The new trend is sustainability. Organic cotton, Fair Trade labels, t-shirts made of recycled pvc and bamboo. Hundreds of non-governmental organizations popped-up claiming better work conditions for the 3rd world fashion labours, defending less polluted ways to weave and dye fabrics and complaining about the waste of plastic shopping bags. However, is it an honest concern about the environment or could it be only another fashion trend?
It’s quite intriguing how suddenly the word “sustainability” started to show up everywhere. After decades of bulletins by scientists, geologists and journalists the world decided now to be alarmed about “Global Warming” and the end of natural resources in some decades. Harrods, the world matrix of glamour, expense and shopping decided to help the environment situation selling a hot recycling-conscious fair-trade label to sell shirts made of bamboo; Nike and GAP after the international scandal about the work conditions of their workers in Asia became the better employers in the world and TopShop choose organic cotton (less polluted) to produce some of their millions of pieces.
It’s not to deny the worthiness of those initiatives, although it can be a problem if all these statements about environment consciousness are in fact only another fashion trend. Because if it is a trend it will be gonne as soon as gonne all the movement against furs, for example. Remember 2 years ago when show a fury collection on the catwalk was a shame, and the whole fashion scene was really worried about the poor murdered lovely animals?
Reading the University of Cambridge report about the industry of fashion in UK and how “fast fashion” became the most dangerous “system” for our environment, we can start to think that maybe the problem we face in fashion now is another, is a problem of consuming attitude – quantity – and not the way clothes are being produced. “Fast Fashion” is the compulsive consumption of cheap clothes. Trends in fashion became so ephemeral that is more important (pleasurable) to wear the color of the week in a 5k dress rather than buy a little more expensive classic high quality piece that lasts for decades.
It’s quite intriguing how suddenly the word “sustainability” started to show up everywhere. After decades of bulletins by scientists, geologists and journalists the world decided now to be alarmed about “Global Warming” and the end of natural resources in some decades. Harrods, the world matrix of glamour, expense and shopping decided to help the environment situation selling a hot recycling-conscious fair-trade label to sell shirts made of bamboo; Nike and GAP after the international scandal about the work conditions of their workers in Asia became the better employers in the world and TopShop choose organic cotton (less polluted) to produce some of their millions of pieces.
It’s not to deny the worthiness of those initiatives, although it can be a problem if all these statements about environment consciousness are in fact only another fashion trend. Because if it is a trend it will be gonne as soon as gonne all the movement against furs, for example. Remember 2 years ago when show a fury collection on the catwalk was a shame, and the whole fashion scene was really worried about the poor murdered lovely animals?
Reading the University of Cambridge report about the industry of fashion in UK and how “fast fashion” became the most dangerous “system” for our environment, we can start to think that maybe the problem we face in fashion now is another, is a problem of consuming attitude – quantity – and not the way clothes are being produced. “Fast Fashion” is the compulsive consumption of cheap clothes. Trends in fashion became so ephemeral that is more important (pleasurable) to wear the color of the week in a 5k dress rather than buy a little more expensive classic high quality piece that lasts for decades.
