What is fast fashion? Why is it bad? What’s the alternative? Join the revolution in sustainable shopping!
Go to any town or city in Britain and you’ll find the same thing – a high street packed with shops offering a dizzying array of affordable clothes, shoes, bags and accessories. An ever changing offering of new styles each season. And that’s not to mention the feast available online. Is this a dream come true for those of us who love fashion? With all this choice what’s the problem?
What is fast fashion?
Of the myriad of items available to us, how many of them are well made, gorgeous pieces that make us feel amazing and can be treasured in our wardrobes indefinitely? It’s not hard to see that the majority are badly made from cheap, artificial fabrics that will soon date and end up on landfill to be replaced by more of the same. Welcome to fast fashion.
What’s the problem?
Where do all these clothes come from and why are they so cheap? By using cheap, synthetic fibres and outsourcing production to developing countries, fashion manufacturers reduce the costs required to make clothes.
Synthetic fibres not only look cheap and feel uncomfortable, they are essentially made from plastic, so every piece that’s discarded contributes to plastic waste dumps and ocean pollution. Just think about the amount of clothes sold per year in the UK alone and imagine what that amounts to.
But worse is the consequence for the thousands of human beings who make these clothes, working long hours for menial wages in unsafe conditions. On 24 April 2013, the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which housed five garment factories, killed at least 1,132 people and injured more than 2,500. Sadly this is not an isolated incident.
By buying fast fashion we are contributing to the pollution of the planet and damaging the lives of people in the developing world.
What’s the alternative?
Gorgeous timeless designs that are made to fit your body and make you feel amazing. Luxurious fabrics that feel soft, hang beautifully and let your skin breathe. Yes a bit more expensive and yes there won’t be so many changes each season but you will know that with every purchase the person who made your item will have worked in a safe environment and have been paid fairly for their work. Luckily the market supplies what the customer demands so let’s join together and demand better!
Join the revolution in sustainable shopping!
Fast fasion is everywhere but if we look closer we can find alternatives. I started this blog to document the findings of my search for sustainable and ethical fashion. Whether that’s slow fashion brands, vintage, thrifting or making your own.
I’m based in London and my dream is to be able to feast on a department store of clean fashion where I know that everything I try on is sustainably sourced.
If you have any tips, suggestions or know of some good brands I’d love to hear from you.
Stay stylish. Stay slow.
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Ethical, sustainable shopping in London 