We live in a world that forces us to move fast, cut corners, and buy that same sweater in four different colors because we don’t have time to decide on “what to wear” at seven in the morning before rushing to work. We live in the era of comfort, where every small friction in our daily life can be removed if we just buy that new gadget we saw on Amazon, then our life will finally be perfect, right? Well, you don’t need me to say that that’s not the case.
In 2007 Kate Fletcher wrote an article in The Ecologist where she used the term “Slow Fashion” which is still used today in opposition to Fast Fashion and consumerism. Slow Fashion favors natural fabrics, transparent production systems, quality over quantity, and minimizing as much as possible our impact on the environment.
In the 2015 documentary The True Cost, the director Andrew Morgan examines the garment industry, specifically the fast fashion business, and links it to consumerism, globalization, capitalism, structural poverty, and oppression.
In the film, he focuses on American consumerism, and he focuses on how media affects the desire of people, especially teenagers, to buy and create an identity focused on consumption.
So many influencers in the last few years have been sponsored by fast fashion companies to increase their sales exponentially. The Chinese company, Shein, is an excellent example.
The primary target audience for Shein’s social media accounts is Gen-Z and the company strategically tailors their content to appeal to this demographic. Shein heavily relies on user-generated content (UGC) and influencer-generated content (IGC). They leverage the power of their engaged community by showcasing real people wearing their fashion items through a mix of videos and images. In terms of visual style, Shein’s social media accounts embrace a vibrant and youthful aesthetic.
In November 2022, Greenpeace Germany, an international climate and environment campaign organization, published a report that found 32% of the 47 Shein products it tested contained concerning levels of hazardous chemicals, such as phthalates, PFAs, and lead, some of which even broke the European Union’s regulatory limits. An investigation by human rights and environment organization Public Eye revealed one company that owned seven workshops was employing over 200 people to produce 1.2 million articles of clothing per day, mainly for Shein. Further, it reported seeing barred windows and no emergency exits and the company’s alleged violation of Chinese labor laws, as employees explained that they work up to 75 hours per week, receive one to two off-days per month, and did not sign employee contracts.
We are so used to seeing thousands and thousands of clothes in our stores and we rarely save one thought for the people who made them, but when you pick up a needle and start to make something yourself, you are forced to consider the value of what you’re making and maybe you realize that someone, somewhere works sixteen-hour shifts to make that t-shirt that you bought at 5$. Hand sewing is, by definition, a slow activity and it can require many hours to make one small piece so it should be considered unsustainable in this fast world, and yet the demand for it never ceased.
Of course, artisanal tailoring cannot sustain the number of garments that fast fashion brands produce every day, but have we ever asked ourselves if we even need that many clothes in the first place? We are sacrificing quality, fair compensation, and sustainability for speed and mindless consumption.
In my experience, the more people are exposed to something, the more they normalize it and the more they ask for it.
So, since I started embroidering for fashion, I explained to an incredible number of clients how each piece is handcrafted and tailored to each person’s needs and the uniqueness of every garment made them appreciate it so much more.
The same generation that is targeted by fast fashion brands, is also the one that is looking for creative solutions to stop these overconsumption habits that our comfortable reality has brought us. Upcycling and thrifting have become trends thanks to the same channels so many people use to consume. On TikTok, many creators show many different ways of sewing their clothes or repairing them, instead of throwing them away, developing a whole new and unique style in the process.
Developing a personal style, outside of marketing advertisements and fashion proposals, is not easy, but keeping in mind the value that each item that we own has, is what sometimes can make a difference in our daily life.
