Slow fashion: How changing the way we buy clothes could save the planet

We live in an age of instant gratification. Anything and everything we want is readily available at the touch of a few buttons. Convenience is king.

Fast food deliveries, late-night Ubers, last minute flights, even our love lives – it’s all at our fingertips. And the way we consume fashion is no different.

Fast fashion is cheap clothing produced rapidly in response to current trends. There is a proliferation of online brands selling everything from the latest Kardashian-esque out-out dresses to workwear, accessories and swimwear – all for a minuscule cost.

As testament to the speed these brands are working – Kim K successfully sued Missguided for selling imitations of her outfits before she had even had a chance to wear them outside of her dressing room.

And as for the low cost – Missguided (again) faced major backlash for releasing a bikini which only cost £1 back in June.

We live life at a breakneck pace, so it’s no wonder so many of us are drawn in by the allure of fast fashion. But the relentless speed of our consumption has serious consequences and we’re now at a point where we need to start making drastic changes to how we buy clothes.

Fast fashion is a major contributor to greenhouse gases, water and air pollution and it creates problematic levels of waste. And when you look at the sheer quantities of low-quality clothing we are buying and chucking away, it’s no surprise that the planet is struggling to cope.

Last month Oxfam released new research revealing that more than two tonnes of clothing are bought in the UK each minute. The study of a thousand people estimated that 11 million garments end up in the landfill each week.

‘These staggering facts about fashion’s impact on the planet and the world’s poorest people should make us all think twice before buying something new to wear,’ said Oxfam’s chief executive Danny Sriskandarajah, in response to the study.

‘We are in a climate emergency – we can no longer turn a blind eye to the emissions produced by new clothes or turn our backs on garment workers paid a pittance who are unable to earn their way out of poverty no matter how many hours they work.

‘As consumers, it’s in our power to make a real difference.’

But how do you actually become a more conscious consumer? It can be hard to tell which products are harmful to the environment, or which ones have been produced using unethical or unsustainable methods, so you often have to do some digging in order to make sustainable choices.

Slow fashion is a viable alternative – even if you’re on a budget. It just takes a little research and a proactive attitude to get you started.

Learning and development professional and life coach Nadia Rafique is certainly short on time. She juggles her career, her side hustle, two dogs and is currently planning her dream wedding. But she has just started on her journey into slow fashion and says she’s finding it surprisingly manageable.

‘As I get older and think about starting my own family I’ve become really aware of the impact we have in the environment,’ explains Nadia.

‘I don’t want to leave my kids in a world that’s beyond all hope and I think we have the power to make a change and make it better for future generations.

‘Fashion is such a huge polluter and as I’ve read more about it, it actually doesn’t need to be that way. But the only way things will change is if the consumers demand it.’

But where to begin? Nadia’s starting point was reassessing the clothes she already owns.

‘The most sustainable way to shop is to shop your own wardrobe,’ she says. ‘I recently had a huge clear out and hung and folded all my clothes in such a way that I could see them all and get to everything.

‘This in itself allows me to see everything I own presented nicely and it has made me fall back in love with a lot of my clothes. It’s psychological but it works.

‘I also love shopping second-hand as you just don’t know what you are going to get. I like finding unique items and giving them new life, and you are giving your money to charity which is a great feeling.’

As great as charity shops are, you can’t always find everything you need. And buying new clothes that are ethically produced, sustainable and created to last for years, can be really pricey.

For Nadia though, this is a price she is more than willing to pay for the greater good. And she thinks that ultimately the cost will balance itself out.

‘Sustainable fashion should be more expensive as the whole point is to reduce this “wear-it-once” culture that we have these days,’ she says.

‘By costing more money it forces people to take care of their clothes better and to find different ways to wear them to really get the value out of them.’

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