times you say no.
  • Donate Clothes, Fast Fashion garments still pollute our soils when they end up in the landfill, letting harmful toxic materials leak into the soil and potentially into the water, instead of throwing your clothes, you should donate or recycle them.
  • Use your critical thinking, determine if the brand you are looking at is really sustainable by taking into consideration the price of its clothes, if they talk about sustainability or not, if they have been involved in any scandals and if they have apologized…

Anyway, there are many ways you can do slow fashion, and any action you take is an action away from Fast Fashion. If you want to know more on how to become more sustainable regarding fashion read How To Do Slow Fashion.

How To Support Slow Fashion

summary

That’s it for today, don’t worry, we have a lot of different articles like this that you can check out either from the links below or from our blog page. We hope this information was helpful, and if you have anything to add, you can contact us on our Contact Us page.

We are thrilled to teach people all around the world 🙂 Also, did you really know what Fast Fashion really is and its terrible consequences for the environment, the planet, the workers, society, and the economy? Do you know exactly what the Slow Fashion or Sustainable Fashion movement is? You should really take a look at these articles about this forgotten and unknown but very urgent and important subject, click here to read „Can Fashion Ever Be Sustainable?”, Sustainable Fashion, Ethical Fashion, Slow Fashion or Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet because knowledge is one of the most powerful strengths you can have, while ignorance is your worst weakness.

We also have a big surprise for you! Because we want to give you the right to know us better, we have prepared a carefully dedicated About Us page where we will tell you who we are, what our mission is, what we do, a closer look at our team, and many more things! Do not miss this opportunity and click here to check it out. Also, we invite you to take a look at our Pinterest, where we will pin everyday sustainable fashion-related content, clothing designs, and other things that you will surely love!

Slow Fashion 101 | The Cure Against Fast Fashion

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Slow Fashion 101 The Cure Against Fast Fashion

slow fashion 101 | the cure against fast fashion

table of contents

  1. what does slow fashion mean?
  2. slow fashion production model
  3. slow fashion companies
  4. why is fast fashion so bad?
  5. how to change from fast fashion to slow fashion?
  6. summary

what does slow fashion mean?

It is a term used to describe the fashion movement that directly opposes Fast Fashion and its short manufacturing cycles that destroy our planet and exploit its workers. Fast Fashion quickly turns trends into clothes its customers can devour with no regard for its impacts on our planet and society, today, Fast Fashion is responsible for 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and for 20% of wastewater production that pollute our rivers and seas.

Slow Fashion promotes sustainable clothes, small brands, and an ethical business model that cares for the environment, the people, and the customers. It opposes the buy-n-throw Fast Fashion culture, overproduction, and unnecessary consumerism that generates tons of textile waste every year. We will talk a little bit in more detail about this subject because there is a lot more to be talked.

Slow Fashion combines other movements like Sustainable Fashion, which especially focuses on the ecological sustainability of its clothes, using organic and ecological materials and production processes, and Ethical Fashion, which focuses on the welfare of the textile workers who are exploited in the Fast Fashion industry. At the end of the day, they all want to achieve the same thing, a sustainable fashion industry but have different means of achieving that goal. If you want to know more about these differences be sure to check this article on What Is The Difference Between Slow Fashion And Sustainable Fashion.

Can fast fashion be stopped

slow fashion production model

This anti-fast fashion model focuses on producing clothes with respect for the environment, people, and society. It uses short manufacturing cycles and fair trade, which is a system of certification that aims to ensure a set of standards are met in the production and supply of a product or ingredient, being the total opposite of Fast Fashion. This goes hand-in-hand with Ethical Fashion, respecting the workers and all the agents involved in the production process of the fashion garments.

One of the most noted production models Slow Fashion has is the on-demand business model, which consists of producing the garments only when the customers purchase them, avoiding the big environmental impact of overproduction and stocking. A business model like this is a complete game-changer. Although it is still relatively new in the fashion industry and is mostly used by small businesses today, which kind of goes in pair with Slow Fashion’s values.

Slow Fashion also searches for clothes that are produced with minimal environmental impact, and this is where Sustainable Fashion comes in. It searches for clothes that are made from biodegradable and organic materials, like organic ring-spun cotton and recycled materials, also producing high-quality garments avoiding unnecessary consumerism and the bu-n-throw culture that pollutes our soil and waters when the garments are thrown.

Although Slow Fashion garments can sometimes be more expensive, that is because it doesn’t outsource their costs to the environment, the planet or the workers like Fast Fashion does. You may pay now a bigger monetary cost but that is a bigger cost you and everyone will save on everything else. Plus, Slow Fashion doesn’t always have to be expensive, as we have discussed in this article about whether it will ever be affordable or not.

Can Slow Fashion Ever Be Affordable?

slow fashion companies

You now know more about this fashion movement, but you may wonder where you can buy these garments from, do not worry, we got your back, and we will give you the answers you search for. Here are the best slow fashion brands you can buy from:

  • Grammar NYC: 

    This beautiful store sells one of the best clothes out there, not only do they use the best quality materials, but they also make their designs with FASHION in mind. The only bad thing about this brand is its price, which is arguably very high, but at least the quality and sustainability match the price greatly. You can visit their store here.

  • Two Days Off: 

    This store uses locally produced, ecological clothes made with recycled materials. They use linen, cotton, wool, and hemp for their products. Like the last one, price is not their strength, but they do offer original and stylish clothing. You can visit their store here.

  • ABLE: 

    This Ethical Slow Fashion Brand has clothing and accessories made fairly by makers around the world. They are taking a big step in the way for transparency in the fashion industry by publishing their wages. Their clothes are more affordable than the other brands but still not as cheap as one would like to. You can visit their store here.

  • Valani: 

    This colorful Plant-based clothing brand creates mostly feminine clothing for a lighter living. Valani’s dreamy garments are made from low-impact fibers like hemp, Tencel, and banana viscose, a bit like Two Days Off. Additionally, the brand uses strategic cutting techniques and reuses fabric scraps to minimize waste. They have really colorful clothes that you should check out here.

  • PLEA: 

    This is our own brand! We too offer sustainable slow fashion clothing that you can buy. We mostly focus on t shirts, hoodies, and accessories, but they’re at an affordable price, and not only that, but we offer customizable clothes, That’s right! You can create a custom t shirt, hoodie, or accessories so we can then make them and sent them to you because we use a revolutionary method that does not involve creating tons of clothes before selling them, we just produce them on command! You can check out our shop here.

If you are wondering it, yes, there are many slow fashion retailers that offer plus size slow fashion clothes, so do not worry about it. Some of them are much more affordable than others and you can purchase from them online, so you have a lot of slow fashion options to change your harmful fashion habits!

Unfortunately, there are not many options right now that are really sustainable and slow fashion, and that is because people are not searching for them, as many customers still buy from Fast Fashion retailers without knowing how big of an impact their choices are making on our world.

why is fast fashion so bad?

Fast Fashion was born in the 90s, it is a business model that quickly tracks trends and turns them into clothes as fast as possible that are available for the customers to buy. It uses short manufacturing cycles that are very harmful to the environment and the workers and produces low-quality clothing that makes customers buy more and more, feeding consumerism and the buy-n-throw culture that pollutes our soil and waters with all the disposal that is generated from these thrown garments.

It produces 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of global wastewaters that pollute rivers and seas. Furthermore, 85% of all Fast Fashion garments are thrown in landfills each year, which combined with the fact that these garments are made from harmful, synthetic, and non-biodegradable materials, is a very scary fact. What’s worse, its terrible quality clothes, which are usually made from polyester, decompose leaving microplastics that will further pollute our waters and soil.

And we haven’t even talked about the workers, who are paid inhumane wages and have terrible working conditions, many times being in a semi-slavery state with no working protection at all. All of this is to produce low-quality garments that are so cheap customers have to buy more and more even if they don’t need to just because these clothes are so affordable, which generated the buy-n-throw consumerism culture that is destroying our planet today.

And now you may wonder, what are the most notorious and consumed Fast Fashion brands out there? Well, even if you didn’t ask yourself this question, it is good for you to see with your own eyes which of the brands you may even be a consumer of are guilty of practicing this terrible business practice, you may be surprised, or not. Without more hesitation, here are the most notorious fast fashion brands:

  • The Inditex Group

    We put the whole Inditex fashion group here, which owns brands like Zara or Pull&Bear because they all revolve around Fast Fashion, not only that, Zara is even the pioneer in this unethical business practice and that’s the reason why many people are avoiding buying from them.

  • Primark
    This Irish company is well-known for its extremely cheap (and poor quality) clothes. This is one of the living Fast Fashion examples to avoid. Some time ago they were involved in a scandal where they supposedly used child labor in third world countries, although we can’t and will not confirm that (we prefer not to get a lawsuit).

  • Shein
    This brand takes Fast Fashion to a whole other level, we may even e able to say that they have invented the Ultra-Fast Fashion, selling extremely cheap clothes of dreadful quality by the ton. Their manufacturing cycles last only a few days and they monitor, eveand n create trends 24/7 with their strong social media presence. They have been involved in innumerable scandals which with only hearing one of them should convince you to not buy from them ever. This is a very interesting topic on its own, so we invite you to read our article on SHEIN or Vox’s article about Shein’s Ultra-Fast Fashion model.

  • Mango
    This brand is popular in many countries, and its clothes are worn by many people worldwide. However, its Fast Fashion practices have led them to be part of the Rana Plaza factory collapse which took the lives of many factory workers, which shows the bad working conditions they are in.

  • Urban Outfitters

    This fast fashion brand is also known for considering textile workers’ rights as optional and producing cheap fast fashion clothes. Also, worse than that is that they have also been flagged for stealing designs from independent small creators for their own benefit, which is completely unethical.

Sadly, almost all if not all the most popular fashion brands today sell Fast Fashion, not only that, there are others like SHEIN who took destroying the planet into a literal sports race. However, we will see more sustainable Slow Fashion brands in the future, and that is if the customers become informed and aware of the consequences of their buying choices because if they don’t we will unfortunately never see any change.

Why Is Slow Fashion Important?

how to change from fast fashion to slow fashion?

You now know why this anti-fast fashion movement is so important and why you need to change your fashion habits, which have a great transcendence on our planet and society. The question still is, how can we change our fashion habits and adapt to a more sustainable Slow Fashion model?

There are many ways we can do this, not only by buying from more sustainable retailers and small brands that care about their environmental impact but also by changing a few things in our day-to-day lives. Having said this, here is how to do slow fashion:

  • Choose small businesses, this way you will promote small entrepreneurs, innovation, and competitiveness. Small businesses care more about the environment, they have a smaller and more humble team and you will be supporting small entrepreneurs while purchasing their products.
  • Look at the materials used in the garment, choose cotton, preferably organic or recycled ring-spun cotton and avoid synthetic materials like polyester which are not biodegradable and leave small microplastics polluting our waters.
  • Look into the brand you want to purchase from, learn if they use ethical business practices or if they respect the environment. If they don’t even have a page talking about their environmental and social impacts or the goals on that subject that is a big red flag.
  • The 3 W’s Rule, When you see an item of clothing for the first time in an undisclosed amount of time and you ask yourself What? When? From Who? then you know you have too many clothes that you don’t need.
  • The 30 Day Rule, whenever you decide to buy some clothing product ask yourself „Will I wear it a minimum of 30 times?” if the answer is true yes, then go on. You will be surprised to know how many times you say no.
  • Donate Clothes, Fast Fashion garments still pollute our soils when they end up in the landfill, letting harmful toxic materials leak into the soil and potentially into the water, instead of throwing your clothes, you should donate or recycle them. If you want to learn more about this feel free to check Planet Aid.
  • Use your critical thinking, determine if the brand you are looking at is really sustainable by taking into consideration the price of its clothes, if they talk about sustainability or not, if they have been involved in any scandals and if they have apologized…

As long as you try to change your habits, you are making a big difference on our planet. What we did not say yet though is one of the most important things you can do to stop Fast Fashion is to inform yourself and spread awareness, share news, and articles, talking about it with your friends. This is for a simple reason, we are not making such impacting changes because almost no one knows what Fast Fashion is and why it is so bad and if they don’t know what it is they are never going to fight against it. We recommend you read The Ecologist’s article on Fast Fashion.

how to promote sustainable fashion

summary

We hope you have learned everything about this revolutionary fashion movement called Slow Fashion! We personally have also learned a lot by writing this article and it has helped us a lot in our day-to-day lives. It is however crucial you put this information into good practice, and you start making changes for the better because even if you don’t think so, your small changes make a big difference long-term. One of the most important changes you can do is to inform yourself, and then inform others because as we have seen so many times, the most powerful tool we can use to destroy Fast Fashion is knowledge.

We are thrilled to teach people all around the world 🙂 Also, did you really know what Fast Fashion really is and its terrible consequences for the environment, the planet, the workers, society, and the economy? Do you know exactly what the Slow Fashion or Sustainable Fashion movement is? You should really take a look at these articles about this forgotten and unknown but very urgent and important subject, click here to read „Can Fashion Ever Be Sustainable?”, or Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet because knowledge is one of the most powerful strengths you can have, while ignorance is your worst weakness.

We also have a big surprise for you! Because we want to give you the right to know us better, we have prepared a carefully dedicated About Us page where we will tell you who we are, what our mission is, what we do, a closer look at our team, and many more things! Do not miss this opportunity and click here to check it out. Also, we invite you to take a look at our Pinterest, where we will pin everyday sustainable fashion-related content, clothing designs, and other things that you will surely love!

Why Is Slow Fashion Expensive

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Why Is Slow Fashion Expensive?

why is slow fashion expensive?

table of contents

  1. what is slow fashion?
  2. why is slow fashion expensive?
  3. why is fast fashion so cheap?
  4. can slow fashion be affordable?
  5. summary

what is slow fashion?

Slow Fashion is born as a direct opposition to Fast Fashion, a fashion business model that originated in the 90s and consists in quickly turning trends into clothes available for consumers without regard to the environment, the workers, and the planets with its very short manufacturing cycles.

This anti-fast fashion movement focuses on producing garments in a more reasonable manufacturing cycle with respect for the environment and the agents involved in this production. It searches for small businesses, and higher-quality garments avoiding the overproduction and unnecessary consumerism which Fast Fashion promotes.

This pro-ecological, pro-workers fashion movement is gaining track recently but unfortunately, it is not known enough yet and most people have no idea how the Fast Fashion industry is ruining our planet, and that is the reason why awareness has to be spread and the people have to be informed. If you are interested, we have many articles regarding this anti-fast fashion movement.

why is slow fashion expensive?

It is more expensive than Fast Fashion for one simple and important reason, it doesn’t outsource its costs to the environment, the planet, or the workers, it treats every agent in the production process with respect, and that costs money, but it removes other indirect costs that can be much worse. Long story short, this is why Slow Fashion can be expensive:

  • It respects the environment and aims for sustainability, which can mean using more expensive but necessary production processes that respect the environment and the planet.
  • It usually uses organic and recycled materials, which are very beneficial but they are usually more costly than the cheap materials Fast Fashion uses.
  • Produces higher-quality garments to avoid the buy-n-throw model of Fast Fashion that is destroying the planet and the customers’ wallets long-term, and that costs money.
  • Respects the workers, with a decent wage and humane working conditions, unlike Fast Fashion which uses slavery-like labor.
  • These garments are sold by small brands, because sadly big companies today are not very interested in producing sustainable clothing, as their customers are not informed on the subject. Small brands have to sell items at a much higher cost because they make little to no money and have to cover a lot of expenses, making the price of the garments much higher than the base price of the blank product purchased.

Overall, these are the reasons why these sustainable garments may be more expensive, but this doesn’t have to be that way as we will see next.

Why Is Slow Fashion So Expensive?

why is fast fashion so cheap?

On the other hand, this terrible business practice that turns designs into clothes in a very short amount of time for its customers to devour produces very cheap clothes, letting customers buy more and more even if they don’t need to just because the clothes are so affordable. This is a very unsustainable and harmful model, but the question is, why are these clothes so cheap? There are a few reasons for this, here is why Fast Fashion is so cheap:

  • It outsources its costs to the environment, which means Fast Fashion brands have no regard for the environment and do not care about the impact they have on our planet. They produce clothes in a cheap way that greatly hurts the environment.
  • It exploits workers, using very cheap labor with unhuman wages and deplorable working conditions, in some cases even straight-up using semi-slave labor. This is highly illegal, however, and these big brands have been sanctioned in the past.
  • Produces very low-quality garments, which lets them reduce the price of their clothes considerably, even making their customers buy more and more as the clothes they buy become worthless after a few wears, creating a buy-n-throw culture.
  • Uses low-quality and harmful materials, synthetics like polyester that, although it uses less water, is not biodegradable and in very low-quality garments decomposes into microplastics that end up in our waters and soil.
  • Its production models and manufacturing cycles have been refined, after so many years of producing tons of clothes, new more efficient methods that save money have been created, even giving birth to ultra-fast fashion and real-time models like SHEIN, which are incredibly more harmful.

This is, in a nutshell, why Fast Fashion is so cheap and so bad for our planet and society at the same time. If you want to learn more about this horrible business practice we advise you to read our article on the subject.

can slow fashion be affordable?

We have seen the reasons why it is expensive, and why it is a much better option than Fast Fashion, but the question still is, is it ever going to be affordable? Will we be seeing cheap (at least cheaper) sustainable clothing that doesn’t sacrifice our planet and people for its price?

The short answer is, YES! The long answer is a little bit more complicated. For Slow Fashion to become cheaper and more affordable brands need to start adopting this new sustainable business model, and that is not going to happen until its consumers become aware of the problem of Fast Fashion and start taking action.

As people become aware of the terrible repercussions of their fashion choices on our planet, they will start to demand slow, sustainable fashion garments. Brands will start to meet this demand, especially smaller brands who care more about the environment, as they do this they will search for cleaner, cheaper ways to produce clothes and will refine their production models so they stay competitive. The end result is a cheaper, more affordable Slow Fashion that is even cleaner and higher quality.

Something similar is happening with cars, with hybrid, electric, and hydrogen cars in the future that will replace polluting old cars. But this will surely not happen if the customers are not informed and aware, because they will not oppose Fast Fashion if they don’t even know what it is in the first place. That is why it is so important to share information on this subject and spread awareness. Either way, we have another article that talks about this in more detail here.

Can Slow Fashion Ever Be Affordable?

summary

We hope you have learned a lot from this article! This is a journey where not only you but also us are constantly learning. The next crucial thing is to put this information into good practice and to spread awareness on this unknown subject, which, as we saw earlier, is extremely important to stop Fast Fashion and achieve sustainability in the fashion industry, one of the most pollutant industries in the entire history.

We are thrilled to teach people all around the world 🙂 Also, did you really know what Fast Fashion really is and its terrible consequences for the environment, the planet, the workers, society, and the economy? Do you know exactly what the Slow Fashion or Sustainable Fashion movement is? You should really take a look at these articles about this forgotten and unknown but very urgent and important subject, click here to read „Can Fashion Ever Be Sustainable?”, or Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet because knowledge is one of the most powerful strengths you can have, while ignorance is your worst weakness.

We also have a big surprise for you! Because we want to give you the right to know us better, we have prepared a carefully dedicated About Us page where we will tell you who we are, what our mission is, what we do, a closer look at our team, and many more things! Do not miss this opportunity and click here to check it out. Also, we invite you to take a look at our Pinterest, where we will pin everyday sustainable fashion-related content, clothing designs, and other things that you will surely love!

Why Is Slow Fashion Important

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Why Is Slow Fashion Important?

why is slow fashion important?

table of contents

  1. what is slow fashion?
  2. why is slow fashion so important?
  3. is slow fashion sustainable fashion?
  4. how can we do slow fashion?
  5. summary

what is slow fashion?

Slow Fashion is born as a direct opposition to Fast Fashion, a fashion business model that originated in the 90s and consists in quickly turning trends into clothes available for consumers without regard to the environment, the workers, and the planets with its very short manufacturing cycles.

This anti-fast fashion movement focuses on producing garments in a more reasonable manufacturing cycle with respect for the environment and the agents involved in this production. It searches for small businesses, and higher-quality garments avoiding the overproduction and unnecessary consumerism which Fast Fashion promotes.

This pro-ecological, pro-workers fashion movement is gaining track recently but unfortunately, it is not known enough yet and most people have no idea how the Fast Fashion industry is ruining our planet, and that is the reason why awareness has to be spread and the people have to be informed.

why is slow fashion so important?

As we have seen earlier, Fast Fashion is a terrible business practice that is destroying our planet, generating 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of the global wastewater, polluting rivers, seas, and even soils with their garments made from harmful materials. We recommend you to check Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet to learn more.

Slow Fashion is very important because it wants to achieve a sustainable fashion industry, an industry that is accelerating the destruction and pollution of our planet in today’s world. But there are other reasons for its importance, here is why Slow Fashion is so important:

  • It promotes Sustainable Fashion, protecting our precious and only planet from destruction.
  • It promotes small businesses, which comes with competitiveness and innovation that will modernize the fashion industry.
  • It opposes consumerism, which makes customers buy unnecessary garments they may not even wear, throwing them and polluting the soil, even more, when they end up in the landfill.
  • Fights against overproduction, which causes environmental and social problems during the production and the disposal of the garments that did not get purchased, greatly polluting our rivers and soils with its toxic cheap materials.
  • Protects the workers, who in the Fast Fashion industry have terrible working conditions and inhuman wages.
  • Promotes high-quality garments, made with organic and biodegradable materials that will last longer and will have a low impact on the environment, protecting the planet and consumers’ wallets long-term.

These are one of the most important aspects of this fashion movement, but surely there are a lot more to point out. If you want to know more about this subject, check out Slow vs Fast Fashion.

Why Is Slow Fashion Important?

is slow fashion sustainable fashion?

We have talked about the slow movement of fashion, but there is another term called Sustainable Fashion that we mentioned earlier, but, are they the same thing? If not, how do they differ from one another?

Sustainable Fashion refers to a fashion movement that, while also directly opposing Fast Fashion, focuses more on the eco-friendly aspect of fashion and the sustainability of the materials and production processes of its garments. Sustainable Fashion promotes clothes made with organic and biodegradable materials above all things, focusing on achieving the minimal carbon footprint possible, and it is not a result of the birth of Fast Fashion but rather a result of the necessity to reform the planet-killing fashion industry.

Slow Fashion is very similar to Sustainable Fashion but is not exactly the same thing. Both want to achieve sustainability in the fashion industry, both want to reduce their carbon footprint… They differ in the way they want to achieve things, while the Sustainable Fashion movement focuses a lot more on the environment and the garment materials, the Slow one focuses more on the whole production model and the item itself.

At the end of the day, both movements want the same things and both are equally great, it depends on what path you want to go through, but it doesn’t matter which one you choose as long as you choose one, and moreover, fashion stores that sell Sustainable Fashion sell both Slow And Sustainable Fashion garments. We have already done an article about this subject, if you want to learn more about these differences we recommend you to read What Is The Difference Between Slow And Sustainable Fashion.

how can we do slow fashion?

Now you know how to differentiate and what is Slow and Sustainable fashion, why these movements are important, and why Fast Fashion needs to be stopped, but how can you put this information into practice? Here are some tips to do Slow or Sustainable Fashion:

  • Choose small businesses, this way you will promote small entrepreneurs, innovation, and competitiveness.
  • Look at the materials used in the garment, choose cotton, preferably organic or recycled ring-spun cotton and avoid synthetic materials like polyester which are not biodegradable and leave small microplastics polluting our waters.
  • Look into the brand you want to purchase from, learn if they use ethical business practices or if they respect the environment.
  • The 3 W’s Rule, When you see an item of clothing for the first time in an undisclosed amount of time and you ask yourself What? When? From Who? then you know you have too many clothes that you don’t need.
  • The 30 Day Rule, whenever you decide to buy some clothing product ask yourself „Will I wear it a minimum of 30 times?” if the answer is true yes, then go on. You will be surprised to know how many times you say no.
  • Donate Clothes, Fast Fashion garments still pollute our soils when they end up in the landfill, letting harmful toxic materials leak into the soil and potentially into the water, instead of throwing your clothes, you should donate or recycle them.
  • Use your critical thinking, determine if the brand you are looking at is really sustainable by taking into consideration the price of its clothes, if they talk about sustainability or not, if they have been involved in any scandals and if they have apologized…

Anyway, there are many ways you can do slow fashion, and any action you take is an action away from Fast Fashion. If you want to know more on how to become more sustainable regarding fashion read How To Do Slow Fashion.

How Can We Do Slow Fashion?

summary

We hope you have learned a lot today and the importance of this anti-fast fashion movement. It is crucial you put this information into good practice, as Fast Fashion is a huge but untalked about problem in our world, and that is why it is so important to spread awareness and inform the people because we will not end this problem if no one knows that it exists and the importance of ending it.

We are thrilled to teach people all around the world 🙂 Also, did you really know what Fast Fashion really is and its terrible consequences for the environment, the planet, the workers, society, and the economy? Do you know exactly what the Slow Fashion or Sustainable Fashion movement is? You should really take a look at these articles about this forgotten and unknown but very urgent and important subject, click here to read „Can Fashion Ever Be Sustainable?”, or Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet because knowledge is one of the most powerful strengths you can have, while ignorance is your worst weakness.

We also have a big surprise for you! Because we want to give you the right to know us better, we have prepared a carefully dedicated About Us page where we will tell you who we are, what our mission is, what we do, a closer look at our team, and many more things! Do not miss this opportunity and click here to check it out. Also, we invite you to take a look at our Pinterest, where we will pin everyday sustainable fashion-related content, clothing designs, and other things that you will surely love!

What Is The Difference Between Slow Fashion And Sustainable Fashion

by
What Is The Difference Between Slow Fashion And Sustainable Fashion

what is the diference between slow fashion and sustainable fashion?

table of contents

  1. what is slow fashion?
  2. are slow fashion and sustainable fashion any different?
  3. what is the difference between slow, sustainable, and ethical fashion?
  4. which is better, sustainable fashion or slow fashion?
  5. summary

what is slow fashion?

Slow Fashion is a movement born in direct opposition to the terrible business practice of Fast Fashion, which originated in the 90s with Zara and its extremely short manufacturing cycles that allowed them to quickly turn trends into new clothes that their customers could constantly devour.

Slow Fashion promotes longer manufacturing cycles with respect for the environment and the workers, buying from small producers, purchasing only the necessary, getting second-hand clothes to give them a second life, and buying higher-quality garments that last longer avoiding their disposal.

It is basically the direct opposition of Fast Fashion, a practice that is currently destroying our planet with overproduction, pollution, exploitation of workers, and low-quality garments that are practically made to throw, making the customer buy more and more clothes they do not need.

Fast Fashion is a very interesting topic in itself and we have prepared a long in-detail article about this practice on our Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet.

are slow fashion and sustainable fashion any different?

If you had read any of our articles you may have noticed we use sustainable, slow, and ethical fashion as complete synonyms without any difference between them, but this is not the case as we will see next.

In reality (and this is something we learned recently) there are differences between each of them, slight differences but differences at the end of the day. Having said this, these are the differences between slow fashion and sustainable fashion:

Slow Fashion

This fashion movement focuses on the lifecycle of the garment, how it’s produced, how long it will last… Slow Fashion aims for, as its name implies, a slower and more sustainable production model for garments, directly opposing Fast Fashion. It searches for small producers and stores and high-quality clothes, strongly avoiding overproduction and unnecessary consumerism.

The best example of Slow Fashion can be an on-demand business model where garments are produced by command, eradicating overproduction completely as the items are produced at the time of the purchase. A business model like this is a complete game-changer to the industry.

Sustainable Fashion

Sustainable Fashion focuses more on the materials used and the production processes the garments go through. You can say it didn’t directly come from opposing Fast Fashion but rather from an eco-friendly green background.

It differs from Slow Fashion because it really focuses a lot more on the ecological materials they use, utilizing materials like organic ring-spun cotton, hemp, or other sustainable and biodegradable materials. If you want to know more about this fashion movement feel free to check out our articles on the subject.

At the end of the day, they may be very similar and may even seem to be the same, as they both promote sustainability in the fashion industry, but the difference, while small, is still there, and we should have known it. But this is a journey where not only you but also us have to learn, and that is one of the best things about beginning this project.

are slow fashion and sustainable fashion any different?

what is the difference between slow, sustainable, and ethical fashion?

We have seen the difference between slow and sustainable fashion before, but there is still another member of this anti-fast fashion group, we are talking about Ethical Fashion. You may say, what is that? how is it different from the other ones?

Do not worry, we will explain to you what Ethical Fashion is and how it differs from its other similars. Without more hesitation, here are the differences in simple terms between the slow, sustainable and ethical fashion:

  • Slow Fashion is the direct opposition to Fast Fashion, it focuses on a slower manufacturing cycle that is more respectful to the planet, avoiding unnecessary consumerism
  • Sustainable Fashion is a movement that aims for producing ecological garments from biodegradable materials, wanting to reduce their carbon footprint above all things.
  • Ethical fashion focuses on the welfare of the workers producing these clothing items, aiming for a decent salary, human working conditions, and protesting against the slavery-like conditions Fast Fashion workers have.

That is, in simple terms the main differences between all of them, but as we said earlier, they all want a sustainable fashion industry, they have the same goals and that is why they are confused so much and used as synonyms. You can say they are all movements that want the same things but have different methods for achieving those goals.

which is better, sustainable fashion or slow fashion?

We have seen the differences between these two fashion movements and what they aim for, but, can you say one is better than the other? Is Sustainable Fashion better than Slow Fashion?

We said earlier that these two are two sides of the same coin, maybe even close to the same side of the same coin, both aim for a sustainable fashion industry that is respectful of the planet, the environment, the workers and the consumers.

So in simple terms, we can say no, no one is better than the other, and that is because even though there are differences between them, Slow Fashion also wants sustainable clothes made from biodegradable materials, and Sustainable Fashion also strongly opposes Fast Fashion and its consequences for our planet.

Any one of these is good and all of them are 1000 times better than Fast Fashion clothes, and generally, Slow, Sustainable, or Ethical fashion stores produce garments that are at the same time Slow, Sustainable and Ethical. So it just depends on your preferences, but all of them as we said want to achieve the same thing.

which is better, sustainable fashion or slow fashion?

summary

We hope we have cleared the differences between all of these fashion movements for you and now you have learned to differentiate them. We also have to say that we have learned a lot from writing this article as we wrongfully did not differentiate them before from one another. Now it is crucial to put this information into good practice the next time you look at sustainable garments because even if you don’t think to, your small choices make a big difference in our world.

We are thrilled to teach people all around the world 🙂 Also, did you really know what Fast Fashion really is and its terrible consequences for the environment, the planet, the workers, society, and the economy? Do you know exactly what the Slow Fashion or Sustainable Fashion movement is? You should really take a look at these articles about this forgotten and unknown but very urgent and important subject, click here to read „Can Fashion Ever Be Sustainable?”, or Fast Fashion 101 | How It’s Destroying Our Planet because knowledge is one of the most powerful strengths you can have, while ignorance is your worst weakness.

We also have a big surprise for you! Because we want to give you the right to know us better, we have prepared a carefully dedicated About Us page where we will tell you who we are, what our mission is, what we do, a closer look at our team, and many more things! Do not miss this opportunity and click here to check it out. Also, we invite you to take a look at our Pinterest, where we will pin everyday sustainable fashion-related content, clothing designs, and other things that you will surely love!

How to do slow fashion

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How to do slow fashion

table of contents

  1. buy from sustainable clothing brands
  2. how to do slow fashion at home
  3. the 30 day rule
  4. donate clothes
  5. summary

With many more people becoming aware of their carbon footprint, the fashion dilemma is beginning to find its way into society, which is good. If you want to know more about the slow vs fast fashion dilemma check out slow vs fast fashion

The thing is, the fashion industry is the second-largest polluter in the world just after the oil industry. And the environmental damage is increasing as the industry grows. Fashion production makes up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, dries up water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams. What’s more, 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year (UNECE, 2018), and washing some types of clothes sends a significant amount of microplastics into the ocean.

That is why, many more people are choosing the slow fashion alternative, which is not only much better for the environment and the people, but also better for the customer. Today, we will show you how you can turn your polluting and unethical fashion habits into a sustainable and ethical way of life, without sacrificing money, time, or style, but actually gaining time, style, and eventually money.

Buy from sustainable clothing brands

This one is a little bit obvious, but often unenforced. You should buy from brands you trust and know that are using ethical practices to make their clothes, which are very rare actually.

Even if it’s tempting to buy a $6 pair of jeans from H&M, you’re here for a reason, and that is stopping one of the worst business practices in our modern times, Fast fashion. You already know the terrible outcomes of consuming fast fashion if you are reading this, so why still buy fast fashion?

If you want to know some of the best brands that sell slow fashion, check out what is slow fashion, where we talk about them.

How to do slow fashion

how to do slow fashion at home

You already know how to do slow fashion at the store, it’s pretty straightforward, but, How to do slow fashion at home?

Consider if you already have too many clothes, according to a survey of 1000 American women, the average woman has 103 items of clothing in her closet, but she only wears around 10% of them and considers 21% to be unwearable 33 % too tight and 24% too loose.

One of the best rules to know if you have too many clothes is the 3 W’s rule.  When you see an item of clothing for the first time in an undisclosed amount of time and you ask yourself What? When? From Who? then you know you have too many clothes that you don’t need.

Don’t feel guilty if you do have many clothes, you may be wearing every one of those items because you’re someone who loves expressing themselves through clothes, but you shouldn’t have so many clothes that you forget about them after a few uses either.

The 30 Day rule

One of the best rules that can teach you how to do slow fashion while shopping is the 30 Day Rule, basically, whenever you decide to buy some clothing product ask yourself „Will I wear it a minimum of 30 times?” if the answer is truly yes, then go on. You will be surprised to know how many times you say no.

How to do slow fashion

Donate clothes

If you’re wondering how to do slow fashion when your closed is almost going to explode from handling so many clothes to dress an entire village, don’t worry, there is a great thing you can do with all the clothes that you don’t need.

You should donate, why? because it’s great for the planet, the number of clothes that are thrown in the landfill is huge, especially as there’s no need for any clothing or textiles to make its way into a bin. By donating your clothes instead, you can help fight landfill, reduce demand for resource-hungry new clothes, and have a real impact in making fashion more sustainable.

The garment industry is one of the largest carbon polluters on planet Earth, and one of the greatest producers of waste. Three out of five of the 100 billion garments made in 2018 will end up in landfills within a year.

And when consumers throw away clothing in the garbage, not only does it waste money and resources, but it can take 200+ years for the materials to decompose in a landfill. During the decomposition process, textiles generate greenhouse methane gas and leach toxic chemicals and dyes into the groundwater and our soil.

So yes, you should definitely donate your clothes, if you don’t know how, please check out Planet Aid so you understand a little bit more how to do it and its benefits.

summary

We hope you have learned how to do slow fashion and put this information into practice. The biggest problem about slow fashion and why no one knows how to do slow fashion is because no one even knows what slow or fast fashion means, and that is why we want to spread the word, a blog post at a time.

We are surprised such a small amount of people are informed about the dangers of fast fashion to this world considering its horrible impact on our world. 

Anyway, knowing how to do slow fashion, why don’t you take a look at our About Us page that we prepared just for you? In it we explain to you how we started, our mission, our team, and many more things you don’ want to miss out on.

Slow Vs Fast Fashion

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slow vs fast fashion

table of contents

  1. the slow vs fast fashion dilemma
  2. what is fast fashion
  3. what is slow fashion
  4. slow vs fast fashion
  5. summary

the Slow vs fast fashion dilemma

With globalization, trends, and more people being able to afford much more with their salaries, the fashion industry is getting bigger and bigger every year, but, Is the current fashion industry sustainable? What consequences does it have on our planet and how can we change this?

The facts are that fashion production makes up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, dries up water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams. What’s more, 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year (UNECE, 2018), and washing some types of clothes sends significant amount of microplastics into the ocean.

We will be discussing what is Fast Fashion, what is Slow Fashion, and what choice we should make to reduce our carbon footprint.

Slow Vs Fast Fashion

what is fast fashion?

Fast fashion is the term used to describe clothing designs that move quickly from the catwalk to stores to take advantage of trends. … Fast fashion describes low-priced but stylish clothing that moves quickly from design to retail stores to meet trends, with new collections being introduced continuously.

Fast fashion has an enormous environmental footprint for both its production and disposal. Clothing production requires a considerable amount of energy and resources, while it depends on toxic fabric dyes and other chemicals that contaminate freshwater. Fast Fashion produces a tenth of the world’s carbon emissions.

Today, the fast fashion industry’s indisputable leader in the Spanish retail group Inditex, which owns a family of brands including Zara, Mango, and Massimo Dutti, among others. They introduce clothes and trends almost every week at a very cheap monetary price (With a very high humanitarian and environmental cost) and throw out all the clothes that are not sold in that period of time.

what is slow fashion?

Slow fashion, is a concept describing the complete opposite of fast fashion and part of the “slow movement”, which advocates for manufacturing with respect to people, the environment, and animals.

Why Do We Even Need A Slow Fashion? Sustainable or slow fashion encourages the use of locally produced, biodegradable fabrics which have little to no adverse effects on the environment. So these fabrics can eventually return to the ecosystem, once you are done wearing them.

One of the advantages of slow vs fast fashion is that slow fashion encompasses awareness and an approach to fashion that considers the processes and resources required to make clothing. It advocates for buying better-quality garments that will last longer and value fair treatment of people, animals, and the planet along the way. So, slow fashion is considerably better quality than fast fashion, although sometimes it can be pricey, but you don’t have to buy new clothes every month like with fast fashion.

Slow vs fast fashion - slow fashion vs fast fashion

slow vs fast fashion

It is pretty clear already that this slow vs fast fashion dilemma is resolved, slow fashion wins! But, why isn’t everyone buying it already? Why are people keep shopping from fast fashion brands only to find themselves throwing a ton of clothes they don’t need, clothes that have already left a very big carbon footprint in our world and were made with sweat and hard work of underpaid workers.

There are many reasons for this, one of them is that although fast fashion if let free would destroy our planet, it is cheaper, and many people would prefer buying a $6 pair of jeans that will last a month rather than a $65 pair that will last 10 years.

But that is not the main reason for the unpopularity of slow fashion in the slow vs fast fashion dilemma, the biggest issue is that the majority of people don’t even know what fast fashion is. When did you first hear about fast fashion? Do you know anyone personally who also knows what that means? Most likely, no. And that is surprising considering how bad fast fashion is to our planet and other people.

How are people going to choose between slow vs fast fashion if they don’t even know what that means? Even if some people have heard about fast fashion, they have a vague idea of what that is and think it’s some kind of crop top that starts running from the closet.

The best thing we can do to help slow fashion win the slow vs fast fashion dilemma is to be informed. The next best thing to do is spread the word so that at least people know what those terms mean, then action should be taken.

Summary

The slow vs fast fashion dillemma is something that will be talked about a lot in the near future, and hopefully, people start taking action so that we and our planet can stand a chance at survival.

There are plenty of things you can do regarding fashion to become more sustainable, here’s a post on how to do slow fashion.
You can also donate your clothes so you don’ throw them and pollute (Because clothes in the landfills do pollute a lot). Planet Aid shows you exactly how to do this and the benefits of donating or recycling clothes.
If you liked our stance on the slow vs fast fashion dilemma, feel free to check our About Us page! We are part of the slow fashion movement, in this page we prepared for you, we will tell you about how we started, our team, our mission, and much more! Be sure to check that out.
Slow vs Fast Fashion What To choose
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