is ethical fashion affordable?
what is ethical fashion?
Fast Fashion not only created a production model where very cheap low-quality garments were made very fast following trends with no regard to the environment and the people, but it also gave more importance to fashion movements that wanted a sustainable fashion industry.
Since then, fashion movements like Ethical, Sustainable and Slow Fashion arose to the surface in one way or another, which is kind of a good thing if we ignore the terrible consequences Fast Fashion has on our world, producing 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of global wastewaters that pollute our rivers and seas.
Ethical Fashion refers to a fashion movement that searches for garments made with respect to the workers that make them, the vendors and small businesses that play a role in the production process, fair trade, and the ethical treatment of all the agents related to the fashion industry, including the environment.
So in simple terms, Ethical Fashion focuses on the ethical treatment of humans, and animals to achieve a sustainable fashion industry, with support for small businesses and the development of countries that are right now in unfavorable conditions.
is ethical fashion affordable?
Now that you know what Ethical Fashion is and what it stands for, you may wonder how all of this affects the quality of the garment and its affordability. Well, this like any other fashion movement of its kind, Ethical Fashion swears by producing high-quality garments that do not contribute greatly to the pollution of our planet, but the price is a different thing and we will see why now.
Because Ethical Fashion promotes the humane treatment of its workers and decent retribution, both for work and supply of needed materials from local businesses and vendors, the base cost for a garment increases greatly, because everyone in the production process is getting what they deserve based on their contribution. This does affect the final price of the product greatly, making it more expensive.
Not only that, but the base price of the garment represents rather a small portion of the final price the consumer pays at the time of the purchase, and that is because the business selling it has many more costs like marketing, stocking, distribution, salaries, affiliates, website-related costs, and hundreds of different costs that any business has, and at the end, they have to make a profit to stay alive and continue satisfying the needs of their customers.
So when you buy a t-shirt you are not paying what that piece of clothing costs to produce, but rather for all the hundreds of things it took for you to buy it in the first place, plus the profit of the business that sells it to you needed for its own survival and growth. With Ethical Fashion, you can be assured that you paid the fair and right price of the garment itself, without outsourcing these costs to the environment and workers in modern slavery conditions, so although you are paying a higher price it is the right price you should be paying for that garment in the first place.
why is fast fashion so cheap?
Fast Fashion, on the other hand, is well-known for its low-quality, buy-n-throw, cheap garments it shoves down its customers’ throats. The question is, how is it possible that Fast Fashion has such cheap clothes? Here is why Fast Fashion is so cheap:
- It outsources its costs to the environment, without caring for its environmental footprint and violating common decency regarding the welfare of our planet. This makes it so they can produce clothes cheaper without having to worry about investing in secure facilities that do not pollute our earth.
- Exploits workers, with inhumane working conditions and low wages that sometimes reach modern slavery conditions, all of this to create a cheap garment that customers can buy easily without thinking it two times. This is clearly immoral and illegal, although Fast Fashion companies usually find a way around that even using corruption and unethical practices.
- It has a lot of economical power, because of its popularity, Fast Fashion corporations have enough power so they can buy resources at bargain price from desperate vendors and local businesses who need to survive from their economic activities. This can be devastating for the fair development of the supplying nations, who need to build their economy with foreign and local investments that produce high added value goods and services, something that Fast Fashion does not do.
- Produces low-quality clothes, Fast Fashion garments are made low-quality, polluting, non-biodegradable materials that are cheap to produce. This allows them to offer cheap clothes and to feed the buy-n-throw consumerism culture that it promotes so its customers constantly buy clothes they do not need that will sadly end up in landfills polluting our soil even more.
There are many other reasons that explain why Fast Fashion is so cheap, but we have made the most relevant. As you can see, the price you „save” when buying one of its garments you will end up paying in environmental and social issues, if not you, your children will. So you may see why it is wise to pay items for their fair price, because when an item is below its fair price there are hidden costs that are usually way worse. Also remember to not overconsume and to not buy things you don’t need, you will save money and unnecessary environmental footprints this way.
If you want to know more about Fast Fashion and its terrible consequences for the environment and our society, please, do not hesitate to check out our Fast Fashion 101 extended article on the subject. You may be also interested in our article about SHEIN, the ultra-fast fashion brand.
will ethical fashion ever be affordable?
Now that you know why Fast Fashion is so cheap and why Ethical Fashion is more expensive, or better said, at the fair price of what a garment should be, you may wonder if it can ever be more affordable, because at the end of the day the price is what determines what amount of something you can buy, and it unfortunately drives millions of people to choose Fast Fashion.
We have to understand that price is a system to determine how much of anything a person can consume, based on their contribution to the economic system. In simple terms, you can only buy something that you want if you have produced an item of the same value. To account for this we have something called money, which you can obtain by producing goods and services people need and satisfying their necessities.
Okay okay, before you get bored and leave, we have to tell you how this affects the price of Ethical Fashion garments. Basically, right now the fair price can be expensive for some people because the productivity is not very high right now, we do not have the technology and the qualified labor necessary to produce enough Ethical Fashion garments in a way that can be affordable for everyone.
But do not worry, this will and is changing right now. Like any other goods and services we have right now, the technology we have has allowed us to afford a lot of things that we couldn’t even dream of before, like cars, phones, computers, and even food. So the solution to make Ethical Fashion more affordable is time, but that is not the only thing needed, we need customers that demand garments made ethically and sustainably, because only then will businesses invest in better practices, and smaller businesses that care about their environmental and social footprint can emerge, increasing the productivity and making the garments affordable for everyone.
Now you know, that the best thing you can do for Sustainable and Ethical Fashion is to take part yourself in the movement, to inform yourself and especially to inform others, because only the power of consumers can determine the future of the earth and the people who are currently suffering the consequences of a fashion model that does not care for its impact on our world.
summary
We hope you have learned a lot today, because so did we. As we always say, you do not have to go all crazy with Ethical Fashion, a few good deeds a day make a big difference for the future of the earth, of your children. It is also especially crucial that you educate yourself as a customer and the people you know, by talking about the issue and sharing information online, because surprisingly and sadly Fast Fahsion is an enormous issue most people do not even know that it exists.
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!
