Loveland Magazine is one of the 400 news outlets worldwide, with a combined audience of over 2 billion people āCovering Climate Nowā, a global journalism initiative committed to bringing more and better coverage to the defining story of our time.
The initiative, was co-founded by The Nation and Columbia Journalism Review
Mihaela Manova is āCovering Climate Nowā in Loveland, Ohio as an editor for Loveland Magazine
As the fashion industry continues to evolve, so do its consumers. Labels now read of āsustainability!ā and āmade ethically!ā, as people take pride in knowing that a better future is coming. āFast fashionā is now in the past, as the focus is now on what’s behind the scenes of production instead of what’s ready to wear.
āFast fashionā can be categorized as the one of the most lucrative and busy markets that appeal to a massive pool of consumers- at any age, race, sex, etc. Google it and you will see the official definition: āinexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends.ā Once seen on social media and how big a trend has gotten, most people want a designer inspired garment (or something trendy) for more than half of the price.
The problem with āFast Fashionā stems from the work process that these garments need to be produced at. Usually, big retailers will use the work of people in largely populated countries who could be paid below minimum wage at the ease of the company and the disadvantage of its workers. (More on this topic in part II of this series)
The best introduction for what sustainable fashion is can be defined by Green Strategy. This term āimplies continuous work to improve all stages of the productās life cycle, from design, raw material production, manufacturing, transport, storage, marketing and final sale, to use, reuse, repair, remake and recycling of the product and its components.ā
This resource divides the definition into an environmental and socio-economic perspective for separating the goals and for an overall better understanding. If you were to look from the environmental perspective, the product at hand would have passed through the best product life cycle by: ā(a) ensuring efficient and careful use of natural resources (water, energy, land, soil, animals, plants, biodiversity, ecosystems, etc); (b) selecting renewable energy sources (wind, solar, etc) at every stage, and (c) maximizing repair, remake, reuse, and recycling of the product and its components. ā
And in the socio-economic perspective, the companies should āwork to improve present working conditions for workers on the field, in the factories, transportation chain, and stores, by aligning with good ethics, best practice and international codes of conduct.ā
With that said, this brief introduction will allow us to dive deeper into the world where more sustainable options are available for both the garments that are made and the workers who make them. Here are facts taken from the official Sustainable Fashion Matterz website:
As this three part series progresses, we will be talking about the good and bad sides of the fashion industry’s trial at sustainability and how this can progress into a wide-spread market. With that said, we will also reveal how to do it yourselves and how to make an impact with your clothing choices. Until next time…
