At a moment in time when many of us are hard at work to preserve the environment, the slow fashion movement has made its way to the forefront of the clothing scene. An Instagram hashtag search yields over 4M results, the secondhand market is exploding, and historically fast fashion brands like H&M and Zara are scrambling to make their practices more eco-friendly and ethical in an effort to keep up.
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At its core, the slow fashion movement is all about passing up of of-the-moment items that you’ll be sick of by next season in favor of ethically, sustainably-made items you’ll keep for years to come. But how can you take slow fashion from an idea to a practice? Here’s what you need to know:
What is the slow fashion movement?
Terms like “eco fashion” and “ethical fashion” get thrown into the slow fashion conversation quite a bit, but as journalist, sustainable fashion expert and ecocult.com founder Alden Wicker told Parade.com, these three terms aren’t synonymous. “Slow fashion is clothing and accessories that are thoughtfully made, high quality, and meant to be used for a long time,” she says. “It’s classic and timeless, employs some level of artisanship, and is made to be easily be repaired.”
Eco fashion, on the other hand, has to do with the actual materials used to create the item. “Eco fashion is all about whether or not toxic chemicals are used in the manufacturing process, and whether it can be recycled at the end of its life,” Wicker explains. “Ethical fashion has to do with whether the people who made it were paid well and work in safe conditions.”
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Marci Zaroff, author of ECOrenaissance and an eco-lifestyle entrepreneur who coined the term “eco fashion,” told Parade.com that fast fashion has really only taken off in a big way over the past five to 10 years. “When I started working in fashion, there were four seasons a year. Materials were higher quality and derived from nature,” she says. “But now, fashion has sped up and there are 52 seasons a year. We need to come back to quality, design, materials, and manufacturing methods as an imperative, not a choice.”
How to “do” the slow fashion movement
Understanding the importance of slow fashion is one thing, but actually implementing it is another. And if you have a closet full of fast fashion items that you haven’t worn for a year, making this change can feel intimidating at first.
Elizabeth Cline, fast fashion expert and author of The Conscious Closet, suggests starting with a big closet cleanout. “Go through everything you’ve got, and figure out what you’re happy to continue wearing,” she told Parade.com. “A lot of our clothes are beautiful and we’re excited to keep wearing them, and it doesn’t matter if they’re fast fashion or cost $5. If you want to keep wearing those items, that’s the most sustainable thing you can do.”
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Once your clean-out is complete, get your clothes ready to donate. And this doesn’t just mean throwing them in garbage bags and bringing them your local Goodwill or Salvation Army. If you donate items that are in bad shape, they won’t get a second life—they’ll likely go straight into a landfill. “Carefully go back through everything and make sure it’s ready to have a second life,” explains Cline. “Do your part.”
No matter how much you love the items you already own, you’ll inevitably want (and need!) new ones eventually. When this happens, you don’t have to spend tons of money in the name of slow fashion. “I’m a huge advocate for resale and secondhand shopping and looking for higher quality brands on the Real Real and Thread Up,” says Cline. “You can get a better price, and you can even resell at the end of the season. It makes sense on so many different levels for the fashion-loving consumer.”
Zaroff says that in addition to shopping the secondhand market, renting is always a good idea. “Rent The Runway is great, because you can have a lot of fresh looks in a more mindful way where you’re part of creating these secondary market solutions,” she explains. “New business models that are very innovative are changing the face of fashion.”
What to keep in mind about fast fashion brands
If you enjoy shopping at fashion companies like H&M and Zara, here’s something to keep in mind: Many of these companies are actually making a big effort to be more sustainable.
“Slow fashion isn’t a product, it’s a movement. It’s about changing the entire industry so that fast fashion isn’t a choice,” suggests Cline. “Shift your purchases away from companies that aren’t doing anything for the environment or their workers and toward brands that are at least on the road to doing better.”
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One way to find out which brands are doing their part—even if they haven’t gotten there just yet—is to visit the site Good On You (they have an app, too!) “Zara and H&M are starting to make strides,” Cline shares. “What’s important is that you choose to shop at better companies, even if they aren’t perfect.”
When it comes to shifting our focus from fast fashion to show, we have a long way to go as a culture. But with a few simple tweaks you can do your part—so get started today.
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