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What is fast fashion?
Legacy brands design, source, manufacture, and distribute clothes within two years. Fast fashion uses disposable and trendy clothes to democratize high fashion designs. This business model consists of quick response manufacturing, fast turnaround designs and streamlined distribution which takes about four months in total. Then, companies rapidly sell new products. In the digital age of spectacle, a culture of shame arises from rewearing or repurposing clothes. As a result, a fast supply chain yields the most variety and profit.
FAST FASHION’S IMPACT ON THE PLANET:
- Fabric production requires thousands of liters of water.
- Synthetic fabric requires millions of liters of oil.
- Other textiles also use threatened forests in a shockingly wasteful manner.
- Chemical processing often damage rivers and water supplies.
- Donated clothes turn into tons of trash in developing nations.
FAST FASHION’S IMPACT ON PEOPLE:
- China is the largest textile producing and exporting country in the world. Bangladesh is the second largest.
- Garment workers often work excessive hours, are denied basic trade union rights, are paid below living wage, and are expected to work in dangerous/unsanitary conditions.
- Out of the 75 million garment workers, 80% are women. Gender inequity, wage theft, and sexual harassment are embedded in the supply chains.
Performative Activism in Fashion
The mainstream sustainability movement can be ambiguous using buzzwords like ‘conscious,’ ‘eco-friendly,’ and ‘ethical’ without considering their true exploitative supply chain. Greenwashing is a form of performative activism where companies market themselves as environmentally friendly to drive sales.
Decentering Whiteness
The mainstream sustainable fashion movement is predominantly represented by well-off white women. In turn, savior complexes are tied to fixing transnational issues. In order to understand the context of regional issues and nuances, we have to make space to deeply listen and honor cultural craft rather than appropriate it.
What can we do to reduce carbon footprint?
Systemic Approach
Our economy currently uses a linear model of production and consumption, but circular economy is a systemic approach to make effective use of materials by encouraging many different uses for them as they cycle between the economy and natural systems. Circular fashion keeps products and materials in use. It is designed, sourced, produced and provided with the intention to be used and circulated responsibly to optimize value.
Our Sustainability Practices
- We are constantly on the search for interesting and unique waste materials with the goal of upcycling it into something new. We consider quality and longevity when sourcing materials.
- We believe in supply chain transparency. We are committed to our community holding us accountable.
- We carefully source our vendors while focusing on building communities and empowering partnerships.
- We currently produce in-house handmade materials.
- Our shipping packaging is 100 percent compostable, plant based, and durable. We aim to provide minimal packaging materials to reduce our carbon footprint.
- We value you and are open to constructive feedback on our services and advocacy.
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