What Does Sustainable Fashion Look Like?
Images courtesy of Tasha Leelyn/Zara/H&M
Six years ago, during an attempt to start a small, local fashion design company, I was hit with the realities of the business of fashion. Labor and material costs alone were a huge hurdle. How was it possible that I could buy a t-shirt for $5 at the mall? A bit of research and a lot of curiosity led me to the dark truths of fast fashion. I found myself sickened at what the fashion business had become and quickly obsessed with the concept of sustainable fashion.
So, what does sustainable fashion look like?
Let’s first discuss the meaning of sustainable fashion. (Side note: When I first started learning about sustainable fashion there wasn’t a Wikipedia entry. So, it makes me smile to finally be able to reference it.)
Sustainable fashion is a movement and process of fostering change to fashion products and the fashion system towards greater ecological integrity and social justice. Sustainable fashion concerns more than just addressing fashion textiles or products. It addresses the whole system of how clothing is produced, who produced it and how long the life span of a product is before it reaches landfill. This means dealing with interdependent social, cultural, ecological, and financial systems. - Wikipedia
I also really like this concise definition from Conscious Life and Style:
Sustainable fashion essentially refers to garments and accessories that are produced and/or accessed in an ecologically and socially responsible manner. -www.consciouslifeandstyle.com
Please take a moment. Read the definitions. You will find that nowhere in these definitions are aesthetics discussed.
That is because sustainable fashion doesn’t look like anything.
According to Jess Atkins, the co-founder of Stylebook, sustainable fashion is not about aesthetics, it is about the choices we make:
“…instead of focusing on the look — because sustainability doesn’t have a “look”, even though online, it seems like it does but it really doesn’t — it’s more about the choices that the person is making…” - How to make the most of your wardrobe with Jess Atkins
Scrolling through social media, you may get the impression that sustainable fashion has a very specific look. Neutral earth tone colors, boxy shapes, natural looking fabrics are the norm. They are styled with similar pieces and suggest that they are essential. The models and influencers are usually thin, white and have money to spend. Sustainable fashion is often lumped in with minimalism, which confuses the issue further.
Take a step back and it is easy to see that we are being fed false impressions that a company’s products are environmentally friendly aka we are being greenwashed. Businesses and influencers are trying to sell us something that make us feel good about ourselves, but in reality, transparency, or the sharing of information about how, where, and by whom a product is made, is very rare. Read more about the need for transparency here. Buying new clothing is never the first step to being sustainable. We are not going to buy our way to a sustainable fashion industry.
So, here we are. Sustainable fashion is finally a common phrase. But, with this greenwashed, narrow view of what it looks like are we actually any better than where we started? Aren’t we just alienating most of the population who are not the right size, race and/or class? I am a thin, middle class white woman and I feel the struggle to connect. Who is actually pulling off this media created sustainable fashionista? No one. She is a myth. She is just one more unobtainable standard of perfection that drives our need to consume. And, the faster we recognize this, the faster we can drop this weird trend and get back to what matters: Demanding and creating an ecologically and socially responsible fashion industry.
Since the title of my blog post was not, Listen To Me Rant About The Perversion of Sustainable Fashion, I am feeling a bit guilty about not giving a satisfying answer to my title. So, what does sustainable fashion look like?
Sustainable fashion “looks like” the choices people make when it comes to dressing themselves. You might notice the following signs in a sustainable fashionista. They wear…
the same things over an over again in creative ways.
unique items and rarely wear the latest trends.
upcycled garments.
hand made pieces.
mended clothing.
pre-loved and borrowed items.
season-less clothing or layer creatively in colder weather.
accessories to bring life to their wardrobes.
colors and shapes that flatter them.
clothing that fits their true lifestyles.
Who knows, maybe you are a sustainable fashionista and you didn’t even know it? If you are, keep it up and let us know in the comments what sustainable fashion looks like on you. And, remember, there is no such thing as perfect sustainable style. Everyone’s imperfect journeys working together is more powerful than one person’s perfection.
Need some help with your sustainable fashion journey? Contact me!
Love, Lisa