Debunked - Sustainable fashion is expensive
As a fully sustainable platform, we often have people telling us that slow fashion is more expensive. Well, it's true and it's also not true.
Fast fashion has conditioned us to purchase products that are cheap and made using low grade materials, which usually means somewhere someone else is paying the price. Most of the time it's the exploited workers working with a bare minimum wage in unsanitary health conditions who end up paying this price.
But that's not the case with slow fashion, the price you pay for each piece is keeping in mind the cost of production, the artisanal wages and the high grade materials used that are ethically sourced. This ensures everyone is paid fairly for their work while keeping in mind the good of our environment.
The relationship between pricing and slow fashion
Slow fashion usually reflects a brand’s determination on reducing their carbon footprint while being fair to their workers efforts and skills. It’s a common mindset that sustainability caters only to the elite and this differentiation has come because fast fashion has created and conditioned our generation of shoppers to believe that clothing has to be mass produced, has to be cheap and has to be at the cost of the environment and the people behind its production.
So what factors get weighed in during pricing?
- Ethically Sourced
Sustainable fashion uses eco fabrics that are harvested or sourced ethically from localites. This ensures that integrity of the fabric is maintained. The beauty of slow fashion is it encourages its consumers to invest in quality which means buy less and wear more. They believe in longevity and kindness towards the environment.
- Fair Wages
Unlike fast fashion which exploits its workers with minimum wages and unsafe working conditions, sustainable fashion is all about empowering its workers and artisans with fair wages for their craft and time.
- Small batch production
Production and waste generation is a big factor for the fashion industry considering over 30% of all the produced clothes globally end up unused, usold in landfills. Breaking the pattern, sustainable fashion is all about producing based on demand, requirement and sales rather than bulk production. This ensures each piece made is being sold first before the next batch of production begins.
- Craftsmanship
Fashion if not anything is all about the artisan’s craft and design. Sustainable fashion is all about empowering artisans and craftsmen to hone their practice while providing them livelihood. They provide these folks with a platform where they can thrive and learn at the same time.
- Timeless Fashion
Sustainable fashion encourages their consumers to buy less and use more. We often shop and shop and shop while hoarding onto multiple pieces of clothing. Slow fashion tells people to choose quality over quantity, this ensures your clothes are durable and stand the test of time while highlighting the importance of reusing, rewearing and recycling.
For all your sustainable shopping needs, head to www.ourbetterplanet.com
