why is ethical fashion important?
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.
the terrible consequences of fast fashion
This terrible business practice has a lot of downfalls, the biggest problem with fast fashion is its pollution, producing 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions with its activities, which is a lot.
But there are many other things we can mention about it, here are the biggest problems with fast fashion:
- Overproduction, it creates a lot of clothes very quickly and many of them end up in the landfill without even being worn.
- Air Pollution, producing around 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
- Water pollution, polluting rivers and seas with the lack of care for the environment while creating these garments.
- Soil pollution, especially when the garments end up in landfills, decomposing into harmful chemicals and leaving plastics behind that do not decompose if the garments are made from polyester.
- Consumerism, as it promotes a culture of buy-n-throw clothes as you wish without considering the impact of your actions.
- Worker exploitation, with very low wages, inhuman working conditions, and slavery-like jobs, is partly the reason why these clothes are so cheap.
- Stealing intellectual property, this business practice needs constant new trends and is willing to do anything to get them, like stealing designs from independent artists giving them no credit, this has happened many times before.
This list goes on and on, sadly, and the environmental impacts of fast fashion are very bad, but if you want to learn more in detail about the issues with this business practice, we recommend you read Huffington Post’s article on Fast-Fashion.
why is ethical fashion important?
Now that you know how bad Fast Fashion really is, it becomes clear why fashion movements that want to achieve sustainability in the fashion industry are so important because they ultimately want to end the big environmental and social footprint the industry has. It is rather a necessity, because if Fast Fashion continues to grow and prosper the world as we know it may end, suffering permanent damages that we will regret as species for the rest of our existence.
Ethical Fashion as you may know focuses a lot more on the humane treatment of workers and agents involved in the production process, but there is a lot more to that. Promoting fair trade and the creation of new small businesses aims to develop those countries that are still, unfortunately, suffering from poverty. This does not only affect the lives of millions of people worldwide but will ultimately affect all of us, even from the richest countries on earth.
That is because the existence of countries that are economically underdeveloped negatively affects the entire world, because of the opportunity costs that we have if those countries were developed and contributing to the development of humanity as a whole, that is why it is harder to become a rich country if you are surrounded by poorer countries and vice versa.
Not only that, poorer countries have fewer resources to care about and resolve things like their environmental footprint and pollution, which affects all of us, and not only that, the entire planet earth and its ecosystem.
So at the end of the day, Ethical Fashion is a crucial part of achieving sustainability in the fashion industry and saving our planet and species from inevitable doom, which is, unfortunately, closer and closer as Fast Fashion grows uncontrollably. That is why Ethical Fashion is so important, for the sake of our planet and humanity, and it should always be complimented by Slow Fashion and Sustainable Fashion.
what can i do to support ethical fashion?
We have seen a lot of things about this fashion movement, but how can you support Ethical fashion? What can you do to be more ethical and support a sustainable fashion industry that cares for the workers, the environment, and also you? Well, you are lucky because there are a lot of options you can do right now from the comfort of your home! Having said this, here is how to support Ethical Fashion:
- Shop from businesses that you know are respecting their workers and agents involved in the production of their garments, preferably small businesses because you will be also supporting small families that also have to eat, and sadly today most big businesses simply do not care about their actions on the world, because of the Diffusion of responsibility phenomenon.
- Do not simply avoid all clothes made from underdeveloped countries, the fact that they are made in a country with less favorable conditions does not mean that the garment has been made with inhumane labor, countries that are rich today like Singapore, Taiwan, or South Korea have been producing garments with cheap labor for years before they finally developed. The problem is that Fast Fashion with its cheap low added value garments exploit the workers and do not even contribute to a fair development of the producing countries, which is very bad. That is why you should look for the ways the clothes are produced, and not where they are produced, because even in developed countries there can be garments made with forced labor.
- Read the business’ morals and how they are dealing with the sustainability of their operations, if they don’t even talk about sustainable practices then do not have trust in them, it is better to find a good business that cares for the people and doesn’t treat them like buy-n-throw tools to make extra money.
Here are some of the key things you can do to become more ethical with your fashion choices and support a sustainable fashion industry that cares for the people and the environment. Now you just need to put this into good practice 🙂
summary
We hope you have learned a lot about Ethical Fashion today because so did we. Do not hesitate to read our blog, we have a lot more interesting articles like this one available to you. The important thing at the end of the day is to put this information into good practice, to inform yourself and especially others because only consumer awareness can combat the environmental danger of Fast Fashion.
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!
