TRUE SIDE OF FASHION
Ethical, Sustainable, Slow Fashion, you’ve undoubtedly heard these words being used and have probably wondered what’s this all about. You may have even noticed that sometimes, the interpretation of these words differ from one another.
Broadly, they all mean a new way of thinking about our clothes and the impact fashion has on the world.
In simple words, Sustainable & Ethical fashion is an attitude towards designing, sourcing and manufacturing clothes which maximizes the benefits to the industry and society at large, at the same time minimizes the impacts on the environment.
Sustainable Fashion refers to a more environmentally-friendly approach to designing, manufacturing and consuming clothes, making sure we cause little to no harm to our planet.
Ethical Fashion covers a wide range of issues such as fair wages, working conditions, health and safety, forced labour, child labour. One should adhere the clear standards and ethical norms while manufacturing clothes.
Slow Fashion is awareness and approach to create clothing with its quality and longevity in mind; that is exactly opposite to Fast fashion which refers to clothing manufactured at warp speed and sold at a low price point; responsible for a large portion of water pollution worldwide, and uses plentiful chemicals and compounding the waste problem.
It is about thoughtful, ethical, creative and sustainable ways to enjoy the clothing we wear every day while minimising our material footprint on the mother earth by buying from local brands, using organic fabrics, giving importance to quality than quantity, washing clothes wisely to reduce water waste, try recycling your old clothes instead of discarding, look out for sustainable brands who practise fair trade and fair wages.
Slow fashion encourages the use of locally produced, biodegradable fabrics which have little to no adverse effects on the environment. So these fabrics can eventually return to the ecosystem, once you are done wearing them.
Sustainable & Ethical Fashion is important in reducing the amount of water, chemicals, energy consumption and the excessive overflowing of landfills. It can help us to reduce our impact on the environment, people and animals along with maintaining the fair norms in the manufacturing process.
Though we like to think of fashion as an individual thing, we don’t live in an isolated society. Sustainable & Ethical fashion matters because our lives aren’t the only ones that matter, the sustainability of our planet matters too.
Rethinking clothing culture is essential and supporting sustainable, local & small fashion labels is an essential step and Consumers are getting well aware about the emotional value of the clothes they wear like who is making their clothes, what material is being used, how it is used. They are playing a vital role in supporting ethical & slow fashion and are already making changes to their lifestyle to be more sustainable.
We can reduce the impact, by choosing to buy sustainably and by using as many upcycled, organic & recycled materials as possible to reduce the pressure on resources in order to restore the balance between people & planet with regards to fashion.
We can make a difference…a happy one !!