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Sustainable fashion is a concept defined by methodologies and production processes that are not harmful to the environment

Edward Howell image in Unsplash

Sustainable fashion is an aspect that is concerned with using methods that do not produce or minimize the environmental impacts generated in the product development process. It arose from the need to rethink the conduct of our society from an ecological point of view. From the fabric production stage to the unrestrained consumption and disposal of used parts, humanity has extracted a large amount of non-renewable natural resources, polluting and degrading nature, without worrying about the consequences of this.

Fashion is a set of customs and values ​​of a society that can be represented through the way of dressing. The aesthetics of what is beautiful is influenced by several factors, which generate trends that change incessantly, such as fashion shows by top designers.

Throughout history, clothing has established itself as a form of social status to differentiate nobles from the masses. This still happens, and when a trend becomes very popular it is replaced with a new one. This system generates a constant manufacture of collections with programmed obsolescence by seasons and seasons, known as fast fashions, common in retail trade. The new ones looks they are quickly propagated by the media, which acts by reflecting and legitimizing new habits and market trends.

The accelerated consumption of clothes has left great marks on the environment: the degradation of the planet and the consumption of large amounts of non-renewable raw materials. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the textile industry is among the four types of industries that consume the most natural resources and pollute the most. In addition, this system fosters sociocultural inequality, while using seasonal and informal jobs to keep production costs low.

Fashion and environmental preservation are apparently conflicting concepts; the first implies products with short life cycles, and the second takes into account product durability, sustainability and reuse. However, some shapes are more prone to change than others. The so-called "classics" have a design less dated in time, and therefore have greater longevity.

Furthermore, fashion is, above all, an expression of personal style, which demonstrates people's creativity and aesthetic sense. Through fashion you can express your individuality. When using a brand, you are not just buying the beauty of the piece, you are legitimizing the entire production process and carrying the company's moral value.

If the store where you buy uses slave or child labor in its manufacture and incorrectly disposes of harmful chemical waste into the environment, you are fostering these practices - but you also need to take into account that the lack of choice, due to prices high prices of certain brands, leaves buyers with their hands tied. Thus, in some situations, consumers have the power to support or punish brands for their social and environmental attitudes, and this happens in their choice of which store to buy. For this, it is essential to inform yourself about the products that the manufacturer uses. If you want to become a responsible consumer then ecofriendly, you must ask yourself how, where and by whom the clothes you are going to buy were made.

There are many measures that can be employed to reduce social and environmental impacts in the fashion industry. There are countless processes and decision moments before which a brand adopts its position and can invest in the sustainable development paradigm. In confection, the company can decide to increase the useful life of a garment through finishing, can use fabrics that cause less environmental impact, verify the origin of raw materials, ensure decent working conditions, as well as carry out upcycling. It is up to brands and consumers to decide when choosing an ethical position in relation to fashion.

Sustainable fashion and several currents that preach conscious consumption aligned with an ecological proposal arise from this concern. Are they:

eco chic

The term eco chic appears to prove that it is possible to combine elegance with responsibility with social and environmental aspects. A fashion concept that suits the perspective of an eco chic consumer is ethical fashion.

ethical fashion

Ethical fashion takes into account the entire impact of the sociocultural and environmental dimension inserted into the design of a product. The concept gained prominence in 2004, with the Ethical Fashion Show, event and manifesto held in Paris. The movement questions the exploitation of clothing workers, who are often subjected to conditions analogous to slave labor. On April 24, 2013, 1,133 people died in the fashion industry's worst accident, at the Rana Plaza factory complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh. That day gave rise to the organization Fashion Revolution, in line with ethical fashion values, which instituted this day as the fashion revolution day. The organization proposes questions such as: who made my clothes and under what conditions?

eco fashion

Eco fashion (or ecological fashion) starts from the same concept as eco design and considers the environmental consequences at all stages of a product's development. In this trend, the consumption of resources is reduced and materials and processes that collaborate to reduce the environmental impact during its life cycle are chosen. Thus, there is the use of organic fiber fabrics and production methods that minimize environmental contamination, avoiding as much as possible polluting chemical products such as synthetic dyes. Some alternatives are organic cotton and pineapple, bamboo and hemp fibers.

Some Brazilian brands already use organic cotton, such as Use Eco, which produces men's and women's shirts.

When thinking about the sustainability of a material, we must consider several factors, such as the renewability of the source, the process of how the fiber is made into fabric, and the total carbon footprint of the material. According to the foundation Earth Pledge, more than eight thousand chemicals are used in the textile industry and 25% of the world's pesticides are used in the cultivation of non-organic cotton. Efforts to find measures that reduce damage to nature during raw material cultivation, production and transport make sustainable fashion typically more expensive than manufactured by conventional models.

Zero-waste fashion

The concept of zero waste fashion refers to the production of clothing and accessories that generate little or no waste in their production. he is part of the movement eco fashion and eliminates waste during product manufacturing. In addition to reusing scraps to make details of pieces, the designer chooses patterns that efficiently use the fabric.

Upcycle

THE Upcycle it is a trend that contributes to the reduction of waste and transforms objects at the end of their useful life into new products. The use of tire inner tubes for making fashion items is an example of this growing trend.

slow fashion

In contrast to the fast fashion - current fashion production system that prioritizes mass manufacturing, globalization, visual appeal, the new, dependency, concealing the environmental impacts of the product life cycle, cost based on labor and cheap materials without take into account social aspects of production -, the slow fashion emerged as a more sustainable socio-environmental alternative in the fashion world.

The practice of slow fashion values ​​diversity; prioritizes the local over the global; promotes social and environmental awareness; contributes to trust between producers and consumers; it practices real prices that incorporate social and ecological costs; and maintains its production between small and medium scales.