Slow fashion is an important idea in the movement for sustainable clothing and is seen as the opposite of fast fashion. It is part of the "slow movement," which supports a system of making clothes that is fair to people, the environment, and animals. Unlike fast fashion, which uses large factories, slow fashion works with local craftspeople and uses materials that are safe for the environment.
The slow fashion or conscious fashion movement started as a response to problems caused by fast fashion, such as pollution from making clothes and from old synthetic fabrics, poor quality work, and a focus on short-lived trends instead of classic styles.
As slow fashion grows, there is more attention on making high-quality clothes that last longer.
British Vogue explained that creating clothes in the slow fashion movement requires thinking about the materials used, what customers want, and how clothing affects the climate.
Principles
Slow fashion is a term used to describe ways to make fashion better for the planet. It focuses on changing how clothes are designed, made, bought, used, and reused. These changes happen alongside the usual fashion system and may challenge it.
As an alternative to fast fashion, slow fashion supports living and buying in ways that are fairer and better for the environment. It includes all ideas related to "sustainable," "eco-friendly," "green," and "ethical" fashion. Slow fashion uses a different business model that values fairness, slows down buying habits, and protects the environment.
Slow fashion is often compared to fast fashion. People who choose slow fashion believe it creates better-quality clothes that last longer. These clothes are usually made from high-quality materials and may cost more. The movement encourages both makers and buyers to produce and buy clothes more slowly. It also values the connection people feel with their clothing. For example, people might keep clothes longer if they feel emotionally or culturally attached to them. Supporters believe that reusing old materials instead of making new clothes each season can help reduce harm to the environment.
Slow fashion is part of a larger effort to make companies share more information about how they make products and their effects on the environment. To attract customers, slow fashion companies focus on being open and honest about their processes, from making clothes to selling them. This helps buyers choose products that are better for the planet.
History
Stella McCartney is a luxury designer who has focused on sustainable and ethical practices since the 1990s.
In 2009, Vogue and The VOU Fashion Magazines studied the history of the Slow Fashion Movement.
Many companies have supported efforts to move away from fast fashion, such as the Fashion Revolution Day and Second Hand September campaigns. Major fast fashion companies like Zara and H&M have either promised future changes or created clothing lines focused on sustainable practices.
The idea of slow fashion became more widely known after Elizabeth L. Cline wrote Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Clothing, which explained the problems with fast fashion. The term "slow clothes movement" was first used by Angela Murrills, a fashion writer for Georgia Straight, a Vancouver-based online magazine. This term was later shared on blogs and the internet.
The phrase "slow fashion" was also used in an article by Kate Fletcher in The Ecologist in 2007. She compared the eco-friendly, sustainable, and ethical fashion industry to the Slow Food Movement. The Slow Food Movement supports the "Good, Clean, Fair" principles: Good quality (tasty and healthy food), Clean production (methods that protect the environment), and Fair, affordable prices for customers (along with fair pay and conditions for producers).
The slow fashion movement has been studied by Elizabeth L. Cline, a researcher, author, consultant, and design activist. She wrote the book Sustainable Fashion and Textiles. Her work connects design, fashion, and textiles to help create a more sustainable fashion industry.
Based on the three principles of slow design introduced in 2006 in Milan, Hazel Clark expanded on these ideas in her article SLOW + FASHION – an Oxymoron – or a Promise for the Future?. She described the main ideas of slow fashion as: using local resources, having clear and open production processes, and creating sustainable, sensory products.
In 2019, academic Debapratim Purkayastha studied a company called 7Weaves, which is part of the slow fashion movement. This company, based in Assam, uses sustainably sourced and made Eri silk. It works with indigenous people in the region and global slow fashion brands. Eri silk is made without harming silk worms, and 7Weaves uses only natural dyes for coloring.
7Weaves provides steady work for artisans who have traditional skills in weaving and silk production. The company guarantees a fixed monthly income for its artisans throughout the year and gives 50% of its annual profits to other workers in the supply chain. This work also helps protect the biodiversity of the environmentally sensitive Assam valley. Slow fashion brands from countries like Germany, France, Belgium, and Australia use products from 7Weaves, and the company has become well-known in the slow fashion world.
During the 2020 spring-summer fashion season, high-end designers led the slow fashion movement by creating clothing using environmentally friendly practices.
Marketing
Slow fashion uses marketing methods that focus on customers who prefer classic, long-lasting clothing. Advertisements often highlight how these clothes can be worn in many ways, require little care, and are made to last a long time.
Marketing efforts usually stress the idea of thoughtful buying, with ads that show how clothing is made with care for the environment and society. Companies may mention that they update their clothing collections slowly, produce and keep only a few items in stock, choose materials carefully, and follow fair and ethical production practices.
Slow fashion is also linked to using clothes from thrift stores and second-hand shops. This includes offering items that were not made quickly for immediate sale, as well as providing recycled clothing that is more affordable.
Production
The production process of slow fashion is spread out across different countries to increase efficiency and profit. This is because slow fashion takes more time, uses local workers, and focuses on quality. This makes the slow fashion market less competitive. Some experts have asked if slow fashion can last in a market that focuses on competition.
In slow fashion, designers use local workers and materials. They focus on quality instead of making a lot of items. The process should be clear so everyone involved—designers, consumers, and producers—know what happens. This changes the usual roles between these groups. Fast fashion follows trends that change quickly. This leads to people buying more clothes quickly. Slow fashion clothes are made to last and aren’t tied to any trend.
Slow fashion costs more to make, so companies can’t create as many items as fast fashion companies. Fast fashion companies use cheaper workers and materials to make more items and earn more money.
Keeping production in communities makes the process clearer. This reduces the number of middle people involved and shows more cultural and material value to customers.
Slow fashion clothes can be priced differently. A used dress from a thrift store for $5 and a designer dress for $700 are both examples of slow fashion.
The main capitalist system measures success by economic growth and how many goods are sold. But studies show that other factors, like how people view the company and their concern for society, should also be considered. People are willing to pay more if they know their clothes were made without unfair labor practices.
Impact
The slow fashion movement is part of the larger sustainable fashion culture. In 2018, one-third of fashion consumers bought clothing once a month, a decrease from 37% in 2016. Meanwhile, the percentage of people who bought clothes every two or three months (or less) increased from 64% to 67%, according to the market research firm Mintel. While the slow fashion movement alone cannot be proven as the reason for these changes, consumers overall are buying fewer clothing items and moving away from the fast fashion trend for their own reasons.
After the release of documentaries such as The True Cost and RiverBlue, companies that use fast fashion strategies faced negative press. In the year 2016, H&M had total revenue of about $25 billion. However, recently, H&M’s stock value and brand image have declined as consumer awareness of the company’s environmentally harmful practices led to lower sales.
Zara and H&M have made public statements praising ethical fashion. By launching collections focused on sustainable fashion, the two companies have shifted their image toward ethical practices. Professional and regulatory groups, such as the United States Fashion Industry Association, have worked to improve "social compliance and sustainability" in their production standards.
Reactions
In her 2016 article titled "Doing Good and Looking Good: Women in 'Fast Fashion' Activism," Rimi Khan criticized the slow fashion movement, especially the work of well-known designers and advocates such as McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, and Livia Firth. Khan noted that slow fashion products often appeal to a group of people who are mostly from Western countries, wealthy, and female. She also explained that slow fashion items are much more expensive than fast fashion items, which means people need to have extra money to buy them. Khan argued that by offering a solution to fast fashion that is not available to many people, these activists make wealthier women the main leaders in the movement against fast fashion, while the shopping habits of women with less money are often seen as negative.
Andrea Chang shared a similar view in her article "The Impact of Fast Fashion on Women." She wrote that the slow and ethical fashion movements place too much pressure on consumers of fast fashion clothing, most of whom are women, to change the industry by altering their shopping habits. Chang suggested that because many people have limited choices about where and how to buy clothing, often because of financial reasons, activists should focus on lawmakers, manufacturers, and investors who are involved in the fast fashion industry, rather than creating an alternative industry that only some people can afford.
Some brands that claim to support slow fashion principles have been criticized. The Swedish brand H&M was accused of not being sustainable after reports showed that the company burns or destroys unsold clothing. Although H&M says it is trying to improve sustainability and labels some items with green "Conscious" tags to show they use more sustainable materials, it is widely known that the company continues to produce large amounts of other clothing. When a company claims to value sustainability but does not act in a way that matches this claim, it is called greenwashing.