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In March 1990, the New York Times and Vogue published articles about the environmental trend in the fashion world. In the summer of 1990, British fashion designer Katharine Hamnett, who has been often recognized as one of the first designers to combine environmental activism with fashion, gave a speech about the environmental impacts of fashion at the United Nations. In 1995, Giorgio Armani began to use hemp in his Emporio Armani collection. In 2001, Natalie Chanin launched Project Alabama, a collection of 200 locally produced hand-sewn T-shirts that was well received at New York Fashion Week. The same year, Stella McCartney launched her own line, applying animal-friendly (no leather, no fur) policies. [4]
In recent years, many companies have kick-started revolutions against fast fashion, such as Fashion Revolution Day and Second Hand September campaigns. This has led to big fast fashion retailers such as Zara and H&M to either pledge [22] or launch a clothing line [23] dedicated to sustainable clothing.
Slow fashion has its own marketing strategies as it targets a certain type of consumers. Unlike fast fashion consumers, slow fashion consumers expect classic and timeless pieces of clothes, giving importance to versatility, low maintenance and a higher quality. [5]
Marketing strategies concerning slow fashion often revolve around a more conscious consumption, focusing the advertising on environmentally and socially sustainable aspects on the clothes. Companies use several strategies in order to be less wasteful than other fast fashion brands: [24]
Slow fashion is also often associated with vintage and second-hand clothing from thrift shops, to the extent that they offer clothes that are not produced within a just-in-time flow and do not compromise the environment for cheaper clothing.
The production process is divided worldwide to maximize efficiency and profit. Slow fashion is more time-consuming, local, and quality-oriented. Therefore, it is not always competitive. [25] Several papers question the longevity of slow fashion in a market-driven society. [2] [11]
In slow fashion, designers are encouraged to produce locally, using local workforces and resources. [25] Quality is prioritized over quantity. The production chain is intended to be as transparent as possible. This redefines the hierarchy between designers, consumers and producers. [2] Fast fashion is typically ruled by trends that come and go quickly, encouraging consumption. The end products offered to clients by slow fashion designers are made to last longer and be timeless.
Slow fashion has different production costs and cannot produce as much in quantity. Slow fashion cannot compete with the mass produced products of fast fashion that use cheap labor and resources to maximize profits. Slow fashion is very local and uses fair-trade materials and fabrics of high quality. [11] Moreover, slow fashion cannot produced as much as fast fashion due to the different production process. [11] Many academic papers have looked into the viability of this movement in an era of mass-production and mass-consumption.
By keeping the production in "productive communities", this process is more transparent. There is less intermediation and a greater cultural and material value to the consumer. This is one of the ways Clarke presents to address the question of how slow fashion fit into the current economic model. [2] Recently, a carbon footprint tax on fashion supply chains has been implemented to encourage the use of local supplies. The effect of that measures has been limited. [26]
The pricing of slow fashion clothes varies. Since the definition is broad, a second-hand dress from a thrift shop worth five dollars and a designer dress costing 700 dollars can both be considered slow fashion. [11]
The current economic system focuses on economic growth and quantity sold. However, research has shown that more parameters should be included due to a raising social conscience. [27] People have expressed willingness to pay more for clothes when they know that they have been produced in "sweat-free" manufacture. [25]
The slow fashion movement, part of the greater goal of sustainable fashion and thus, a cleaner world is gaining strength, driven by growing environmental concerns. In 2018, a third of fashion consumers bought clothing once a month, a decrease from 37% compared to 2016, whereas those buying clothes every two or three months or less rose from 64% to 67%, according to the market research firm Mintel. [28]
After the release of the documentaries The True Cost and RiverBlue , there was attention drawn to companies that have fast fashion practices. Despite the spread movement, H&M had revenues amount to $25 billion in the fiscal year of 2016. However, as the movement has grown in popularity, H&M's stock and brand image has taken a hit as consumer awareness has spread of their environmentally unethical practices leading to a drop in sales. [29]
The spread of the movement has resulted in two fast fashion giants, Zara and H&M, switching narratives to become advocates for ethical fashion practices. With collections aimed at sustainable fashions, the two companies have shifted towards more ethical practices. [30] Due to the audience that the movement against unethical fashion practices has accumulated, organizations such as the United States Fashion Industry Association have devoted some of their attention to ‘social compliance and sustainability’. [31]
Critics have called out against certain brands who have claimed to strive to follow slow fashion's principles. For example, Swedish brand H&M was accused of not being sustainable when reports found out that it burns its unsold clothes. While H&M is striving to create sustainability to the best of their abilities, they are still overproducing mass amounts of clothing while hawking it as sustainable. H&M has a stated "sustainability strategy," and brands some items with green "Conscious" tags to signal that they contain "more sustainable materials". [32] Where a company is untruthfully claiming sustainability, it is often called Greenwashing.
Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into outfits that depict distinctive ways of dressing as signifiers of social status, self-expression, and group belonging. As a multifaceted term, fashion describes an industry, styles, aesthetics, and trends.
The slow movement is a cultural initiative that advocates for a reduction in the pace of modern life, encouraging individuals to embrace a more thoughtful and deliberate approach to their daily activities.
Vintage clothing is a generic term for garments originating from a previous era, as recent as the 1990s. The term can also be applied in reference to second-hand retail outlets, e.g. in vintage clothing store. While the concept originated during World War I as a response to textile shortages, vintage dressing encompasses choosing accessories, mixing vintage garments with new, as well as creating an ensemble of various styles and periods. Vintage clothes typically sell at low prices for high-end name brands.
Fast fashion is the business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and high-fashion designs, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail quickly while demand is at its highest. The term fast fashion is also used generically to describe the products of this business model, particularly clothing and footwear. Retailers who employ the fast fashion strategy include Primark, H&M, Shein, and Zara, all of which have become large multinationals by driving high turnover of inexpensive seasonal and trendy clothing that appeals to fashion-conscious consumers.
Textile recycling is the process of recovering fiber, yarn, or fabric and reprocessing the material into new, useful products. Textile waste is split into pre-consumer and post-consumer waste and is sorted into five different categories derived from a pyramid model. Textiles can be either reused or mechanically/chemically recycled.
Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates clothing, including dresses, suits, pants, and skirts, and accessories like shoes and handbags, for consumers. They can specialize in clothing, accessory, or jewelry design, or may work in more than one of these areas."
Sustainable fashion is a term describing efforts within the fashion industry to reduce its environmental impacts, protect workers producing garments and uphold animal welfare. Sustainability in fashion encompasses a wide range of factors, including cutting CO2 emissions, addressing overproduction, reducing pollution and waste, supporting biodiversity and ensuring that garment workers are paid a fair wage and have safe working conditions.
Micro-sustainability is the portion of sustainability centered around small scale environmental measures that ultimately affect the environment through a larger cumulative impact. Micro-sustainability centers on individual efforts, behavior modification, education and creating attitudinal changes, which result in an environmentally conscious individual. Micro-sustainability encourages sustainable changes through "change agents"—individuals who foster positive environmental action locally and inside their sphere of influence. Examples of micro-sustainability include recycling, power saving by turning off unused lights, programming thermostats for efficient use of energy, reducing water usage, changing commuting habits to use less fossil fuels or modifying buying habits to reduce consumption and waste. The emphasis of micro-sustainability is on an individual's actions, rather than organizational or institutional practices at the systemic level. These small local level actions have immediate community benefits if undertaken on a widespread scale and if imitated, they can have a cumulative broad impact.
Zero-waste fashion refers to a fashion design strategy, that generates little or no textile waste during the production process, particularly focusing on the pattern making and cutting stages. It is a reaction to the high amount of discarded clothing items going into landfills around the world.
Fast fit refers to a method of handling the shipping and sampling processes typical of multinational organizations who primarily manufacture offshore, specifically in the fashion and textile industry. Fast Fit centers on the sharing of 360-degree, annotatable images intended to reduce the costs and lead times associated with shipping physical samples. The term is particularly prevalent among companies that fit the Fast Fashion model, as Fast Fit is considered to be a vital component in the reduction of time between design inspiration and final production of a garment or product.
Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry, embellishment using embroidery, via the fashion industry to apparel retailers up to trade with second-hand clothes and textile recycling. The producing sectors build upon a wealth of clothing technology some of which, like the loom, the cotton gin, and the sewing machine heralded industrialization not only of the previous textile manufacturing practices. Clothing industries are also known as allied industries, fashion industries, garment industries, or soft goods industries.
Digital Fashion is a field of fashion design that relies on 3D software or artificial intelligence to produce hyper-realistic, data-intensive digital 3D garment simulations that are digital-only products or digital models for physical products. Digital garments can be worn and presented in virtual environments, social media, online gaming, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) platforms. The field contributes to the development of a more sustainable future for the fashion industry It has often been praised as an answer to ethical and creative concerns of traditional fashion by promoting innovation, reducing waste, and encouraging conscious consumption.
An alternative purchase network (APN) is a contemporary commerce channel established as an alternative to perceived consumerism, and the cultural and economic hegemony of the global market. Alternative purchase networks aim to promote ethical shopping behaviour, which has an environmentally friendly approach and considers local realities.
Green consumption is related to sustainable development or sustainable consumer behaviour. It is a form of consumption that safeguards the environment for the present and for future generations. It ascribes to consumers responsibility or co-responsibility for addressing environmental problems through the adoption of environmentally friendly behaviors, such as the use of organic products, clean and renewable energy, and the choice of goods produced by companies with zero, or almost zero, impact.
Fashion Revolution is a not-for-profit global movement represented by Fashion Revolution CIC with teams in over 75 countries around the world. Fashion Revolution campaigns for reform of the fashion industry with a focus on the need for greater transparency in the fashion supply chain. Starting in 2014, Fashion Revolution marks the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh with Fashion Revolution Week and holds events each year. Between 2014 and 2020, millions of people around the world called on brands to answer the question Who Made My Clothes? The hashtag #WhoMadeMyClothes became the no.1 global trend on Twitter. They have faced criticisms specifically about the Global Fashion Transparency Index.
Everlane is an American clothing retailer that sells primarily online. Headquartered in San Francisco, California with stores in New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, Los Angeles, Austin, and Palo Alto, the company was founded in 2010 by Michael Preysman and Jesse Farmer with the mission of selling clothing with transparent pricing.
The fashion industry, particularly manufacture and use of apparel and footwear, is a significant driver of greenhouse gas emissions and plastic pollution. The rapid growth of fast fashion has led to around 80 billion items of clothing being consumed annually, with about 85% of clothes consumed in United States being sent to landfill.
Fast fashion is a term used to represent cheap, trendy clothing that is made to replicate higher end fashion trends. In 2019, China was the leading producer of fast fashion clothing. Many sweatshops are located in China; there, workers are underpaid and overworked in unsafe environments. Overall, China produced 65% of the world's clothing in 2021, with a majority of these clothes being labeled as fast fashion. The top 10 competitors in the fast fashion market made up 29.13% of the whole fashion market in 2020.
Vintage clothing, or "Vintage", is a colloquial term commonly used to refer to all old styles of clothing. A widely accepted industry standard of a "vintage" item is being made between 20 and 100 years ago and clearly reflect the styles and trends of the era they represent. In recent years, the popularity of vintage clothing has grown, as consumers seek unique and sustainable fashion alternatives.
Community Clothing is a British clothing brand founded in 2016 by Scottish fashion designer Patrick Grant. The company is based in Blackburn, Lancashire, and produces a line of clothing staples using ethically sourced materials, in order to provide consistent employment for a co-operative of British mills and factories and reduce clothing waste.