What's slow fashion, Bharatsthali's founder explains

A movement called slow fashion promotes social and environmental justice in the fashion business. Its distinguishing feature is that it concentrates on the issue of excessive production and consumption. The "slow food" concept was followed by slow fashion.

Slow fashion is an aspect of sustainable fashion and a concept describing the opposite to fast fashion. Fast fashion is a term used to describe mass-produced, machine-made clothing. In contrast, slow fashion clothing is handcrafted, which makes use of artistic talent. Slow fashion is part of the "slow movement" that advocates clothing and apparel manufacturing which respects people, environment and animals.

Although the term "sustainable fashion" may be overused in the industry, it is simply "greenwashing." While fast fashion companies exploit the word to deceive their clients, the latter are progressively realizing the repercussions of doing business with companies that employ sweatshop labour, overproduce, fill dumps, and are accountable for four to ten per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

The opposite of fast fashion is slow fashion. The phrase was created by well-known design activist Kate Fletcher, who promoted slow fashion as ageless and quality-focused. Recent fast fashion controversies involving Shein, Zara, and H&M have demonstrated that shoppers need to be able to make an informed judgment and that tags and labels alone are not sufficient.

In this regard, India has been incredibly lucky, as the natural fabrics that our moms and grandmothers wear are primarily slow fashion. The sarees, phans, and salwar suits were purchased directly from the weavers or street vendors because they lacked the resources to overproduce or obtain fabric or dyes through any other means than naturally. This could be attributed to our mentality of trying to get the best value for the products we purchase.

Fashion trends have exploded as a result of globalisation and the fashion industry's technological innovation. Gen X was quick to adopt the trend that sparked the fast fashion craze, either out of peer pressure or just because they wanted to.

Ethnic Indian brands, on the other hand, are combating these tendencies and trying to improve the weavers' and craftsmen' livelihoods by developing a purpose-driven supply chain that benefits both people and the environment.

(The Writer is CEO of Bharatsthali)