Journey to Fair Fashion: Chosing Fair Fashion over Fast Fashion

I have been aware of the bad impact of the fast fashion industry ever since the Ranaplaza catastrophy. But somehow it wasn't until I saw the True Cost until I realized the bad impact of Fast Fashion . Whereas my initial reaction was to stop buying clothes alltogether (which is sustainable too) I still kept on getting new clothes from Fast Fashion stores. They seemed to be more accessible (in terms of availability and price). So it wasn't really until the Fashion Revolution Week a few months back when I seriously started to doubt my buying behaviour. I started researching more and found pleasure in discovering Fair Fashion brands. But before I continue with this article I would like to cut in with the definitions of Fast versus Fair Fashion for anyone new to this topic.As you may know Fashion trends come and go very fast. Therefore, Fast Fashion is "manufactured quickly and inexpensively to allow the mainstream consumer to buy current clothing styles at a lower price" (Source: Wikipedia).  But as some people might be unaware of, this comes with the cost of bad working conditions, child labour/slavery and an alltogether unsustainable supply chain. So for ethical and enviornmental reasons the countermovement of Slow or Fair Fashion was born. These are brands that mostly start out (and stay) small with a limited selection of clothing pieces. They focus on quality rather than quantity and try to avoid the surplus of clothing that the Fast Fashion industry produces. Fair Fashion brands instead focus on sustainable production, fair wages and mostly organic and cruelty free materials.So what took me so long to finally take the step to go fair? And what led me to ultimately take that step?What often leads us to jump to wrong conclusions are prejudices. This is also why so many people, including me back then, stay away from the Fair Fashion world. So I would like to start with a few prejudices I had (and likely other people have as well) and give arguments that counter them.

• Prejudice Nr. 1: Fair Fashion is old-fashion and boring

Many people think of Fair Fashion as old-fashioned and boring. I have to admit that I felt that way too at first and wasn't ready to compromise my style. I'm a person that loves colors and patterns and while I had ethical concerns I still wanted to express my personality through the way I dressed. Fair Fashion seemed to be only focused on earthy and muddy colours and my style didn't seem to fit in.Counterargument: Whereas there are certainly a few brands out there that one may title rather "old-fashioned" there are a lot of brands to which this doesn't apply. Especially in the recent years when sustainability got more salient, the Fair Fashion market expanded. So there are a lot of brands out there meeting different demands of styles. From earthy colors to bright patterns-you basically can find anything. But its true that sometimes it may take you a bit longer to find that special piece your looking for. But once you find what you're looking for its even more rewarding!For example:-For trendy and minimalistic styles check out the German brand Jan'n'June or the Polish brand Elementywear-For more colours and patterns have a look at Mori Collective

• Prejudice Nr. 2: Fair Fashion is not affordable 

Counter argument: Yes its true that mostly ethical fashion comes with a certain price tag. But this for good reasons. We are so manipulated by the Fast Fashion industry that our price standards are totally off. So it's time for us to change our way of thinking and set new standards. Instead of thinking Fair Fashion is too expensive maybe Fast Fashion is just way too cheap! If you compare the price in terms of cost per wear you will see that Fair Fashion will likely be cheaper in the end. This is because ethical pieces are quality-wise better as they are made to last. The fabrics are more resistent and the designs are timeless. So they are likely to go a long way with you whereas cheap clothing becomes unwearable after a few washes.The price of Fair Fashion is justified as it's an investment for the better. People are paid fairly and not exploited. By buying an ethically made piece of clothing you make a statement against child labour and slavery while giving small, local businesses a chance to grow and make a profound impact.Also, some Fair Fashion brands are more accessible than others pricewise. There are some more affordable ones whereas there also exist a set of brands in the premium/higher-end segment. Aliaslouise, a french fair fashion blogger I look up to, recently said something interesting on her blog. Every month she will make a list of things she needed or wanted and saves up for them. This decreases the chance of impulsive bad buys which you never end up wearing anyway. You end up only getting the pieces you save your money for and that you really want and/or need. So the higher price tag of Fair Fashion leads you to make reasoned decisions as they are not instantly accessible anyway.

• Prejudice 3: As a single person I can't change that much anyway

Counterargument: Fact is that every person is one person more contributing to the bad working conditions and environmental impact of Fast Fashion. NEVER think that one person doesn't make the difference. Remember that demand creates supply. So Fair Fashion's voice becomes more powerful with anyone boycotting unethical brands. Also, turning to the environmental aspect we find that a yearly average of 70 pounds of clothing per US citizen end up in landfills (Source: Trusted Clothes). So if you were still doubting: Yes, we all make the difference.So these were only three of the many prejudices people may have concerning Fair Fashion. But they may be the more prevelant ones. It's important to realize that often we work to come up with justifications for our bad behaviours in order to reduce the cognitive dissonance we experience. In reality we know that Fast Fashion is bad but as we are unlikely to change that behaviour we come up with justifying arguments. Mostly including one of these prejudices. So while reading this I hope you may see why these are unjustified. Also, I hope to take away some of your initial doubts and invite you to join me on this journey to Fair Fashion.In a follow-up of this blogpost I'd like to talk about the initial steps I'm taking towards Fair Fasion and my experiences.Hope you look forward to it as much as I do!xxxthe_escapedstudent