Slow Fashion Challenge

“Buy less, choose well, make it last.” — Vivienne Westwood

Slow fashion is conscious fashion. It’s about slowing down enough to consider what’s behind what you wear. Who made your clothes? Where were they made and out of what materials? Who grew or manufactured the fabric? Do they have a history or a story? It’s also about using and appreciating what you already have and loving your garments enough to want to repair them and enjoy wearing them over and over. It’s shifting how you view what you wear from a constant need for more to realizing the value of every piece and only acquiring new ones that meet high standards. Do you value locally grown organic food? Consider organic clothing and accessories made by local artisans and small ethical brands or choosing second hand or upcycled.

Fast fashion has become a huge problem worldwide for our planet and its people. The fast fashion industry is one of the largest polluters on the planet. It uses excessive amounts of water, treats garment workers inhumanely, contributes up to 10% of global CO2 emissions, floods the environment and our bodies with chemicals through synthetic fabric production and industrial farming of fibers and all of this is for cheap clothing. Americans consume more than 400% more clothing than we did only 20 years ago yet we throw away over 14 million tons of clothing annually. The trend has become to only wear something once or a couple of times and then toss it in the trash, making room for the next new cheap item. Fast fashion brands often burn their unsold clothing. The system is out of control.