What Is Slow Fashion?

Let's learn together about what is Slow Fashion and different ways of putting it into practice.

Image from Pexels

Has your closet ever looked like this?

If your answer is YES, ask yourself the following questions:

How often do you wear the first thing you see?

Do you even wear everything?

How often do you buy new clothes?

How much do you think the person who made them got paid?

How much do you think they care about producing it sustainably if it's so cheap to produce?

I already know your answers to these questions, because they were also mine a while ago.

I had never thought about any of this before.

I just bought whatever I wanted and that led me to go shopping every couple of weeks. Every year I would swap my closet items from Summer to Winter and vice versa and every year I would get rid of SO MANY clothes. Because I didn't like them anymore, or not as much as before, because I didn't wear them, because they were so cheap the fabric turned really bad after 5 washes...

I'm not sure now how I ended up choosing to watch the documentary The True Cost for an assignment. But luckily I did.

The True Cost is a movie "about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world." And, as they say in their website, about how "the price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically."

I'm not gonna lie to you. It didn't change the way I looked at fashion in one night.

But it definitely made me think about it.

After seeing it, every time I went into a shop and saw something I liked, I asked myself:

Do I really need this?

Am I going to wear it more than twice?

Who made it?

And then, slowly, I started reading more about the impact of the Fashion Industry on the planet and started to understand what is the Slow Fashion movement.

So, what does Slow Fashion mean?

Slow Fashion was born to fight Fast Fashion. Meaning the massive production and consumption of nowadays fashion products that treat clothes, people, and the environment as disposable.

From the people of Good On You, Slow Fashion is an awareness. It is approaching fashion taking into consideration the process and resources required to make clothing, particularly focusing on sustainability.

It encourages us to slow down, savor, simplify and refine our sense of quality and taste.

As Hala Kaiksow said to Fashion Revolution: Slow Fashion has a lot in common with the values that fashion stood for before it became mechanized: the timeless craft of patiently creating something aesthetically beautiful and emotionally moving.

From my point of view, there isn't just one right definition because everybody lives this process in a different way.

To me it is about taking the time to think before buying, to research brands, to really use and appreciate what we own.

It's about taking the "disposable" tag out of clothing.

Image from Pexels

Very often we forget, behind our clothes, there are actual people who made them. Every piece that we have ever worn has been made by someone's hands, and for that, it deserves our deepest respect.

The way I practice the Slow Fashion movement is by buying less and buying better researching about who I give money to. But also, buying second-hand, repairing old clothes to reuse them, DIY...

One of my favorite parts of this process was discovering upcycling. Reusing the fabric from unused clothes to create new ones that will actually fit me, that I will wear more comfortably, and that just looks better!

What I think is the most important part of this movement and for everyone to really understand is that we have to re-educate ourselves about the way we consume fashion. We have to read, listen, to be willing to make small changes.

Because frequently people tell me they don't agree with Slow Fashion brands because their prices are too high or the stock is too limited.

First, we need to understand that we won't consume Slow Fashion garments at the same rhythm as we are used to consuming Fast Fashion.

But, also, the more we understand about the industry and the production processes that take place within it, the more we'll understand why those prices, the limited stock, and other "disadvantages" that I've heard of about Slow Fashion.

If you got to the end of this post,

thank you ✨

I would love to know your thoughts about Slow Fashion, about the way you practice it, or why have you chosen not to...

Leave a comment and let's learn together! 💛