What is the Slow Fashion Movement?

Trends come and go, but the slow fashion movement is here to stay on a very important mission!

Slow Fashion Definition

Slow fashion refers to fashion practices prioritising the welfare of the planet, animals and people. It refers to slow for a reason; the slowing down of fashion consumption and the rate of shopping, instead promoting the purchase of timeless and quality styles that will remain in your wardrobe for years to come.

The slow fashion movement advocates taking a local approach, having a transparent production system, and making sustainable products. Brands can adopt these features to support the movement and create a conscious brand that minimises its impact on the environment. Through careful and sustainable choices, brands like ours can help to reduce the negative impact that the fashion industry is having on the planet.

Why is the Slow Fashion Movement Important?

The fast fashion culture has become detrimental to the environment, using excessive amounts of water, oil, dye and other chemicals to create garments that are almost disposable. With an increase in demand for fast fashion, many brands favour unethical and unsustainable methods to achieve the fast production rates they need.

In a world full of fast fashion, slow fashion promotes a ‘shop less and buy less’ shopping culture, to be more mindful of fashion consumption and more aware of the bigger picture and the lifecycle of the items being bought. The slow fashion approach promotes a more considered way of production and shopping, to reduce the impact that the fashion industry has on the environment.

How to Support the Slow Fashion Movement

1. Buy quality not quantity

One of the main priorities of the slow fashion movement is to reduce the rate of consumption and instead focus on the creation and purchasing of higher quality products, reducing the need to buy as many items. By making a conscious decision to invest in high quality items that are designed to last longer, you can help to reduce the demand for fast fashion.

2. Take Care of Your Clothes

Adopting the ‘shop less and buy less’ mentality requires you to look after the pieces you do invest in, to make sure they feel and look great for longer. This way, you will have less of a need to buy new items, whilst also making sure you love your purchases for a long time to come.

Cashmere, for example, is a great investment piece and supporter of the slow fashion movement, with quality cashmere able to withstand the test of time for years to come. In order to increase its longevity, the correct cashmere care is important. Take a look at our cashmere care guide for more details!

3. Create a Capsule Wardrobe

Creating a capsule wardrobe is a fantastic way to support the slow fashion movement, as it means creating a core collection of items that can be styled multiple ways to be worn time and time again. Through its versatility and timelessness, a collection like this reduces the need for more clothes and therefore helps to lower your fashion consumption. It's a smarter and more minimalistic approach to creating your wardrobe!

Take a look at our guide for advice on how to create a capsule wardrobe and take the slow fashion approach to everyday styling and dressing. Don’t be scared to outfit repeat! Invest in timeless, capsule styles that will remain flattering and wearable throughout changing trends.

"No-one is perfect. We’re all lured in from time to time by beautiful tissue wrapped packages and a magazine cover – all we’re asking of ourselves is to think about what we’re buying, and our motivation behind it." - Penny and Nikki from @styleinthestix

We love connecting with like-minded businesses and individuals who have the same slow fashion focus as us. Penny and Nikki from @styleinthestix on Instagram have created their page around the slow fashion movement, supporting sustainable brands and promoting eco-friendly styles. We asked them why they have gone down the road of slow fashion, and why it's important...

"Penny and I started our Instagram page Styleinthestix 5 years ago. Two friends with a shared interest in fashion and to sometimes escape being a mum. With a basic knowledge of Instagram, we tended to follow other fashion pages, photograph a new outfit daily and try to provide styling inspiration for others.

Our plan? To grow our followers, create beautiful pictures and collaborate with some cool designers along the way. Fast forward a couple of years and our plan was going beautifully ‘to plan’ but we felt something was missing.

Why were we doing this? What did we stand for? And more importantly, what message did we want to share with people?

Stacey Dooley's TV programme, ‘Fashions Dirty Secrets’ (BBC3) was a turning point for us. Further fact finding mortified us – why were we not aware that it took 700 gallons of water to produce cotton for one T-Shirt! One! That we’d dried up a whole ocean in order to grow enough cotton for our clothes?

So we pushed the reset button and changed our message. We started to follow people that were rewearing their wardrobe – it turns out the most sustainable piece of clothing is the one that’s hanging in your wardrobe – who knew! No more excuses – we knew. We looked into hashtags like #whomademyclothes – what is the true cost of fast fashion? People, wages and living conditions? #thereisnoplanetb – half a million tonnes of plastic microfibres from washing our clothes ends up in the ocean every year.

We discovered amazing websites selling second-hand designer clothing and some very cool vintage sellers. It was fun to shop for pieces that weren’t all uniformly hanging on a rail with one in every size.

Facts and figures are constantly changing as are more people in the fashion industry but it’s still not enough. We need to keep reminding ourselves of the information, the damage to our planet, the cost to real people to make a £5 bikini."

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The slow fashion movement is part of a wider mission to minimise the environmental impact that fashion has on the environment, to support a more considered and conscious buying power. In the creation of our brand and our products, having as little impact on the environment as possible was a huge priority for us. We have selected supply chain partners with the same mission as us, helping us to create a planet-friendly brand. Read more about our sustainability, and shop our guilt-free cashmere collection today.