{{Slow fashion}}
'''Slow fashion''' concerns designing, producing, consuming and living in a more sustainable and conscious way. The concept is based on an awareness of the effect on the environment and ecosystems, caused by fashion consumption. This way of thinking should be used by buyers, producers and consumers, throughout the whole supply chain, in order to make sustainable products. Today, the textile and fashion industry is dominated by fast fashion, which emphasizes on speed in production, distribution and consumption. It can take as little as 12 days for a garment to get from designer to consumer, which means that the travel through the value chain is much faster than the cycle of producing raw material. Although delivery and fabric production have become more effective, the natural fiber still will need a certain amount of time to grow, meaning that the nature's ecosystems is not able to produce material at the required speed to bring fast fashion-products to the market. This leads to an imbalance in the ecosystems which is negative for the environment. Fast fashion does not consider sustainability and is entirely focused on maximizing profits, which means that other aspects, such as working conditions during the production and release of hazardous materials, have to be neglected. The purpose of slow fashion is to reverse this trend and create value without exploiting labor and natural resources.
The concept of Slow Fashion is borrowed from the Slow Food Movement, which started in 1986 by Carlo Petrini in Italy. Petrini emphasized the importance of awareness and responsibility and protested against the standardized food created by the fast food culture. This movement lead to the birth of several other movements focusing on awareness and sustainable development, such as Slow Cities.
Key words to understand what Slow Fashion means are; long-term, durability, focus on quality products, information, cultural diversity and identity. Slow Fashion can be seen as a complement to eco-friendly garments, but is more about a new approach to fashion with more focus on the long-term where the relationship to the garment becomes an important part of the purchase. It is also about a different attitude towards the consumption of clothing, where garments can be worn for a long time and shaped by the wearer.
Slow Fashion creates a shift from quantity to quality in order to remove the great time pressure found in the industry today. Focus lies on long-term planning to develop and improve the production, making it easier for companies to improve working conditions for factory employees. The products manufactured will have a higher price because quality has a higher price, however, relations between the players in the supply chain will be strengthened, benefiting all of these players. The results of Slow Fashion are quality products at a higher monetary price, but with improved working conditions and production methods that will benefit both producers, distributors, consumers and the environment.
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