Have you ever heard of 'Fast Fashion'? Fast fashion has short lead time than general fashion to release clothes as soon as possible. A lead time means a time from design to sale. The average lead-time of general fashion is three months, but the average lead-time of fast fashion is five weeks. There is a two-month difference in that. Why is that so many modern people love fast fashion? Because of 'trend'. Today's people think about famous fashion of entertainer too much, more than their own unique personality. On this, professor JiSooYeon of Wonkwang Digital University said, “fast fashion sets importance on trend, it won't be enough for sustainable durability and safety”. She adds, “we need to pursue 'Slow Fashion'”.
Slow fashion minimizes bad influence to the environment and human body by using eco-friendly material and dyeing. It is 'not follow a trend and clothes for everyday wear'. There are ways to use renewable energy around us these days or reduce the use of ployester to develop a recycling solution. A cloth made of synthetic fiber like nylon, acrylic, or polyester releases billions of plastic fiber during washing. According to research by Environmental Science and Technology, “just wearing ployester clothes causes fiber pollution … Also, polyester, acrylic, nylon are very small, they can't be filtered in sewage treatment plant. After that, they flow in river or ocean, endangering sea creatures.”
Freitag, the most famous recycling brand, produces bag from old waterproof sheets. It cleans and disinfects the waste, then organizes design to attract people's attention. Freitag's bags are strong and can be used a long time because it is made with waterproof material and tested several times. In essence, Freitag transforms waste into luxury goods. For example, old waterproof tarpaulin for truck and automotive airbag are used to make bag cloth, automotive seat belt is used for bag belt, and bike’s tube is used for bag rubber. Another brand 'Polo', which is well-known to us, launched a new project, 'Earth Polo', in April 2019. All the clothes for this project are produce by new carbon dyeing and no water. Also, use a thread, which is rejected on recycled plastic bottle. This idea came from Graphin designer Swiss brother in 1933. The world paid attention to this brand. But eco-friendly brand's downside is the high price. Some people satirize about the 'sensitive trash', saying, “I can't get it that price”. However, there are exceptions.
So, why is Slow Fashion so expensive? First, it started with fashion designers who do small-scale production with craftsmen who have extraordinary skills. The mecca of Slow Fashion is the UK. It all started when it became known that 2 million tons of cloth was thrown away in the UK every year. Out of this, Tom Cridland, a British Slow Fashion successful start-up brand, made a training suit with a high-quality concept of clothes hanging in a uniform shape in the closet from childhood to adulthood. Therefore, the price of Slow Fashion is high because it banks on long-term wear of high quality clothes. Second, because it costs a lot of money to repair the fabric, so that it is not easily damaged. Dan Vo, for example, does not waste fabric by completely cutting out individual pieces like a puzzle, including arms, collars, front and back, and pockets.
With the efforts of experts in Slow Fashion, another term for pursuing nature was created. It has the same purpose as Slow Fashion and eco-friendliness, but there is a difference in the way it achieves it. First, there is Conscious Fashion. Conscious Fashion refers to clothing made through ethical processes from material selection to manufacturing process. It is a term arising from the increasing number of people who use recycled materials in the production process and pursue sustainable fashion. This differs in that it values the ethical side a little more than Slow Fashion. Second, there is Upcycling Fashion. This refers to adding design elements to recycled items or changing the way they are used to create completely different products. Examples include using waste banners as cloth or making bags with car safety belts. It is fashion that focuses on recycling more than Slow Fashion.
These days, people are interested in fashion not only wearing clothes, but also as a culture. Therefore, there is real interest and love to make and wear long-lasting clothes. If we keep following the Fast Fashion trend, our descendants will live an unfriendly life. In addition, there may be situations in which the fabrics obtained from nature are not available. There is a proverb saying, ‘Mend the barn after the horse is stolen’. We should consume in a way that protect the environment instead of regretting later having preferred immediate satisfaction. Also, we can see that the trend is to value and protect the environment through the emergence of many eco-friendly fashion terms such as Conscious Fashion and Upcycling Fashion. If we focus on trends and do not think about the environment, is it right? It's good to take care of our appearance and adapt to changing trends, but I hope we don't lose the idea that the environment comes first.
