Slow fashion and sustainability nexus

Slow fashion is a drive highlighting sustainability, quality, and ethical considerations of the fashion industry production or output. It does not emphasize upon speed, trending, and affordability which are essential tripartite aspects of fast fashion. In the world of sustainability with people getting more and more health conscious, slow fashion is beyond what is seen and observed. It stimulates consciousness on the part of both consumers as well as producers with the basic goal of achieving sustainable designing and manufacturing.

It develops green skills which in turn creates green consumers and green producers, choosing consciously products or garments that are durable, well-made, and have a positive influence on people and the planet. It therefore creates conditions for green fashion and green economy which are both associated with sustainable practices. It has a dual effect: on one hand it prioritizes durability and quality over quantity, and on the another hand, it makes use of the methods and tools in the production process having very less environment impact. Hence, it sets a path towards moral and eco-friendly society.

Environmental and social sustainability adapts and integrates preventive socio-environmental norms and considerations into decision making processes.

Slow fashion promotes environmental and social sustainability in the fashion and designing world, drawing a demarcation line between the unsustainable practices of fast fashion. It encourages conscious consumption model or theory, which is more or less conscientious or ethical consumerism, focusing on making purchases considering the social, environmental, and ethical impacts of goods and services. It goes beyond pricing and taking account of the whole lifecycle of a product, from utility creation or production to disposal. Consumers are encouraged to prioritize ethical and sustainable behaviour in their daily lives, promoting brands that coincides with their values. Quality, ethical production, and durability are being valued over trends and speed.

There is a complementarity between slow fashion and sustainability and both are inter-linked. The growth of one escalates the growth of other. This inter-relationship between slow fashion and sustainability is timeworn and threadbare. Initially, fast fashion was dominant and widespread as compared to slow fashion and sustainability. In other words, initially, development was somehow fast fashion driven, implying that fast fashion spread as and when development used to take place. Because in the past, the decision of promoting fashion was largely determined by the process of trend development and celebrity culture.This initial phase of inter-relationship between fashion and development may be rightly called as high-impact fashion phase. But in modern times, slow fashion and sustainability are equally dominant and widespread. In other words, in the contemporary times, slow fashion is sustainability driven and sustainable development is slow or green fashion driven, implying that green fashion spreads as and when sustainable development and green innovation takes place and sustainability spreads as and when slow fashion takes place.

The rise in the consumer consciousness or awareness day by day and social media are creating market segments that transcend country boundaries. Because in modern times, the decision of following slow fashion is not only determined by the waves of sustainability but moral practices and quality over quantity culture. This current phase of inter-relationship between slow fashion and sustainability may rightly be called as green-techno-sustainable or go-green-sustainable phase. It has generated a wave of ethical consumerism and as a result has become dynamic as well as multi-dimensional process.

In short, both slow fashion and sustainability are deeply intertwined, forming an important nexus for a more socially and environmentally responsible outlook towards the fashion industry. It is high time to club design, fashion, ethics, and textiles as a necessary way to move towards a more sustainable fashion industry.

Dr. Binish Qadri, Former Assistant professor, Cluster University Srinagar